Society for the Protection of Birds. 
EDUCATIONAL SERIES. Edited by H. E. DRESSER, F.L.S.,,. F.Z.9, 
No. 17,—FLYCATCHERS. 
By JOHN R. B. MASEFIEED, M.A, 
Vice-President North Staffordshire Field Club. 
“ The Flycatcher is of all our summer birds the most mute, and the most familiar.” —Gilbert White. 
FLYCATCHER, 
I. Name-—FLYCATCHERS. 
Family—Muscicapide, 
Genus—Muscicapa. M. grisola. Spotted Flycatcher, 
M. atricapilla. Pied Flycatcher. 
II. Genera] Description. 
SporreD FrycatcHer.—The male scarcely differs from the female in plumage: head 
and back light brown, with a few darker brown streaks on the top of the head ; 
wings and tail darker brown; breast dull white and chin purer white, and both 
spotted or with short streaks of dark brown; under parts white; legs, toes, and 
claws very dark brown, almost black; irides hazel, bristles around the base of the 
beak; beak broad at the base, dark brown, and curved near the tip of the upper 
mandible. The greater portion of the feathers of the young are tipped with light 
buff, giving the bird a truly “spotted” appearance. In autumn, just previous to 
migration, the young assume a more adult plumage, only much lighter in colour 
generally and still retaining a few spotted feathers. Total length, 54 in:; wing, 
34 in.; tail, 2¢ in. 
Illustration by Joseph Wolf, from “British Birds in their Haunts,” by kind permission of the Society for 
Promoting Christian Knowledge, 
