270 THE FLYCATCHERS 



they were again removed, and directly they were taken away the 

 bird again began building. The nest was subsequently destroyed 

 several times in succession. The bird was twice driven away by a 

 towel being thrown at it ; a stone wrapped in white paper was placed 

 on the ledge to intimidate it, but the flycatcher still persevered, com- 

 pleted a nest, and laid an egg. On hearing the circumstances, I 

 directed that the persecution of the poor bird should cease, after 

 which it laid two more eggs, hatched all three, and successfully 

 brought off its brood." l 



Gilbert White relates a rather extraordinary story illustrating the 

 sagacity with which a pair of flycatchers atoned for an error of judg- 

 ment on their part : " A pair of these little birds had one year 

 inadvertently placed their nest on a naked bough, perhaps in a shady 

 time, not being aware of the inconvenience that followed. But a hot 

 sunny season coming on before the brood was half-fledged, the reflection 

 of the wall became insupportable, and must have inevitably destroyed 

 the tender young, had not affection suggested an expedient, and 

 prompted the parent birds to hover over the nest all the hotter hours, 

 while with wings expanded, and mouths gaping for breath, they 

 screened off the heat from their suffering offspring." 2 



The food of the adult birds seems to consist almost exclusively of 

 winged insects. I have not seen the nestlings supplied with larvae of 

 any kind, neither have I seen the parents searching for food on the 

 ground. Yarrell says they have been known to feed on berries of the 

 mountain ash in autumn. 3 



The nestlings, in addition to winged insects, are fed on spiders and 

 aphides, but often the food supplied is too minute for identification. 

 Gould estimated the weight of five fully-fledged flycatchers as 1200 

 grains, and remarks : " As their sole food had been insects, what a 

 vast number must have been destroyed by the parents for the support 

 of themselves and their brood in the short space of twelve days." 4 



1 Stevenson's Birds of Norfolk, vol. i. p. 65. 



8 Natural History of Selborne (Grant Allen), p. 208. 



3 Yarrell, vol. i. p. '232, ; H. Saunders, Manual, p. 158. 



4 Birds of Great Britain. 



