96 RURAL BIRD LIFE 



his bright and piercing eye is ever on the watch, and 

 woe betide the unlucky insect that happens to flit un- 

 consciously by. With a bound, the ever wary bird 

 flutters into the air, and, circling about for a moment, we 

 hear, if stationed near at hand, the sharp snap of his 

 bill as it seizes the tempting morsel. Flycatchers are 

 often seen hovering in airy flight over the meadow grass, 

 every now and then alighting to secure the small insects 

 and beetles lurking on the stems of herbage. They will 

 sometimes pursue an unusually large insect for fifty 

 yards or more, and then we see the Flycatcher's peculiar 

 flight to perfection. This bird is not the only one who 

 secures its food in this manner, for Chaffinches, Warblers, 

 Pipits, Whinchats, and Wagtails are frequently seen in 

 the air doing likewise. The Flycatcher is often seen on 

 manure heaps, feeding on the small beetles, like the 

 well-know r n Chaffinch. They are also seen searching old 

 walls for food, by fluttering before and occasionally 

 clinging to them. In examining the Flycatcher you 

 will notice a few bristles round the gape, and many 

 writers will inform you that these bristles aid the bird 

 in securing his food. But this is an error, as there are 

 many birds equally expert at flycatching who have not 

 a single one. 



The nest of the Flycatcher is found in various situa- 

 tions. You see it in a cleft of the rugged bark of some 

 hoary elm, or placed on some convenient bough of the 

 stately oak ; on old walls, amongst ivy, in the branches 

 of the pear tree growing up the garden wall, or even 

 in the trelliswork beside your threshold, amongst the 

 climbing woodbine and rose, and always supported on 

 one side at least. Let us examine one of their nests, 

 built in a crevice of the bark of this stately elm. The 

 outside is composed of coarse and dry grass, a little moss, 



