322 BRITISH BIRDS. 
Genus MUSCICAPA. 
The genus Muscicapa was established by Linneus in 1766, in his 
‘Systema Nature,’ i. p. 324. As Linnzus adopted this name from Brisson 
(Orn. ii. p. 857), and as the Muscicapa muscicapa of Brisson is the Spotted 
Flycatcher, that bird may fairly be considered the type. The Flycatchers 
may be distinguished by the shape of the bill, which is very broad at the 
base, slightly flattened, and by their numerous and conspicuous rictal 
bristles. The tarsus also is short, in the British species less than a quarter 
the length of the wing. 
Sharpe, in his ‘ Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum’ (iy. 
p. 149), includes twenty species in this genus. The Flycatchers inhabit 
the Palearctic, Oriental, and Aithiopian Regions, extending southwards 
to the Moluccas, but not occurring in the Australian Region. Four species 
are found in Europe, of which two breed in the British Islands and one is 
an accidental visitor. 
The Flycatchers are essentially arboreal birds, and frequent the out- 
skirts of woods, groves, and gardens. They seldom alight on the ground, 
but sit perched on the branches, from which they sally into the air to 
catch their prey, which is almost exclusively composed of insects. They 
will also occasionally eat fruit. They are birds possessing small powers of 
song. ‘Their nests, which are loosely constructed of dry grasses, moss, 
wool, feathers, &c., are built in holes of trees and walls and in crevices 
of bark. Their eggs are from four to six in number, and vary from 
pale blue completely spotless, to pale bluish green mottled and spotted 
with reddish brown. 
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