MUSCICAPID^. 53 



the oak, the laggard among the trees, is putting forth its leaves. The 

 Spotted Flycatcher prefers the near neighbourhood of man, and does good 

 service in assisting the Swallow and other insectivorous birds in thinning 

 the air of those tiny insect swarms which might become an annoyance. 

 It departs in August and September. A greyish-buif variety Avas seen by 

 Mr. Gatcombe at Plymouth, August 5th, 1884; it show^ed no trace of 

 the usual dark markings on the head and breast (Zool. 1885, p. 23). In 

 the A. M. M. there is a nest of this bird constructed in the dried skin of 

 a hedarc-hogr. 



Pied Flycatcher. Musdcaim atricapilla, Linn. 



A casual summer visitor, more frequently met with in jSTorth Devon 

 than in the southern part of the county, Avhere it is rarely seen. It is 

 believed to have bred in Xorth Devon, 



With the strong contrast presented between the glossy black back and 

 the white throat and underparts, and with the white forehead patch and 

 white bar upon the wings, this Flycatcher, in the plumage of the adult 

 male, is so conspicuous that there is little chance of its being overlooked. 

 We have often searched for it on Dartmoor, and also on high moorlands 

 in Xorth Cornwall, without seeing it, and consider its occurrence anywhere 

 in the South-western Counties as only accidental. Col. Montagu never 

 met with this little bird in South Devon, and says : — " It is one of the 

 very few amongst the smaller tribe of birds Avhose nest we have not taken 

 with our own hands " ( Orn. Diet., Suppl.). The Pied Flycatcher is equally 

 rare in Somerset ; besides one killed near Taunton by Mr. C. Haddon, wc only 

 know of one other, which occurred in the neighbourhood of Wells in the 

 spring of 1870 (F. D. Power, Zool. 1871, p. 2439). About half a dozen 

 specimens have been obtained in Dorset, and Ave have seen tAvo specimens 

 in the Truro Museum from Loco in Cornwall. It has once occurred near 

 Penzance, and is a rare autumn straggler to the Scilly Islands. 



Dr. E. iloorc mentions that a specimen was seen near Earnstaple in June by Major 

 Harding of Illracoinbe(Mac;. Nat. Hist. 18;i7, p. 17('>). He also states, on the authority 

 ol'tlie lute Ri'V. W. 8. Hore, tiiat thei-e was a specimen in Drew's Collection at PI) uioulli. 

 A male bird was shot by Mr. Samuel Tucker at JMount Edt^cunibo sevei-al years bel'ore 

 18.')1, at the end of April, and was jjreserved in Mr. iJolitho's Collection (R. A. J., 

 ' Naturalist,' 18r>l, p. &S ; and 13., Msi. Notes). One was killed by Mr. James Dodd in 

 his garden at Eldad, I'lymouth, Aug. 23rd, 1853 (J. G., ' Naturalist,' 18.")4, p. 18). In 

 August lH.")i) two old birds and lour young ones frequented Pottington Marsh, a largo 

 rushy meadow clo.se to Barnstaple, and two of them were shot whicli ))roved to be birds 

 ot'tlie year. Old birds were observed by us haunting sonu' l<iw bushes in the vicinily 

 of a boggy part of llninh Down, near Combmartin, at the lieginning of .luly 18.">S, and 

 tliey probably bred ihere. A pair were .shot on Luudy Island in May 1801, and pas.'^cd 

 into the collection of the late Dr. W'oodforde of Taunton, ;ind are now at Taunlcm 

 Cacllc Museimi. Tlie late Mr. J. C. llele, of the Knowlo, Newton Abbot, informed 

 UP that lie liad u male Pied Flycatcher shot at llsliam orchard, near Toi-quay, April 

 23rd, 18liG. Part of an adult male was picked up near Exford : it had ju-obably been 

 killed by a Hawk. Another, an adult male, was seen by us one day in May when 

 (isliing the upper waters of I lie Burle. The Pied Flycatcher baa been seeu twice near 

 Tuvislock (A. Mitchell, Pidsley's U. of De\onshire, p.37j. 



