274 THE FLYCATCHERS 



himself with excitement and pride, as he introduces a mate to the 

 home he has found. If the hen approves, the cock remains still in 

 charge of the spot, for it may be some days yet before the hen begins 

 to build." 1 



When the hens have chosen their mates, jealousy between the 

 males seems to disappear. Mr. Walpole Bond says : " Many pairs will 

 be found nesting in the same wood, in which case the birds (the males 

 especially, when their busy partners are incubating) are often seen in 

 little parties of from three to six. I have known over a dozen pairs 

 breeding in one wood of no great extent." 2 Mr. Macpherson relates 

 an amusing instance of re-awakened jealousy on the part of a male : 

 " One afternoon in May I found a pair of pied-flycatchers and a single 

 male flitting about the thorn bushes which overhang the river. The 

 males sang cheerily, particularly the young one, and the old cock 

 came and perched on a green spray just over my head, as I crouched 

 all but motionless in the grass. Several sharp tussles occurred 

 between the two males, while the paired female looked quietly on, 

 admiring the prowess of her champion." 3 



Unlike the spotted-flycatcher, this species always builds in holes, 

 and where there happens to be a dearth of these, sharp contests often 

 take place between redstarts, tits, and pied-flycatchers for possession 

 of a coveted site. The hole selected is usually in the decayed stump of 

 a tree, but sometimes in loose stone walls. Pollard-willows, birches, 

 oaks, and hawthorns provide suitable accommodation ; the height of 

 the nesting-hole varies from close to the ground to about 10 or 12 feet 

 up. Nests have been found considerably higher up, but these are rare. 



Usually the whole of the building and incubating is done by the 

 hen while her mate mounts guard, but as individual birds of all 

 species vary in disposition, so occasionally the cock pied-flycatcher 

 has been known to take his turn upon the eggs. 4 Both nest and eggs 

 are similar to those of the redstart, and as these two species arrive 



1 Granville Sharp, Birds in a Garden, p. 77. * Country Life, 1907, p. 079. 



1 Fauna of Lakeland, p. 125. * Bailly, Oi-nithologie de la Savoic, ii. 62. 



