35° Armitt : River Flies. 



for, as it does the beetles, from some low boug-h, darting- then 

 to pick them from the g-round. The small May-fly, when abroad, 

 is caug-ht too. 



The Pied Wagtails, that have a nest likewise close by, also 

 take larg^e toll of the river flies. The antics of the parent bird 

 over the water as it catches them are amusing- to see. Instead 

 of taking- them in an easy smooth passag-e from one perch to 

 another, as the Pied Flycatcher does, it stands on a mossy stone 

 balancing- its long- tail till it spies one of the shining- morsels in 

 air. It then springes upward to give chase, fails at the first shot, 

 follows in a g-yrating- but ever ascending course till it catches 

 the prey, and drops again to a stone, to repeat the performance. 

 Nine times in succession (without counting its start) did I watch 

 the bird make a successful pounce, before it returned to its nest. 

 Its beak was then loaded with glittering wings, and from the 

 way in which it adjusted its burden from time to time on a stone, 

 it seemed as if the victims were alive and struggling. 



It is strange that the Spotted Flycatchers, that are also 

 feeding their nestlings at hand, do not come to the river for 

 these flies, but hawk apparently for smaller fry in dry places. 

 Nor do the Chaffinches ever take them, though the Chaffinch 

 dearly loves a May-fly, and turns quite into a fly-catcher when 

 a small species of these Ephenierce begin to emerge, from late 

 March days onward ; watching for and snapping them up as they 

 rise from the water to seek some vantage post where they may 

 doft" their last skin. In fact, it is upon the soft green caterpillar 

 that the Chaffinch relies almost solely as the food of its nestlings, 

 and it is the same with the Titmice. But these birds have been 

 hard put to it this year, when caterpillars have been almost nil ; 

 and it was, perhaps, as well that a good many of them had short 

 or entirely lost broods, through the addling of the eggs by chill, 

 damp weather. However, one thriving (probably because later) 

 brood of nine Blue Titmice are now being fed, and rarely do I 

 see a green grub carried in. The food taken in is mostly small 

 beetles, spiders, and the larvse of moths, w-ith an occasional perfect 

 moth. The spiders are probably the Amaurobius siinilis, which 

 lurks everywhere in the crevices of the house-stones. I watched 

 parents of earlier broods search continually the eaves and 

 crevices, and picking out morsels. Though the Blue Titmice feed 

 largely themselves on this diet in the autumn, when spiders are 

 fat and egg-bags are abundant, it is not usual for them to feed 

 their nestlings with it. But this year it is a case of ' necessity 

 knows no law.' 



Naturalist. 



