FL YCA TCHERS. 5 , 7 



chink of a .stone wall or ruined building ; the stump of a felled tree often 

 supplies a convenient hole ; while sometimes we may find a nest in a birch-tree 

 at from four to seven feet from the ground. Another couple will be found to have 

 seized a fissure in one of the dead Hmbs of a tall Scotch fir ; and yet another nest 

 may be in the hollow branch of an ash-tree, while a decayed thorn-bush sometimes 

 holds the nest for several seasons. The nest is only slightly put together, com- 

 posed almost entirely of small fibrous roots and dried grass, always lined with a 

 little hair, and generally a few decayed leaves on the outside. The eggs, which 

 vary in number from five to six or even seven, are of a pale green, and so closely 

 resemble those of the redstart that it is frequently difficult to distinguish them 

 unless they are contrasted together. The males soon after their arrival will 

 frequently perch for a considerable time upon a branch of some decayed tree, 

 constantly repeating their lively song between their sallies in pursuit of passing 

 insects, but the females are somewhat coy, and rather shun the other sex. Pied 

 flycatchers are birds of strong passion, and do not hesitate to fight for the love 

 of their female companions, but paired couples are devotedly attached to one 

 another. So long as the hen is sitting upon her eggs, her mate caters to supply 

 her appetite with constant activity; and when the young are hatched the old 

 birds are devoted to them, the female feeding them at more frequent intervals 

 than her companion. While the call-note of the male somewhat resembles the sound 

 produced by clattering together two pebbles, the female has a cry like that of 

 a hen chaffinch. Individuals breeding in districts where woodpeckers are plentiful 

 frequently adopt the deserted holes of the latter birds for their own nests. The 

 pied flycatcher rarely spends more than three months upon its breeding-grounds, 

 and, long before the trees have begun to change from green to red and orange, the 

 pied flycatchers in England slip quietly away almost unnoticed, to seek an asylum 

 on the southern side of the Mediterranean. In Switzerland, however, and other 

 parts of Central Europe they seem more loth to bid farewell to the scene 

 of their summer life ; and in the former country they are often to be seen 

 poised upon the lower branches of the walnut trees. In the summer they 

 obtain much of their prey upon the ground, and after capturing a victim usually 

 alight upon a fresh perch. In confinement the pied flycatcher is shy and retiring, but 

 contrives to dart upon any insects that may be introduced into its cage with surprising 

 velocity. The plumage of the male in the breeding-season is black above, with 

 here and there a shade of brown ; although we have never seen a specimen in 

 which the black plumage was entirely unsullied by a brown tinge. The wings are 

 dark brown, with the primaries white at the base of the outer web ; the tail is 

 black-and-white ; the forehead is wdiite, as are the cheeks and under-surface. 

 wnitecoiiared The white-collared flycatcher (M. colla/ris) visits the south of 



Flycatcher. Europe in considerable numbers, but is always a local bird. Like its 

 congener the pied flycatcher, it frequents the neighbourhood of old timber, and 

 builds its nest in hollow trees ; the eggs being greenish blue. The song is distinct 

 from that of the pied flycatcher, as is also the call-note, the latter being a sharp 

 disagreeable whistle. It is possible, however, that the two species interbreed, 

 since the form found in the Caucasus is intermediate between the white-collared 

 and the pied flycatcher. The adult male is black above, the lower back and rump 



