PIED FLYCATCHER. u 
occurred on the 18th. of June, 1843. On the parent birds 
returning in the April of the following year to the same 
place, they were again assailed by the bees; on which they 
entirely forsook the spot, and built in a hole in a neighbouring 
stone wall. 
Their food consists of insects, which they capture in the 
air, and also, it is said, from the leaves of the trees they 
frequent. 
The note is described as pleasing, and is said to resemble 
that of the Redstart, and to be occasionally uttered on the 
wing. The bird has also a voice of alarm, resembling the 
word ‘chuck.’ 
Nidification takes place in May, and the young are hatched 
the beginning of June. 
The nest, which is composed of moss, grass, straws, chips 
of bark, leaves, and hair, is built sometimes high up in trees, 
but often only a few feet from the ground, in a hole of a 
tree, or of a wall, bridge, as also, occasionally, on a branch 
or stump of a tree; if in a hole, and it be too large, the 
bird is said to narrow the entrance with mud. This species 
seems to have a predilection for the neighbourhood of water, 
probably on account of the greater number of insects to be 
there met with. The same situation appears to be resorted 
to in successive years. 
The eggs, from four or five to seven or eight in number, 
-are small, oval, and bluish green, or sometimes nearly white; 
but they vary considerably in size and shape. Those observed 
in one nest by Mr. T. C. Heysham, of Carlisle, were disposed 
as follows:—‘One lay at the bottom, and the remainder werc 
all regularly placed perpendicularly round the side of the nest, 
with the smaller ends resting upon it, the effect of which was 
exceedingly beautiful.” The young are hatched in about a 
fortnight; both birds by turns sit on the eggs. 
These birds are said, by Meyer, to moult twice in the 
year, which causes some difference in the colours of their 
plumage. Male; weight, a little over three drachms; length, 
about five inches; bill, black; iris, dark brown. Head on the 
sides, dark brown, spotted with white; crown, black; forehead, 
white, the connexion of two white spots; neck and nape, 
brownish or greyish black; chin, throat, and breast, white, 
tinged with yellowish brown at the sides. Back, black, blackish 
grey in winter. 
The wings expand to the width of seven inches and 4 
