290 On the Ornithology/ of Wilts [Muscicapidw']. 



providing itself food, indeed it would seem that it has need of all its 

 activity to satisfy the wants of itself and its nestlings, so diminutive 

 is its prey, and so many victims are daily needed : taking its stand 

 on the extreme end of sorne bough, post, rail or stone, the fly- 

 catcher awaits the passing insect, which its quick eye can discern at 

 a considerable distance, and then to sally forth after it, snap it up in 

 its beak, and return to its former station, is the work of an instant. 

 The most prominent characteristics of this family are the narrow 

 compressed bill, with sharp tip and strong bristles at the base, and 

 the small size of the feet. 



"Spotted Flycatcher" (Micscicapa grisola). Very common indeed 

 and most regular in its arrival in the middle of May is this little 

 brown sober-coloured quiet bird : we may see it every day during 

 the summer in our orchards, gardens and fields : it does not arrive 

 till late, for it awaits the time when the insects which compose its 

 food, the whole race of flies and gnats, are in full vigour, and of 

 these it clears ofi'an incredible number: it has been accused of de- 

 stroying fruit, especially cherries, but, I believe, entirely without 

 foundation, owing to its unfortunate similarity to another little 

 bird, the Greater Pettichaps, whose taste certainly does lie that 

 way. It is known in difierent parts of the country as the "Rafter" 

 or "Beam" bird, an appellation it derives from the position so often 

 chosen for its nest, the end of a beam or rafter in an outhouse : it 

 is also called the " bee bird," from its partiality for that insect, and 

 that this is not one of the popular fallacies so common about birds, 

 but that it does occasionally eat bees, which has been disputed by 

 many, has been verified by Mr. B. Hayward of Easterton, who not 

 only saw one devouring several bees at the mouth of a hive, but 

 afterwards proved it beyond a doubt by dissection. It has no song, 

 and indeed no note whatever, but a feeble chirp very rarely heard 

 at the end of the season. White of Selborne, calls it " the most 

 mute and the most familiar of all our summer birds." 



"Pied Flj^catcher" (3IusciccqM atrkapilla) . Yeiy rare in this 

 county, nowhere common, but not very infrequent in the Northern 

 counties is this handsome bird, often styled from its plumage the 

 miniature magpie, which term indeed 8uflB,ciently describes its 



