MUSCICAPA ATRICAPILLA 179 



spot. Many hours of the day are thus spent, and the number of 

 insects devoured by a single bird must be considerable. 



The notes of this species are faint and insignificant, the call note 

 being a low chirp. 



The Spotted Flycatcher generally builds its nest in a shallow hole 

 in a wall or bank, and often on the knotted bole of a tree-trunk. The 

 nest is composed of moss and fine fibres, lined with wool and hair, and 

 the eggs, four or five in number, are pale greenish, spotted with 

 reddish-brown, chiefly at the larger end. Average measurements 

 17 X 14 mm. 



Loche includes the Eed-breasted Flycatcher {M. parva) among the 

 birds of Algeria, as an accidental visitor, but I have never heard of 

 the species having been found in Tunisia. 



MUSCICAPA ATRICAPILLA, Linnaeus. 

 PIED FLYCATCHER. 



Muscicapa atricapilla, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 326 (1766) ; Sharpe, Cat. 



Birds Brit. Mus. iv, p. 157; Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 58 (1867); 



Koenig, J. f. 0. 1892, p. 387 ; Whitaker, Lhis, 1895, p. 97. 

 Muscicapa speculigera Loche, E.i-pl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 60 (1867). 

 Muscicapa luctuosa, Koenig, J.f. 0. 1888, p. 187. 

 Muscicapa atricapilla speculigera, Erlanger, J. f. 0. 1899, p. 505. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Ghardimaou, North Tunisia. 



Above black, with the exception of a white frontal patch, and some 

 eonspieuous white markings on the secondaries and greater wing-coverts, 

 as well as a small white alar patch on the base of the inner primaries ; rump 

 rather lighter, owing to an admixture of whitish feathers ; entire underparts 

 pure white. 



Iris very dark hazel ; bill and feet black. 



Total length 5 inches, wing 3-20, culmen '35, tarsus -70. 



Adult female resembles the male in the distribution of its markings, 

 but has the darker parts hair-brown instead of black, more white on the 

 exterior rectrices, and the underparts less pure white. 



Observations. — Immature males greatly resemble females and can 

 scarcely be distinguished from them. In autumn the male plumage 

 becomes lighter and browner. The white frontal patch varies considerably 

 in size, probably according to age or season. 



