324 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



tween England and Wales, and in several districts in the latter 

 principality. In Scotland it becomes scarcer, but has ap- 

 parently nested in Inverness-shire, and has even occurred in the 

 Orkney Islands on migration. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Pied Flycatcher breeds 

 in most of the countries throughout Europe and North Africa, 

 extending up to 69 N. lat. in Scandinavia, 65 in Finland, 

 and 60 in the Ural Mountains, its eastern breeding range 

 being limited, according to Mr. Seebohm, by 70 E. long. 

 In winter it visits North-eastern Africa and Senegambia. 



NOTE. The Collared Flycatcher, Ficedida collaris, has also been re- 

 corded as a British bird, but apparently on insufficient evidence. 



Habits. The Pied Flycatcher returns to its northern breed- 

 ing home before the Spotted Flycatcher, and arrives towards 

 the end of April. Although so differently coloured from the 

 latter bird, its habits are very similar ; and it frequents gardens 

 on the Continent, but in England it is a bird of the wilder dis- 

 tricts as a rule. Its food consists almost entirely of insects, 

 but it also feeds on worms and berries at certain seasons. Its 

 song is feeble and short, and like that of a Redstart. 



Nest. Made of grass, leaves, and feathers, with sometimes a 

 little wool and hair added. It is always placed under cover, 

 in a hole of a tree, or more rarely in a crevice of a wall or 

 rock. 



Eggs. From four to eight, the last number being by no 

 means uncommon, of a pale blue, perfectly spotless. Axis, 

 07-0-8 inch ; diam., 0-55-0-6. Though .coloured like those 

 of the Hedge-Sparrow, the eggs of the Pied Flycatcher are 

 smaller, and the shell is more fragile. 



THE RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHERS. GENUS SIPHIA. 



Siphia, Hodgson, Ind. Review, i., p. 651 (1839). 



Type, S. strophrata (Hodgson). 



This genus contains three species, which have been placed 

 by ourselves and most ornithologists in the genus Musdcapa. 

 Mr. Gates, however, one of the most careful systematic 



