THE PRED FLYCATCHER 
MUSCICAPA ATRICAPILLA 
Loca names in surrounding counties : 
Status IN British Avirauna: A local summer visitor, 
chiefly to Wales, the we of England, and the south of 
Scotland. wae 
Raprat DistRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES oF St. 
Paut’s: Nearly a hundred years ago Graves records 
that the Pied Flycatcher nested at Peckham, and in our 
own time it has been found doing so at ‘Tooting, in 
Highgate Woods, and at Epping. It has been frequently 
observed in woods at Hampstead, and even noticed in 
Kensington Gardens, during migration. Little more can 
be said of the distribution of the Pied Flycatcher in the 
Metropolitan area. It is a species that often wanders 
out of its usual course during spring and autumn passage, 
and at those periods may occasionally stray into districts 
near London. A bird that casually visits such a central 
locality as Kensington Gardens may in the course of its 
errantry be observed almost anywhere, so that we need 
not dwell at greater length upon its local distribution 
here. 
The habits of the Pied Flycatcher very closely resemble 
those of the preceding species. It arrives earlier, during 
the last half of April, leaving in September. In our 
islands this bird shows a preference for the wilder districts, 
the birch coppices and open woodlands where streams and 
pools abound, but in other lands it is equally partial to 
gardens and orchards. Its food chiefly consists of insects, 
which are mostly chased and captured in the air, but small 
fruits are also eaten. ‘The short and low-toned song of 
the male bears some resemblance to that of the Redstart. 
The Pied Flycatcher breeds in May, and the nest is always 
made in a hole of some kind, in a tree or wall for preference. 
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