[ s2eed 
Prep FrycatcHEer.—Forehead white; top of head, nape, back, and upper tail feathers, 
black ; other tail feathers partially edged with white; outer wing coverts black ; 
smaller wing coverts edged with white; beak, legs, toes, and claws black ; irides 
dark brown; breast and lower parts of body white. The female is without the 
white forehead, and of a much browner black where black in the male; wing 
coverts edged white; under parts dull white. The young are partially spotted 
with dark brown. Total length about 5 in.; wings, 3 in.; tail, 2 in. 
III. Where, when, and in what Numbers found. 
Tue Srorrep Frycatcuer.—A common summer migrant, arriving about the second 
week in May and leaving our shores again about the middle of September, or sometimes as 
late as October. Very generally distributed throughout the British Isles, but becoming 
yarer towards the North of Scotland, and somewhat local in Ireland. 
Tur Prep FrycatcHer.—Also a summer migrant to the wilder parts of the North and 
North-Eastern Counties of England, and frequently met with in the Lake District and in the 
valleys of the mountainous parts of Mid and North Wales. This bird also occurs, and 
occasionally breeds, in the Midland Counties of England and in Scotland, and has been met 
with a few times in Ireland. It arrives in April, leaving again in September. 
IV. Food. 
Both of these Flycatchers feed exclusively on insects, although an instance has been 
recorded of the Spotted Flycatcher feeding on earth-worms when pressed by hunger in cold 
weather. The value of both species to the gardener and farmer is 
inestimable. An unfortunate idea that Flycatchers occasionally feed 
on ripe cherries has never been substantiated or proved, and such 
a report has, no doubt, arisen from the Flycatchers feeding on the 
flies and other insects which are attracted to the ripe fruit, and 
this has unfortunately given the Spotted Flycatcher the local name 
of ‘cherry sucker’? in Kent. The food of these birds must be in a 
living state or just killed, or they will not take it. 
VY. Characteristics. 
Tue SpotreD FiycarcHer is,as Gilbert White most truly states, 
of a “familiar” and trusting nature, frequenting the homes and 
haunts of man, orchards and lawns. It may easily be identified by 
its habit of perching on a dead branch, a wooden or iron railing, or 
some other open or conspicuous perch from which it may clearly 
view the flies and other insects flying near, at which it makes a 
sudden dash, hovering momentarily while seizing its prey with un- 
erring alm, with a distinct snap of the beak, and then returning again 
to its station to watch for more. This will often be repeated time 
after time until the insects in that near vicinity have been cleared 
away, and then the little bird will move off to another advantageous 
perch. The Spotted Flycatcher is a late as well as early feeding bird, 
often catching moths and beetles in the twilight and again being on 
the alert with the early dawn. When feeding its young, this bird sometimes captures a 
number of insects, holding them all in its beak until visiting the nest. Although it has a 
little, low song, it is seldom heard, and Gilbert White accordingly describes it as “the 
most mute of all our summer birds.” Its ordinary note is a weak chirp resembling “ tic, 
Illustration from “ A Mendip Valley,” by kind permission of Mr, Theodore Compton. 
