502 CLASS AVES. 



When the two flycatchers (this and the last) are in their 

 autumnal plumage, they are known in Lorraine (males, females, 

 and young,) under the names, Murier and petit pinson des hois, 

 and in the southern countries under that of bec-figue or beca- 

 fico. They arrive there towards the end of spring in nume- 

 rous flocks, and disperse in all directions. But during sum- 

 mer they live in pairs only. The pied flycatcher makes its 

 nest in the hollow of a tree, composes it of moss and the hairs 

 of animals. The eggs are three or four in number, of a bluish 

 green, spotted with brown. The male utters a plaintive cry, 

 like that of a pullet. Its song is agreeable and melodious, 

 havins" some resemblance to that of the red-breast, but is not 

 so well sustained. It may be considered but as a single cou- 

 plet of that bird's performance. This flycatcher is not desti- 

 tute of courage, and will dispute precedence not unfrequently 

 with the blue titmouse and other small birds. It attacks with 

 so much impetuosity, that it always remains master of the con- 

 tested object, which seems wonderful on the part of a bird, 

 whose bill is but weak against those which have this organ more 

 thick and robust. This, however, is a fact which has been 

 verified by M. de Riocourt in the forests of Lorraine. 



Buffbn, in noticing the various liveries of the pied flycatchers, 

 says that the autumnal or winter plumage of the male does 

 not differ from that of the female, and that it then resembles 

 the murier, vulgarly called petit pinson des bois. He adds, 

 that in the second state, when these birds arrive in Provence, 

 the male is altogether like the bec-figue. This statement would 

 lead one to imagine that these two liveries were different, see- 

 ing that the author makes a distinct species of the hec-figue. 

 But the fact is, that this second state is exactly the same with 

 the first, the bec-figue being nothing else than the murier, or 

 petit pinson des bois, as Buffbn himself actually assures us in 

 the same article. 



We do not find, amid the multiplied species of the flycatcher, 

 anything more worthy of the attention of the readers of this 



