INSESSORES. 25 



though in others scarce. It generally builds in 

 enclosures and gardens, a favourite site being the 

 branch of a peach or pear-tree against a wall. It is 

 a fearless bird, usually allowing a near approach 

 before taking flight, and then often it will return to 

 the perch it has just left, or alight again at a little 

 distance from it. One day in July I was much in- 

 terested in watching a Spotted Flycatcher feeding 

 her young. The little family, four in number, were 

 perched upon a low bough of an elm, and huddled so 

 close together that it w^as difficult to make them out 

 until the old bird brought food, when their bills 

 were opened simultaneously. The parent bird 

 alighted in the road, and after a few seconds appa- 

 rent rest, darted into the air, seized a fly, and then 

 flew straight with it to the bough where her young 

 were. This was repeated as long as I remained 

 there, the old bird invariably alighting in the road, 

 and with one motion seizing a fly and conveying it 

 to its destination. Hence I was unable to ascertain, 

 and have not yet discovered, whether the bird 

 walks or hops, for it always rose from the spot where 

 it alighted. It is a very silent bird, and I have never 

 heard it utter any song. 



Mr. Jesse, in the second part of his ' Gleanings,' 

 mentions a nest of this Flycatcher which w^as found 

 fixed in the ornamental crown on the top of a lamp 

 near Portland Place in London, containing five eggs 

 which had been sat upon ! 



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