VIII. 



MUSCICAPA LUCTUOSA. (temm.) 



Pied Flycatcher. 



This species, though rarely met with in other parts of 

 England, arrives annually in Cumberland and Westmorland, 

 where it breeds in very considerable numbers. It is here, 

 however, quite local ; and though I have seen it in plenty 

 enlivening the beautiful banks of the rivers Eainont and Low- 

 ther, and upon the Eden, at Edenhall, yet, in a trip through 

 the Lakes, I never met with it, except on the woody borders 

 of Ullswater. 



To a friend of mine, Mr. John Gibson, who resides at 

 Tyrril, near Penrith, who has for some years observed the 

 habits of this bird, I am indebted for the following informa- 

 tion, accompanied with the nests and eggs : — 



The Pied Flycatcher builds its nest about the end of May 

 and beginning of June, in the holes of trees, walls, and bridges, 

 and appears particularly partial to the neighbourhood of a 

 stream of water. The hole chosen is generally too small to 

 admit the hand, and the nest rarely at the depth of more than 

 four or five inches ; it is slight, and composed of small quan- 

 tities of dried grass and straws, lined with very fine grass and 

 hairs, with occasionally a few dead leaves. It usually lays from 

 four to six eggs ; but Mr. Heysham, who meets with it near 

 Carlisle, and has published some interesting papers relative to 

 its nidification, &c., informs me that the Pied Flycatcher fre- 

 quently lays seven or eight eggs, several instances of each hav- 

 ing come under his obser\'ation during the last spring (1831) ; 

 that the eggs also differ considerably in size and conforma- 

 tion, those contained in one nest that he took being unusually 

 small, nearly oval, and almost white ; he has found the nest 

 two luccessive years in the stump of a felled tree. 



