74 THE BIRDS OF BERKS AND BUCKS. 



Family MUSCICAPID.E. 



SPOTTED FLYCATCHER (Muscicapa grisola). Local 

 name, Beam Bird. A regular summer visitor to this 

 country ; it usually reaches Berkshire and Bucking- 

 hamshire about the I5th of May, but sometimes a 

 little later, according to the season. It is numerous 

 in Buckinghamshire, and breeds abundantly, but as 

 the nest is not an easy one to find, no doubt many 

 escape detection. 



I have known instances of its building against walls, 

 in low shrubs, and in flower-pots ; occasionally the 

 cavity between the branches of a large tree is chosen 

 as a site. I once found a nest in Buckinghamshire 

 between three branches of a large tree ; there were 

 several eggs, and the nest was quite damp, and if 

 the eggs had ever been hatched I expect that the 

 young would have met an untimely death by 

 drowning, from the accumulation of rain-water in 

 the cavity; such instances have occurred. I knew 

 of an instance in which the birds built several 

 times over the door of a dwelling-house, after their 

 nest had been once destroyed. 



It is amusing to watch this little bird ' hawking' 

 for its prey, which consist mainly of flies, blue-bottles, 

 gnats, small butterflies, and moths. One day, in June 

 1867, while hiding behind a fine old oak-tree in the 

 Eton fields, I witnessed a curious sight : A large 

 brown butterfly was flying quickly backwards and for- 



