THE SPOTTED OR GRAY FLYCATCHER. 97 



and several pieces of twine, cotton, and worsted, art- 

 fully wove all round the structure. There are also a few 

 feathers, and here and there portions of spiders' webs 

 and the wings of insects. The inside is composed of a 

 few fine rootlets and a thick lining of horsehair, and is 

 but two inches across. The eggs, four, five, or even six 

 in number, are of a pale greenish ground colour, blotched 

 and spotted with various shades of reddish - brown. 

 Some specimens are encircled with a ring of colour- 

 ing matter round the large end ; others have the colour- 

 ing more evenly distributed ; while yet, again, many 

 are clouded all over with pale red. Many eggs of the 

 Flycatcher closely resemble those of the Robin. Fly- 

 catchers not unfrequently commence sitting as soon as 

 the first egg is deposited, and you often find their nests 

 containing fresh eggs and eggs in which the embryos are 

 considerably developed. Silence is displayed by the 

 Flycatcher as a protective power. 



The young are fed on insect food, and when fully 

 fledged differ considerably from their parents, by being 

 1 spotted ' Flycatchers in the true sense of the word. I 

 do not consider that any particularity in the young of 

 any species of birds should contribute to, or influence, 

 the naming of the adult birds. The Flycatcher when at 

 maturity is not what you might call spotted, for you 

 only find a few spots on the head, and one or two streaks 

 on the breast, therefore the name of ' gray ' Flycatcher 

 is much more preferable. 



When the young can leave the nest they still keep 

 in the company of their parents, and we see them in the 

 late summer months in little parties, perched on fences 

 or the lower branches, flitting away as we approach, 

 occasionally catching the insects or uttering their pleas- 

 ing call notes. We find them most active early in the 



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