52 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



preserved in Messrs. Rowe's, Bolitlio's, and Drew's collections (Mag. Nat. Hi.st. n. s. i. 

 p. 17<), li*37). Dr. Tucker gives the Waxwing a place in his list of rare land-birds 

 which liad been discovered near Ashburton (Jones's ' Guide,' 1823, p. 35). A female 

 was sliot at Stony Coonibe, near Kingkerswell, on January 20th, 1829, and shortly 

 afterwards a male at Ashburton (T. and K. 1830; W. R. H. J., Zool. 1843, p. 188). 

 A male was obtained in the ])arish of Blackawton, near Dartmouth, in January 1850 

 ( H. N., Zool. p. 27<i7). This specimen passed into the collection of the late Mr. C. 

 Prideaux. Two specimens were shot near Exeler in January 1850 (R. C). A fine 

 male, said to have been shot at Crediton in that winter, is in the A. M. M. The late 

 Capt. Tomline, of Rumwell House, near Taunton, possessed a Waxwing which had 

 been shot close to Exeter. 



Mr. E. Parfitt says : — " The last I saw were killed by Mr. Harte at Alphington. near 

 Exeter, about ten years ago " (Trans. Devon. Assoc. 187fi, p. 270). Mrs. Hart, how- 

 ever, informed iis that she knew of no Waxwings having been shot by her son, but 

 some Crossbills were killed by liim, near lier house, about 18(i7, which she still has in 

 lier possession, with many other rare birds he collected. Possibly Mr. Parfitt's note 

 got misjilaced in copying, and should have been a]i])lied to the Crossbill, and not to 

 tlie Waxwing, no specimen of which, as far as we are aware, is recorded from Devon 

 for 1806-67, though it occurred plentifully in the East of England in that winter. 



Family MUSCICAPID^. 

 THE FLYCATCHERS. 



The Flycatchers have very much the gestures of the 

 Shrikes and, like them, liave their watching-stations, 

 generally some favourite bough, or upper rail of a gate, 

 or post, from which they pounce upon any passing insect, 

 returning with tlieir captured prey to the perch they had 

 started from. When the game of croquet was introduced, 

 the iron hoops, when left in the ground, were at once 

 adopted as convenient posts of observation by the Spotted 

 Flycatcher, the only one of the family which is common 

 and generally distributed. 



Spotted Flycatcher. Musckapa grisola, Linn. 



[Wall-jJat : Dev. " Plat," a flat beam lying on the top of a wall, a 

 usual site for the nest.] 



A summer migrant, generall}- distributed and common. Breeds. 



No one can have failed to notice the little dusky-grey bird, with its 

 spotted breast, which invariably appears on their lawns, and about their 

 liouses and outbuildings, about the middle of May, when the loitering 

 summer has at length made up its mind to smile upon the land, and when 



