TILE PIED FLYCATCHER. 141 



THE PIED FLYCATCHEB, 



{Muscicapa luctuosa.) 



PLATE IX. FIGURE I. 



THIS species is only a summer resident in Britain, arriving about the 

 middle or end of April, and departing in September. In some few 

 districts in Westmorland, Cumberland, Yorkshire, and Durham it is 

 moderately abundant, and has also been observed in Lancashire, Der- 

 byshire, Worcestershire, and Staffordshire. A few specimens have been 

 met with in most of the southern and south-eastern counties, but as 

 they have generally been seen in the spring, it seems probable that 

 they were individuals on their way to more northern localities; the 

 bird, however, is stated to breed at Horsey and Hickling, in Norfolk. 

 It does not appear to visit Ireland, and is very rare in Scotland; in 

 Wales it has been observed in. the county of Denbighshire. 



The Pied Flycatcher resembles the Redstart in many of its habits; 

 the two species arrive about the same time, associate together, and 

 sometimes contend for the same hole to build in. A correspondent of 

 the "Magazine of Natural History" states that he once found a dead 

 Redstart in a nest of the former bird, and relates that on one occa- 

 sion a Redstart having been deprived of her own nest, took possession 

 of that belonging to a Pied Flycatcher, hatched the eggs, and brought 

 up the young. The nest, which is built about the middle of May, is 

 usually placed in a hollow tree, or a hole in a wall at a few feet 

 from the ground, but sometimes it has been found on a branch at a 

 considerable elevation. It is composed of moss, grass, leaves, straw, 

 and bark, and lined with hair and feathers. The eggs, generally five 

 or six in number, are pale greenish blue, or occasionally nearly white. 

 In a nest found by Mr. T. C. Heysham, of Carlisle, they were sym- 

 metrically arranged as follows: "One lay at the bottom, and the 

 remainder were all regularly placed perpendicularly round the side of 

 the nest, with the smaller ends resting upon it, the effect of which 

 was exceedingly beautiful." The parents take turns on the nest, and 

 the young are hatched in about fourteen days. 



