THE RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER. 27 



Birds" in 1883, four examples had been shot, and a fifth seen in Great Britain; 

 the first specimen, a female, was killed near Falmouth, on January 24th, 1863 ; the 

 second and third were shot, or caught on Trescoe, in the Scilly Isles, in October 

 of the same year; and a fourth was shot on the 5th November, 1865. On October 

 the 5th, of 1883, too late to be included by Seebohm, a male was shot at Berwick- 

 on-Tweed, and on October 23rd, 1887, a young bird was picked up on Arklow 

 (South) light-ship, near Wexford : since that time other specimens have been 

 obtained : the specimens recorded up to the end of 1 890, being thus summed up 

 by Mr. J. H. Gurney ("Zoologist," 1891, p. 136):" On September i3th, a female 

 Red-breasted Flycatcher, Muscicapa parva, Bechstein, was shot at Cley by Mr. 

 Ogilvie, the eighth on record, Cornwall being accredited with four, Ireland one, 

 Berwickshire one, and Yorkshire one, which last was shot at Scarborough, October 

 23rd, 1889, the same day of the month as the Irish example in 1887." It would 

 therefore appear that this little Flycatcher is likely to occur, especially late in the 

 autumn, upon our coasts ; and, inasmuch as one example has thereby lost its life, 

 upon an average, nearly every three years (taking the dates from 1863 to 1890), 

 the importance of admitting the species into the present work will be recognized. 



This elegant little species has a curious resemblance to our Robin, and Seebohm 

 expresses the opinion that it is "a connecting-link between the Robins and the 

 Flycatchers " ; his description of the bird is so satisfactory that, in the present 

 instance, I shall quote it in full : " The Red-breasted Flycatcher has the general 

 colour of the upper parts, except the crown, nape, and sides of the head and neck 

 which are bluish-grey, olive-brown ; central tail-feathers blackish-brown, the outer 

 ones white at base, and broadly tipped with blackish-brown ; throat and breast 

 orange-chestnut ; rest of underparts white, suffused on the flanks and under tail- 

 coverts with buff; beak brown, paler at the base; irides hazel; legs, toes, and 

 claws dark brown. The female in general colouration resembles the male, except 

 that the rich orange-chestnut throat is replaced by buff, and the bluish-grey is 

 wanting on the head and sides of the neck. 



Males of the year scarcely differ from the female, and breed in the following 

 spring in immature plumage (M. minutaj. In the second year the chestnut appears 

 on the throat (M. leucuraj ; in the third year the chestnut appears on the 

 upper breast (M. parvaj ; and in the fourth year it extends also on to the lower 

 breast" (M. hypcrythraj. "Young in first plumage are spotted on the breast and 

 upper parts, as in all the allied species." 



I believe that this is by no means the only species which has received a 

 different name for each plumage : I have alread)' noted * that examples of Mtinia 



* Foreign Finches in Captivity, p. 249. 



