PIED FLYCATCHER. 329 



be the eastern limit of its range) only to lat. 57. It is a common, but 

 somewhat local, summer visitor to France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany. 

 In Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece, South Russia, and Asia Minor it is prin- 

 cipally known as passing through on migration, though it is possible that 

 a few may remain to breed. It is found in the Caucasus and North Persia, 

 but whether as a summer or winter visitant is not known. In Palestine 

 Canon Tristram says that it is a rare summer visitor ; Heuglin says that it 

 passes through Xorth-east Africa on migration ; but in Algeria it appears 

 to be a resident, and in West Africa it has occurred as far south as the 

 Gambia, but only as a winter visitant, as it is also in the island of Teneriffe. 



Referring to its occurrence in Algeria, Dixon writes : " In many parts 

 of Algeria the Pied Flycatcher is a very common bird throughout the year, 

 and its conspicuous plumage arrests the attention at once. In the 

 luxuriant valley below Constantine it \vas to be seen on the outskirts of 

 the fig-groves, also in the fast drying-up bed of the river Roumel, where 

 its favourite perching-places were the old roots and heaps of refuse brought 

 down by the floods. In the oases^of El Kantara and Biskra it was also a 

 fairly common bird, and was very frequently to be seen perched on the 

 old leaf-stems on the tops of the date-palms. At the former oasis one or 

 two pairs of this bird were breeding in the holes in the apricot-trees, 

 showing no fear of man ; whilst at Oued Taga, at an elevation of 5000 feet, 

 it was an inhabitant of the Arab gardens. In its habits and flight, and in 

 its manner of searching for food, it did not differ from the Spotted Fly- 

 catcher, its inseparable companion." 



The Pied Flycatcher, although it looks such a very different bird, and 

 lays such very differently coloured eggs, has many points in common with 

 the Spotted Flycatcher. Like that bird, it is very fond of gardens. At 

 Valkenswaard we found it in eveiy garden in the village; and in Tron- 

 dhjem its song resounded from every square in the middle of the town. It 

 was equally common in the wildest scenery ; and we took a nest in a hollow 

 elm tree in Romsdal, a magnificent valley, somewhat like Dove Dale in 

 Derbyshire on a large scale. Its choice of a haunt in our own country is 

 given to the wilder districts. In the birch-copses far in the wild it may 

 be seen, also in the deepest and quietest woods it shares the solitude with 

 the Woodpecker ; whilst far amongst the mountains, on the wooded shores 

 of those lakes that sleep so peacefully beneath the frowning hills, it finds 

 a suitable home. Insects abound near the waters, and on such an un- 

 failing supply of food its young are safely reared. Unlike the Spotted 

 Flycatcher, the present species is an early migrant, arriving usually in 

 the last week of April, and soon afterwards commencing the duties of 



^ 



incubation. 



In many of its movements the Pied Flycatcher resembles its dingy 

 congener. Far more of a restless species than a shy one, it may fre- 



