SPOTTED FLYCATCHER 



117 



manner of the wood-wren and of other small insect-eaters. From 

 the day of his arrival he is exposed to sight in the places he 

 frequents parks, skirts of 

 woods, orchards, gardens, 

 and the borders of fields and 

 meadows. The area in- 

 habited by each bird, or pair, 

 is very circumscribed, and 

 contains a few favourite 

 perching-places, which are 

 regularly occupied at dif- 

 ferent hours of the day. The 

 perching-place is on a pro- 

 jecting branch, or, better 

 still, a dead branch of a bush 

 or tree, a wire fence, or a 

 paling or gatepost. He 

 comes near houses, and he 

 may have a stand within 

 twenty or thirty yards of the 

 door, from which those who FlG -^.-SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. 



come and go may have him * natural size - 



full in sight for several hours each day. But little or no notice 

 is taken of him. And it is not strange, for 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. Seen thus he is like 

 a silent grey ghost of a little dead bird returned to haunt the sun- 

 light. Despite this listless appearance he is keenly alive to outward 

 things. As the motionless heron watches the water, with the 

 creatures that move like vague shadows in it, the flycatcher watches 

 the air and the living things, minute and swift- winged, that inhabit 

 it. At intervals he quits his perch and makes a dash at some pass- 

 ing insect, which he captures, his mandibles closing on it with an 

 audible snap; then returns to his stand and his watching once 

 more. 



His call-note is a feeble chirp, two or three times repeated ; and 

 he is said to have a song, which few have heard, composed of a few 

 rambling notes in a low tone. 



The flycatcher begins to build soon after its arrival, and a 

 favourite site for the nest is in the ivy growing against a wall ; 



