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4 
Nordmann, it is tolerably common in summer in the Crimea, especially on the south coast and 
in the forest of Baidar, where it nests in the cavities of the old beech-trees, of which the forest 
principally consists. It arrives at Odessa about the middle of April. Mr. Goebel observed it 
(J. f. O. 1870, p. 443) in the Uman district, in Southern Russia, but very rarely, though, he 
says, it breeds there, selecting hollow oaks for the purpose of nidification. 
Canon Tristram records it (P. Z. 8. 1864, p. 445) as occasionally met with in the wooded 
districts of Palestine in spring and summer; and it is found tolerably numerous in North-east 
Africa, where Mr. Cavendish Taylor found it (Ibis, 1867, p. 57) “‘common at Damietta in April ;” 
and Captain Shelley writes (Ibis, 1871, p. 136) as follows :—* In 1868, towards the beginning of 
April, we met with many pairs of this bird between Cairo and Benisouéf; but this year I did not 
see it once south of Benisouéf up to the 10th of May, from which I infer that it does not come 
down the Nile in its migration.” Von Heuglin (Orn. N.O.-Afr. p. 439) says that it is commoner 
than J. atricapilla in March and April during migration in Lower Egypt and Arabia Petrea. 
He did not observe it further in the interior of Africa. Brehm saw it on the 3rd of May at 
Lake Menzalah, and about the middle of September at Alexandria. It is stated to occur in 
North-western Africa; and Major Loche says that it is pretty generally distributed throughout 
the wooded districts of Algeria; but Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., in a letter just received, informs 
me that, though he kept a sharp look out for it when in Algeria, he never saw it there. 
To the eastward it has been met with as far as Persia; and De Filippi says that it occurs 
in the gardens of Tauris. 
In its habits, note, and mode of nidification this Flycatcher is said to resemble closely 
Muscicapa atricapilla. Like that species it feeds on insects, and will sit quietly on a bare twig, 
every now and then darting off and catching a passing fly or other insect. It frequents wood- 
lands, especially beech- and oak-groves, in the hollow portions of which trees it builds its nest. 
My friend the late Herr E. Seidensacher, of Cilli, frequently took its nest in Styria, and published 
(Verh. k.-k. zool.-bot. Gesell. 1862, p. 792) some notes on its nidification, from which I extract 
the following :—“ It arrives here (at Cilli) about the middle of May, the males always preceding 
the females by several days, and very easily recognizable by their song and sprightly move- 
ments. In good seasons, as for instance in the early season of 1859, the young were fledged by 
the 26th May. In 1860 I found four fresh eggs on the 9th May; but in 1860, when we had 
snow on the 6th and 7th May, and many birds at Neustadtl were killed by the weather, I found 
the first clutch of eggs on the 20th May. In number the eggs vary from four to seven, and are, 
even under the microscope, quite unspotted, in colour pale greenish, and weigh from 234 to 254 
grains, have a rich yellow yelk, and are deposited in a slightly built nest, the outer walls com- 
posed of rather coarse bents, and the lining of fine straws, thin paper-like bark, and the covering 
of plant-stems without any admixture of hair or feathers. The nest is placed in the hollow 
of an oak or beech; the entrance, always very small, had to be enlarged to allow me to get 
at the eggs. Usually the hole is from 24 to 7 feet above the ground. The female sits so 
close that she may be caught on her eggs; and both parents feed the young so continuously, 
that the nest is easily to be found when the young are hatched, but not when it contains only 
eggs; then it is only possible to discover it by watching for the female at about 6 or 7 o'clock a.m., 
at which time she usually leaves her eggs. As a rule it is useless to watch the male. I have 
