WHITE-COLLABED FLYGATGHEB. 31 



The Flycatchers are merely birds of passage in Europe, and we 

 only recognise four species in its fauna, of which three are in the 

 British lists. The tropics are rich in species of this family. 



The White-collared Flycatcher is found especially in the provinces 

 of the centre of Europe, and is dispersed rather plentifully in many 

 parts of France, less regularly in the north. Degland says that he 

 has found it at Lisle in May, and that it breeds in considerable 

 numbers in Lorraine. Temminck says that it is never found in 

 Holland, and rarely in the middle of Italy. Count Von der Miihle 

 observed it in Greece, in the spring passage in April, but then only 

 for a few days, and in considerable numbers, and in the breeding 

 plumage, from which he thinks it probable that it breeds in E.oumelia. 

 It is included in Captain Loche's "Birds of Algeria." 



Latham thought that the White-collared Flycatcher was a variety 

 of the Pied, and observes — " These varieties the less surprise us 

 when we are told that the bird varies in plumage in different seasons 

 of the year, the male only possessing the full black during the 

 summer; after that growing so like the female as not to be known 

 from her. Hence such variety of description and sentiment concerning 

 this bird." The specific distinction, however, between the two birds, 

 was clearly pointed out by Temminck in the first edition of his 

 "Manual." The males in breeding plumage are easy to distinguish, 

 but only after the change in the colour of the plumage which follows 

 the spring moult, and which Temminck at one time considered and 

 described as a second moult. 



In albicollis the white collar surrounds all the upper part of the 

 neck, while in atricapilla the whole of the upper part of the neck 

 at this time is black. During the moult the collar of albicollis is 

 marked out by a grey ashy shade. The males of atricapilla in the 

 winter plumage have no white spot on the quill feathers. In albi- 

 collis the two external quill feathers of the tail have a white edge, 

 more or less wide according to age; in atricapilla there are three lateral 

 quill feathers so marked. According also to Roux, the first quill 

 feather of the wing is not longer and often shorter than the fourth 

 in atricapilla, whilst it is always longer in albicollis. In all other 

 external marks the males in winter plumage, the females of both 

 species, and the young birds, may very easily be mistaken for each other. 



But the habits, the call note, and the song of the males, are very 

 different and distinctive, as well as the colour of the eggs. The call 

 of albicollis is a sharp disagreeable whistle, while that of atricapilla 

 is an agreeable sonorous note. 



The White-collared Flycatcher builds its nest in the holes of trees, 



