6t" KOEIHtilBEKLAXD AJSTD DirilHAM. 79 



placed in my hands by Mr. J. S. Gurney, Junr., that nineteen 

 specimens were captm'ed in South Durham, in 1849. 



Famht. MUSCICAPID^, Vigors. 

 81. MUSCICAPA, Brisson. 

 96. Pied Fltcaichee. M. nigua, Brisson. 



Muscicapa luduosa, Bewick, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 1847, I., 

 119 and 121. 



Muscicapa atricapilla, Yarrell, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 2, I., 177. 



This is a spring-and-autumn migrant, though very rarely ob- 

 served breeding here. ISTot by any means common in North- 

 umberland and Durham : I never obtained its nest in the district, 

 though Bewick mentions the occurrence of one in Axwell Park, 

 near l^ewcastle, in June, 1801. And I am informed by Mr. 

 Isaac Clark that a nest was taken with five eggs, in Stella Park, 

 a little west of JN'ewcastle. A few of the birds may always be 

 seen on our coast, in autumn, previous to their migration ; and in 

 the middle of May they are occasionally to be observed in the 

 same locality on their return to this country. 



The various changes of plumage of the Pied Flycatcher do not 

 seem to be clearly understood. I possess a large series of speci- 

 mens demonstrating that the adult male, in the breeding season 

 (Plate X., lowest figure), i.s black on the upper parts, with a 

 broad, obscui'e band of grey across the rump, and a transverse 

 band of white in front of the head ; the under parts are white, 

 and the white patch on the wing is very conspicuous. The ma- 

 ture female, at the same season, differs fi'om the male in being 

 of an obscure ash-brown where the latter is black, in wanting 

 the white on the front of the head, and in having the under 

 parts of a dull white. 



After the autumnal moult the sexes, adult and immature, 

 are scarcely distinguishable. They are all of the same obscure 

 brown tint above ; the males, however, may be known by the 

 white band on the front of the head, by the white bar on the 

 wing being broader than in the female, and by the basal portion 



