THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. 113 



or Mr. Macgillivray. The following shrikes came under my observation 

 when proceeding from Malta to the Morea in 1841 : — April 23rd, 

 when eighty miles from Malta, and Cape Passaro fifty miles distant, a 

 lesser gray shrike (L. minor) flew on board ; I had a near view of it 

 several times: — 25th, when 135 miles east of Mount Etna, and about 

 sixty from Calabria, a shrike (the species of which I could not distin- 

 guish, owing to the height at which it kept on the rigging,) seized a 

 yellow wren {Sylvia trochilns) which it eat except the bill: — 26th, 

 distant from Zante (the nearest land) eighty-six miles, 130 from 

 Navarino, a fine male woodchat (L. rufus) was caught on board. The 

 L. minor has not yet been noticed in England, but has been met 

 with as far north on the continent as Holland. 



THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. 



Mnscicapa grisola, Linn. 



Is a regular summer visitant to some parts of Ireland ■ 



And perhaps to suitable localities throughout the island ; — which 

 seem to be especially gardens and pleasure-grounds. The species 

 is little known, except to the observant ornithologist. Owing to 

 the dullness of its plumage, its want of song, and its weak call 

 being seldom heard, the spotted flycatcher is certainly one of 

 the least obtrusive of our birds ; the trees, too, having put forth 

 their "leafy honours" before the period of its arrival, further 

 serve to screen it from observation. To Templeton it was known 

 as a regular summer visitant to the neighbourhood of Bel- 

 fast; a pair is mentioned as having built in the lime-trees at 

 his residence, Cranmore, in July, 1801 and 1802. It is the 

 latest of the summer birds in making its appearance about 

 Belfast; the 7th or 8th of May (1838) being the earliest date 

 of its arrival noted by me. On either of those clays one was seen 

 at the Falls; but on the 12th of the same month in that year, 

 not one was'met with in Shane's Castle Park, a circumstance im- 

 plying that the arrival had not been general ; on the 15th of May, 

 1832, the species was observed at Wolf-hill. White remarked its 



VOL. I. I 



