THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER 173 



vicinity of houses. As Mr. Johns says of these 

 birds : * They have neither song to recommend 

 them, nor brilliancy of colouring ; yet the absence 

 of these qualities is more than compensated by 

 the confidence they repose in the innocent inten- 

 tions of the human beings whose protection they 

 claim by their strong local attachments, and by 

 their unceasing activity in the pursuit of flying 

 insects.' 



It may be said that wherever there are plenty of 

 flies there are sure to be flycatchers ; but these 

 birds are so unobtrusive in their plumage and 

 vocal powers as to frequently escape notice. One 

 hears a weak little chirping, and on turning round 

 to ascertain whence it proceeds, a small brown 

 bird, with a pale-gray breast faintly spotted with 

 darker gray, may be observed perched on some 

 post or railing, apparently doing and thinking 

 of nothing ; but its quick eye has detected some 

 unlucky insect, which, all unconscious of danger, is 

 winging its way into the very jaws of death. A 

 dart, a flutter of wings, and the bird is back again at 

 its post, as still as if it had never left it, but the 

 insect is no more. And thus it passes the day- 

 light hours, from time to time disgorging its 

 collection of flies into the widely-opened mouths 

 of its young ones in their nest in some neighbour- 

 ing bush or bough. 



Three varieties of flycatchers are included 

 amongst our British birds, viz., the spotted, 

 pied, and red-breasted. The last-named is, how- 



