8^ 



SPOTTED FLYCATCHEE. 



MUSCICAPA GRISOLA, Linn. 



Muscicapa grisola^ Linn. S. N, i. p. 328 (1766) ; Naum. ii. 

 p. 216; Macg. iii. p. 518; Hewitson, i. p. 74; Yar7\ 

 ed. 4_, i. p. 220; Dresser, iii. p. 447. 



Gohe-mouche gris, French; Gefleckter Fliegenf anger, Ger- 

 man; Papamoscas, Spanish. 



This charming bird is probably too well known to my 

 readers to require any lengthy description at my hands. 

 In every part of England with which I have any 

 acquaintance it is one of the most common and most 

 observable of our summer visitors, although of course, 

 as is the case with all our migratory birds, it is much 

 more abundant in some years than in others; I may 

 mention that I never remember to have noticed so many 

 Flycatchers in iVorthamptonshire as there are at the 

 present time (July 1893) about Lilford. One of the 

 most remarkable sites for a nest of this bird that has 

 ever come to my knowledge was a battered old hat of 

 the " chimney-pot " order that was stuck on a pea-stick 

 by one of our cottagers in his garden to terrify the 



