UNCOMMON AND MEMOEABLE 143 



its head, an orange-red throat, and a large white patch 

 below the throat ; also a grey sort of frill round the red 

 throat, merging into the white below. At the first sight 

 the bird looked like a robin. Then we saw the slender 

 build, the grey on the head, the large white patch, and 

 my boy said, in a low whisper: "It's a red- throated 

 flycatcher." The bird then flew across the path to 

 another tree ; it was within ten feet of us, and we could 

 see it well. After that it flew away. We looked at the 

 picture in Thorb urn's "British Birds" on our return 

 home, and the red-throated flycatcher was exactly like our 

 bird. I am very anxious to know what your readers think. 

 There have only been eighteen specimens seen in Eng- 

 land, so I am prepared for some doubts. But two people 

 saw the bird very close, and had about one and a half 

 minutes to watch it. The difference in shape between 

 our dear, dumpy robin and this elegant creature was very 

 marked. And the orange-red colour only covered the 

 throat the bird was white on the breast. 



H. M. GIBBON. 



July 12, 1919. 



II 



In your issue of July 12 a letter headed " A Eare Bird " 

 on p. 48 attracted my attention. This morning while 

 hidden amongst currant bushes gathering the fruit my 

 ear caught an unusual bird-cry, and glancing up I saw 

 about eight feet distant from me a bird exactly tallying 

 with the description your correspondent gives, save for 

 this variant, that I should describe the breast-colouring 

 more as a pink tint shading into a white gorge, recalling 

 the V-shaped opening of a lady's evening dress, then 

 merging into a delicate pink-red which deepened towards 

 the shoulders. The frill I did not perceive, but the head 

 was a darker grey ; the shape of the bird that of an elegant , 

 thinnish young thrush ; the beak rather pointed ; the legs 

 longer than a robin's and more slender. Being hidden by 



