PIED FLYCATCHEE 23 



fly on which the young would be chiefly nourished. 

 If this be so, that insect must be excessively local, 

 for putting Wales and its border counties aside, 

 the Pied Flycatcher is of abnormal occurrence as 

 a nester till the Peak, Yorkshire, Lancashire, 

 Northumberland, Durham, and the Lakes are 

 reached. Only very few districts in Scotland 

 where the bird is extraordinarily local afford 

 shelter to this lovable species, while in Ireland it 

 is practically unknown, and has never bred there. 



The Pied Flycatcher generally begins to reach 

 its Welsh resorts between April 15th and April 

 22nd (April 13th is my earliest record), but the 

 bulk have not arrived until the very end of that 

 month, while up north of course in Lake-land, 

 for instance even the advance guard is seldom 

 present before the ' ' twenties ' ' of April. The males 

 always precede the gentler sex, often by a week. 



The Pied Flycatcher is a fussy and restless 

 sprite of the woodlands ; even when perched it is 

 restless, flicking up wings and tail incessantly. It 

 seldom indulges in lengthy flights, but merely 

 flits from tree to tree with somewhat jerky and 

 weak motions. Although it is prone to procure 

 its insect-diet somewhat after the fashion of the 

 Spotted Flycatcher, it is nothing like so constant 

 either in this respect or in that of returning, after 

 each aerial foray, to that stand from which it 

 started. Indeed, quite often is food hurriedly 

 snatched from off the ground. 



