I 



666 The Sparrow-like Birds 



zigzag though often dashing manner, and are wholly without reputation as 

 songsters, their ordinary notes being weak and so persistently reiterated as to 

 earn the deserving term of "monotonous"; their call notes are harsh. In the 

 matter of nidification their habits are as various as might be supposed, some 

 placing the nest in holes of trees or banks, while others build beautiful cup- 

 shaped, arched, or domed structures in trees and at various heights from the 

 ground. 



This vast family comprising nearly one hundred genera and over seven 

 hundred species is abundantly represented in the Ethiopian, Indian, Malayan, 

 and Australian regions, with several species extending as far east as the Ha- 

 waiian Islands and a dozen into the Palasarctic region, of which number three 

 or four reach the British Islands. Some of them are resident where found, but 

 the majority are migratory to a greater or less extent, some making journeys 

 of great length, as that of the Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola), which 

 reaches as far north as Lapland in summer and South Africa in winter. As 

 many of the forms are very closely related and show correspondingly little dif- 

 ference in habits and characteristics, it is obvious that it will be neither expedient 

 nor desirable to go extensively into their description; a few of the more marked 

 or noteworthy forms selected here and there may serve, in addition to the general 

 description already given, as a satisfactory exposition of this group. 



Spotted Flycatcher. In the typical genus (Muscicapa) embracing up- 

 ward of twenty species, the wing is long and pointed, the tail square, and the 

 plumage mostly brownish streaked with blackish; the length is between four 

 and a half and six inches. The Spotted Flycatcher (M. grisola) already men- 

 tioned is a common species throughout Europe generally, being one of the most 

 abundant, tame, and confiding summer visitors to Great Britain, where it arrives 

 about the middle of May. Each pair takes possession of a very circumscribed 

 area in a garden, orchard, or the borders of a field or meadow, and, unobtrusive 

 and quiet, may be seen sitting on some dead branch, wire, or fence post, now 

 and again taking short flights after passing insects and returning to the same 

 perch, and, says Mr. Hudson, "of all our birds he is the least attractive, in his 

 pale, obscure plumage, as he sits silent and motionless, listless and depressed 

 in appearance, showing neither alarm nor curiosity when regarded." They 

 soon begin nesting, placing the cup-shaped nest, which is composed of grass 

 stems, moss, and rootlets and lined with hair, wool, and finer rootlets, in a vine 

 growing against a wall, in a hole in a tree or wall, or sometimes in a bush. The 

 four to five eggs are bluish white or pale green blotched and spotted with reddish 

 brown. But a single brood is reared in a season, and usually by the middle of 

 September they have all left for their winter home. 



European Pied Flycatcher. Closely related is the Pied Flycatcher (M. 

 atricapilla), also of Europe generally, though rare and local in the British Islands, 

 which has the upper parts mainly deep black and the lower parts pure white. 

 It arrives earlier than the last, and is rather more of a forest-haunting bird and 

 not so commonly found about human habitations. It has a soft wilt, witt, as a 

 call note, and a short, melancholy song which is said to somewhat resemble that 



