144 BIEDS 



the bushes, I had a good long study of the little fellow 

 without his knowledge. Is this another red-throated fly- 

 catcher? 



A. BULWEB. 



July 19, 1919 



THE KED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER 



In your issue of the 27th ult. there appeared a letter 

 giving an account of the supposed nidification of Musci- 

 capa parva (red-breasted flycatcher) in South Wales. The 

 breeding area of this bird lies in the districts to the north 

 of Mongolia, most nests being discovered upon the 

 Yablonoi Mountains in Southern Siberia. No nests of 

 this bird have ever been obtained in the British Isles ; 

 yet, although there is no reason why this bird should not 

 visit these islands as an abnormal migrant, that it should 

 breed here is an impossibility. I presume, too, as no 

 remark was made to the contrary, that the nest was found 

 in May a fact which doubles the impossibility. As far 

 as the description of the eggs goes, it may be said to 

 tally with the correct description, yet a noteworthy fact 

 was omitted in that an unmistakable inferiority in size 

 is evident. Muscicapa parva really is not, as its popular 

 name implies, red-breasted; the " red " terminates at the 

 base of the prepectoral region. The " breast " is pinkish 

 mottled with regular lines of reddish-brown, and cannot, 

 therefore, be said to be " distinctly red." The genus and 

 species of the unknown bird cannot be determined without 

 examination of the bird itself and the eggs, in addition 

 to much more definite data. 



GILBERT E. AD AM SON. 



September 24, 1910. 



NOTE. Mr. Adamson's letter is a characteristic 

 example of cocksure academic dogmatism. Nor is it even 

 correct, for the " breast " is not pinkish mottled with 

 brown, but buffish white. Mrs. Gibben's and Mr. 



