THE SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER. 113 



less than five hundred and thirty-seven times in one day, 

 beginning at twenty-five minutes before 4 A.M. and end- 

 ing at ten minutes before 9 P.M. The call^note is harsh, 

 like the word Tshee, several times repeated ; it has no song. 

 The colour of the bird is a uniform hair-brown on back, 

 the head somewhat spotted with a lighter colour, the breast 

 whitish and spotted, the lower parts greyish-white. In 

 Somersetshire these birds are supposed to bring good luck : 



" If you scare the fly-catcher away, 

 No good luck will with you stay." 



THE REDSTART. 



We at times, more particularly when the stream flows 

 by an old ruined abbey, or farm buildings, or old walls, 

 come across a bird generally known as the REDSTART or 



THE REDSTART. 



FIRE-TAIL (Ruticilla phcenicurus; family, Sylvidce). And we 

 know him as he flies from us by his red tail, which is 



H 



