262 THE FLYCATCHERS 



form inhabits Western Asia, from Palestine and Transcaspia east to Dauria and 

 Afghanistan. In the British Isles it is very widely and generally distributed in 

 Great Britain, but becomes scarce in North Scotland, and does not nest in the 

 Outer Hebrides, though it breeds in Skye and some of the Inner Hebrides. It is 

 also said to have nested in the Orkneys, but not in the Shetlands. In Ireland, 

 although recorded as breeding in every county, it is somewhat local, and not particu- 

 larly common. In winter it is found in tropical and Southern Africa, whither it 

 migrates in autumn, passing southward through Arabia and Africa (both on the 

 east and west sides). It has occasionally been found as far south as Cape Colony 

 and Natal, but winters in greater numbers farther north. [F. c. R. j.] 



3. Migration. A summer visitor which is one of the latest of our 

 summer guests to reach our shores, never doing so in any numbers until May 

 has come. In fact, all April records may be looked upon as unusual, and 

 records as early as April 9th (Yorkshire) and 10th (Unst, Shetland, 1906 ; also 

 Devon, 1909 ; and Herts, 1909) are without parallel. The immigratory move- 

 ment is at its height about mid-May, and dwindles away towards the end of 

 the month. It appears to take place all along the south coast of England, but 

 perhaps more markedly on the eastern half. Early in August the return move- 

 ment sets in, and nearly all the birds have left us by the third week of September, 

 although stragglers have been recorded as late as the middle of October (Cf . Saunders, 

 Itt. Man. B. B., 2nd ed., 1899, p. 157 ; Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, 

 pp. 46, 47 ; Nelson, B. of Yorks., 1907, p. 148 ; Ticehurst, B. of Kent, 1909, pp. 125- 

 26 : B. O. C. Migration Reports, ii. p. 115 ; iv. pp. 190-91 ; and v. p. 113 ; and 

 T. E. Saxby, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1907, p. 50). Whether any of the spotted- 

 flycatchers recorded from the northern Scottish isles are birds of passage on their 

 way to and from Northern Europe is doubtful. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. In England the nest is very frequently built on houses 

 or outbuildings and in gardens, although some nests are far from any human 

 habitation. A very favourite site is on a projecting beam (whence it derives the 

 name of " beam-bird "), while holes in brick walls, trellis- work, hinges of doors, 

 and spouting are all utilised, and many nests are built in ivy, creepers, or wall 

 fruit-trees. A more natural site is against the trunk of some old tree, or on a ledge 

 of rock, while a good many instances are on record in which the nest has been built 

 inside that of some other species. Many extraordinary cases of breeding inside 

 cups, lanterns, or dead animals exposed on a keeper's gibbet, etc., may also be 

 found recorded. The materials used are sometimes very scanty, and consist of 



