MUSCICAPID.E. 



is rare in Scotland. Mr. Selby observed it in Sutherland- 

 shire in June 1834 ; and it is also found in Denmark, 

 Norway, and Sweden. It is a common bird on the Eu- 

 ropean Continent. It is found at Corfu, Sicily, Malta, 

 Crete, and eastward as far as Erzeroom, and its range 

 extends to western and southern Africa, even as far as 

 the Cape. 



The beak is dark brown ; the irides hazel ; the head 

 and the whole of the upper surface of the body and wing- 

 coverts hair brown, the quills and tail-feathers being a 

 little darker, with a few dark brown spots on the top of 

 the head ; the tertials with a narrow margin of light 

 brown ; the under parts dull white, with a patch of light 

 brown across the upper part of the breast, and a few dark 

 brown streaks or spots upon that and the chin, with a 

 clear white space between ; the sides and flanks tinged 

 with yellowish brown ; legs, toes, and claws, black. 

 Males and females are alike in plumage. 

 The whole length of the bird is five inches and five- 

 eighths. From the carpal joint to the end of the longest 

 quill-feather, three inches and three-eighths : the first fea- 

 ther of the wing very short, only about one third of the 

 length of the second ; the second very little shorter than 

 the fourth ; the third feather the longest of the whole. 



The young, when ready to leave the nest, are truly 

 Spotted Flycatchers, each brown feather having a buff- 

 coloured tip, the ends of the great wing-coverts forming 

 a pale wood-brown bar across the wing ; under surface 

 white. After their first moult, they may be distinguished 

 from older birds by the broader buff-coloured outer mar- 

 gins of the tertials. 



