26 BLACK-AND-WHITE BIRDS. 



The Pied Flycatcher has the distinction of being 

 the smallest hlach-and-ivhite British bird. It is of 

 a ratlier rotund, Chat- like build, frequenting the 

 woodside, where it perches on a fence, some lower 

 projecting branch, or in a similarly open situation, 

 darting out to take insects on the wing, and return- 

 ing to the same or a similar perch in the manner 

 of the Common Flycatcher. Sometimes it goes to 

 the ground to take an insect, but never remains 

 there. When perching, the bird often holds its 

 wings drooping, and rocks the rather short, bluntly 

 forked tail slowly up and down. It is a very 

 silent bird, only occasionally uttering a Chat-like 

 ' Tach ! ' The song is a weak warble. There is only 

 one other bird with which, because of its similarly 

 black-and-white markings, it might be confounded 

 — the Pied Wagtail. But the latter is for the 

 most part a bird of the water-side, takes its food 

 on the ground, goes with a walking gait (the Pied 

 Flycatcher hops), and has a long and ceaselessly 

 wagging tail. It is, moreover, generally distributed 

 throughout the British Isles, whilst the Pied Fly- 

 catcher is restricted to the areas mentioned above. 

 Further, the female of the Pied Flycatcher is quite 

 different in colouring from the male of her own 

 species, being grayish -brown in the upper parts, 

 and having the white of the lower parts sullied. 

 Still, she has the white wing-patches and white 

 in the outer tail-feathers of the male. The nest is 

 always placed under cover, and I have found it in a 

 natural cavity at the base of an oak. A further 

 Chat-like quality in the Pied Flycatcher is that she 

 lays plain blue eggs. 



