PIED FLYCATCHER 29 



telegraph wire or rock-boulder (the latter a common 

 object in most of the bird's haunts) is used as a 

 stage. After the young are hatched the song is 

 of a desultory nature, for the male, though taking 

 no share in nest-building and little in incubation, 

 does assist in feeding his progeny. 



Sometimes the Pied Flycatcher's nest is a joint- 

 stock affair. In different homes of this bird I have 

 found eggs of the Redstart (Do these two species 

 ever cross? because on May 6th, 1903, to par- 

 ticularize, I watched a male Redstart pursuing a 

 female Pied Flycatcher, obviously with intent 

 amorous), Great, Blue, and Marsh-Tits, while in 

 some such instances both kinds of birds have helped 

 to rear the mixed brood. Occasionally a pair of 

 house-hunting Tits not only oust the Flycatchers 

 completely from their quarters, but will even con- 

 struct their own nest atop of that of the latter, even 

 though it holds eggs. For example, on June 10th, 

 1903, investigating a Pied Flycatcher's hole, I 

 found a Blue Tit sitting on seven eggs of its own 

 in a nest built over the former's, which, in turn, 

 contained six eggs. This usurping and eviction on 

 the part of other small hole-breeders does not, of 

 course, take origin from any love those birds may 

 bear towards the Pied Flycatcher, but is simply 

 owing to the fact that in some districts there are 

 not enough suitable holes to go round. The 

 eviction one can well understand : it occurs with 

 several hole-nesting species, the weakest, of course, 



