26 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



A nest of this species, which I took in June, 

 1862, was lined with the flowering heads of grasses, 

 and was bright green when four eggs were laid. 



Pied Flycatcher, MuscicajKi atricapilla. Acci- 

 dental, and found only at the period of migration in 

 S2)ring and autumn. Pennant records one example 

 of this bird, killed near Uxbridge ; and Yarrell 

 mentions a 3^oung male of the 3^ear, in his own 

 possession, killed in September, "much nearer to 

 London," but the precise locality is not stated. A 

 full description of that bird, however, is given at 

 p. 190, vol. i., of his ' History of British Birds.' 



In May, 1842, a male of this species w^as shot at 

 The Hyde, wdiich is situate between Kingsbury and 

 Hendon. In the spring of 1849, during the month 

 of May, Mr. Spencer shot a Pied Flycatcher, also a 

 male, in Mill-Field Lane, near Highgate. It was 

 sporting in the low^er branches of an oak, and at a 

 distance he at first mistook it for a Goldfinch. 



Earlj^ in May, 1859, four Pied Flycatchers, two 

 males and two females, were taken alive by a bird- 

 catcher in Bishop's \Yood, Hampstead, and one pair 

 of these I have in my collection. A fifth was caught 

 the same week, at the same place, and was sold by 

 the birdcatcher soon afterwards to an amateur col- 

 lector. 



The Hon. F. C. Bridgeman, in a notice of the 

 birds of Harrow which has lately appeared in print, 

 writes as follows : " I know of one authenticated 



