THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER 77 



whither, they may have received the name Bohemian, because 

 they resemble in their habits the wandering tribes of gipsies, who 

 were formerly called indifferently Egyptians and Bohemians. 

 Taken in this sense, the Bohemian or Wandering Waxwing, as it 

 used to be called, is a name open to no exception. The plumage 

 of the bird is silky, and that of the head is remarkable for forming 

 a crest, and being capable of being elevated, as in the Cardinal. 

 Its black gorget and tiara, the patches of white, yellow, and black 

 described above, make it very conspicuous for colouring, and the 

 singularity of its appearance is much increased by the appendages 

 to its secondaries and tertiaries, which resemble in colour and sub- 

 stance red sealing-wax. In very old birds these waxen appendages 

 are also to be found at the extremities of the tail-feathers, being 

 no more than the shafts of the feathers, condensed with the web. 

 In its habits the Waxwing resembles the Tits. It feeds on 

 insects, fruit, berries, and seeds. Its call-note is a twitter, which 

 it rarely utters, except when taking flight and alighting. The 

 Waxwing is a northern bird, and Dr. Richardson, the Arctic traveller, 

 informs us that he one day saw a flock, consisting of three or four 

 hundred birds, alight on one or two trees in a grove of poplars, 

 making a loud twittering noise. One of its German names, Schnee- 

 vogel (snowbird), was evidently given in this belief. It is some- 

 times caught and caged, but has nothing but its beautiful colour- 

 ing to recommend it. It is a stupid lazy bird, occupied only in 

 eating and reposing for digestion. Its song is weak and uncertain. 



FAMILY MUSCICAPID^ 



MuscicapiDjE. — Nostrils more or less covered by bristly hairs 

 THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER 



MUSCICAPA GRfSOLA 



Upper plumage ash-brown ; feathers of the head marked with a central dark 

 line ; under parts white, the sides marked with longitudinal brown streaks ; 

 flanks tinged with red. Length six inches ; breadth ten inches. Eggs 

 bluish white, mottled with reddish spots, which are deepest in colour 

 towards the larger end. 



There are few birds with whose haunts and habits we are more 

 familiar than those of the common Flycatcher. In the wooded 

 parts of England there is scarcely a country house, perhaps, which 

 has not in its neighbourhood at least a single pair of these birds, 

 who, though their stay with us is but short, become as necessary 

 appendages of the garden during the summer months as the Red- 

 breast is in winter. They have neither song to recommend them 

 nor brilliancy of colouring ; yet the absence of these qualities is 



