BIRDS 75 



particular. Being a water bird, it has the long legs and long beak of the waders. 

 The figure (No. 129) gives a good general idea of the family. 



Flycatcher, Pied. A summer visitor, but very local, almost entirely con- 

 fined to mountainous valleys in northern counties and Wales. In the time of 

 arrival, the construction of its nest, and its song, it resembles the Redstart, 

 but the male is clearly distinguished by its black upper parts, the white bar 

 on its forehead and white patch on the wing. The female is olive-brown, with 

 no patch on forehead, but a whitish patch on the wing. It has a cheery little 

 song " Tickee-tickee-chuck-chuck-chee " is one constant phrase of it, and 

 " Cheety-cheety-cheety-chee." The cock's alarm note is " Tit-a-tit " ; the hen's, 

 like a Chaffinch's, " Wit- wit." The nest is almost always in a hole, and is of 

 grass, moss, and leaves, lined with finer grasses, hair, wool, or feathers. The 

 eggs (six to eight) are pale blue ; occasionally with a few red speckles. 



The bird frequently returns to the same nesting site year by year : generally 

 in well-wooded country, not far from running water. 



Flycatcher, Spotted often called " GREY FLYCATCHER." One of the last of 

 our summer immigrants, yet a very common bird, though scarce in Scotland. 

 If a small brown bird is seen perching on the top of a fence or post or tennis 

 net, and making repeated short flights from it after insects, it is almost certain 

 to be the Spotted Flycatcher. A characteristic feature is its horizontal pose 

 on the post, in order to " take off " instantaneously after the insect it sees. 

 In Kent it is nicknamed the " POST BIRD," while, from its habit of often building 

 its nest on a beam, it is known elsewhere as the " BEAM BIRD." Whilst mostly 

 brown above, its under parts are ashy white, streaked with brown. Its food 

 is entirely insectivorous, and the " gape " is provided with a set of stiff short 

 " bristles," which are said to be useful hi preventing the escape of its prey, 

 forming a sort of " cheval de frise " round its mouth. The nest, which is 

 generally near human habitation, is placed in many various situations, not 

 only on beams, as mentioned above, but in holes, thatch, ledges, ivy, and so 

 forth, and often in the deserted nest of some other bird, such as a chaffinch. It 

 is built of grass, roots, etc., lined with hair or wool. The few notes of the so- 

 called song, " Utik-utik-utik-tik," may be heard in May and June. The eggs 

 are four or five in number, a bluish white, fading to creamy white, freckled and 

 spotted with red-brown. 



Goldcrest (GOLD-CRESTED WREN), the smallest British bird, generally resi- 

 dent throughout Great Britain and Ireland. There is also a continental variety, 

 which appears on our eastern shores in the autumn on its migration to North- 

 west Africa ; but this is larger and lighter in colour. 



The Goldcrest is distinguished by its small size and " gold crest " really 

 a bright lemon crest passing, in the cock, to an orange-red behind, edged with 

 a line of black. Upper parts olive-green. Wings dusky brown with two bars 

 of yellowish white. Under parts dull white ; in the female, dull buff. 



It seems almost incredible that this tiny bird, with wings scarcely 2 inches 

 across, can cross the Mediterranean or find its way to Africa ; yet in the autumn 



