220 



P ASSURE*. 



MUSCICAPID^E. 



MUSCICAPID^V. 



MUSCICAPA GRISOLA, Linnaeus*. 

 THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHEK. 



Muscicapa grisola. 



MUSCICAPA, Linncem^. Bill of moderate length, broad and depressed at the 

 base ; compressed and slightly curved towards the point. Nostrils basal, 

 lateral, and partly concealed by the frontal plumes. Gape beset with bristles. 

 Feet small, the tarsus about the same length as the middle toe, which is much 

 longer than the lateral toes. "Wings long and pointed, the first primary very 

 short, the second rather shorter than the third, fourth, and fifth, which are 

 the longest in the wing. 



THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER is one of the latest, but, at the 

 same time, one of the most regular of our summer- visitors. 

 White of Selborne remarks, even more than once, in his 

 miscellaneous observations published in Jesse's * Gleanings,' 

 that it arrives on the 20th of May. Selby says, this bird 

 seldom makes its appearance till the oak-leaf is partly ex- 

 panded, but begins its nest almost immediately on its arrival. 



Syst. Nut. Ed. 12, i. p. 328 (1866). 



t Tom. cit. p. 324. 



