20 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



Family MUSCICAPIDsE. 



THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. 



Muscicapa grisola, LINN. 



HOWARD SAUNDERS states that this species "breeds as far north as 

 Tromso, in Norway, and Archangel, in Russia; while southward it is 

 tolerably abundant throughout Europe, nesting down to the northern shores of the 

 Mediterranean ; also on the African side, and in Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia, 

 Turkestan, and Siberia as far as Irkutsk. In winter it visits India, Arabia, and 

 Africa to the Cape of Good Hope." 



In Great Britain the Spotted Flycatcher breeds in suitable localities in every 

 county, but in England and Wales it is far more abundant, and more generally 

 distributed than in Scotland and Ireland : its distribution in the latter island is 

 certainly local, and it is probable that some counties are unsuited to its requirements. 



The colouring of this bird is decidedly sombre, its upper surface being brown, 

 slightly paler and with dark shaft-streaks on the crown ; the wings and tail darker 

 brown, with paler margins to the wing-coverts and secondaries : its under surface 

 is greyish white ; the breast and flanks slightly buff brownish, and streaked with 

 brown, as also is the throat ; bill dark brown ; feet black ; iris dark hazel. The 

 female resembles the male. The young have buff centres to the feathers of the 

 upper surface, whilst the wing-coverts, secondaries, and tail-coverts are tipped with 

 this colour. 



The Spotted Flycatcher haunts the outskirts of woods, high hedges on the 

 borders of parks and pleasure-grounds, plantations of hazel, orchards, and gardens, 

 and in such places it breeds, usually placing its nest either in a slight depression 

 in the branch of a tree, frequently near the trunk, or on the branch of a fruit-tree 

 trained against a wall ; it has, however, been known to build in crevices of the 

 bark of old trees, in trellis-work overgrown with creepers, and I have taken the 

 nest from the hollow top of a tree stump, from a tall hawthorn hedge, and one in 

 my collection was taken from a narrow hole in a wall.* The form of the nest 

 varies in accordance with its surroundings ; if placed upon a branch or in the top 



* It is said also to have been found among roots overhanging water, and in metal gutters on roofs of 

 houses. 



