24 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



Although in no way gregarious, it may yet in 

 a sense be deemed social, inasmuch as not only 

 does it often migrate in small companies I have 

 frequently seen several together on their first 

 arrival at their summer quarters but also because 

 a good many pairs frequently nest in the same wood, 

 in which case the birds and especially the males 

 while their partners are busy incubating are often 

 to be found in little parties numbering from three 

 to six. I have known over a dozen pairs to breed 

 in one wood of no lordly acreage ; I have seen 

 two nests within a very few yards of one another. 



This Flycatcher is essentially a hole-breeder ; 

 its home must invariably be sought in a hole in a 

 tree, or, sometimes, in one in masonry or natural 

 rock. Oaks are general favourites, but birches, ashes, 

 alders, willows, fruit trees and firs all periodically 

 shelter the abode of the Pied Flycatcher. The 

 selected hole may be at any elevation from the 

 ground : now the nest reposes in a decayed stump 

 only a foot or so from the soil, again it lies in a 

 knot-hole as much as forty feet up in a tree, while 

 Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers' deserted 

 dwellings are readily requisitioned. I have never 

 yet known a Pied Flycatcher use a hole which only 

 just admitted it, though on the other hand, even 

 if the eggs are visible, the entrance is always 

 sufficiently restricted as to necessitate the cutting 

 or breaking away of wood, ere they can be reached 

 by hand. A small ' scoop" is, therefore, often 

 useful. 



