PIED FLYCATCHER 



PLATE XXXVII. 

 Muscicapa atricapilla^ . LINNAEUS. 



XT IDIFICATION takes place in May, and the young 

 IN are hatched the beginning of June. 



The nest, which is composed of moss, grass, straws, 

 chips of bark, leaves, and hair, is built sometimes high up 

 in trees, but often only a few feet from the ground, in a 

 hole of a tree, or of a wall, or bridge, as also, occasionally, 

 on a branch or stump of a tree. This species seems to 

 have a predilection for the neighbourhood of water, pro- 

 bably on account of the greater number of insects to be 

 met with there. The same situation appears to be resorted 

 to in successive years. Booth remarks that they appear 

 to prefer situations more densely wooded than their relative 

 the Spotted Flycatcher. I observed two or three pairs 

 among the fine old timber in the large woods in the park 

 at Edenhall ; and they also frequented the plantations on 

 the banks of the Eden. 



The eggs, from four or five to seven or eight in 

 number, are small, oval, of a beautiful pale blue, or some- 

 times nearly white, and usually perfectly free from spots ; 

 though Newton and Saunders say there are occasionally 



a few fine specks of reddish brown. Those observed in 



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