466 
2 
Young Male (Guiken, Asia Minor, 11th May). Resembles the female, but has the underparts white, slightly 
tinged with buff on the breast, the flank being washed with warm buff. 
Nestling (fide Schilling, J. f. O. 1853, p. 132). Throat greyish yellow; breast and abdomen spotted with 
blackish brown; crown, nape, back, and wing-coverts greyish brown with rust-coloured spot; wings 
and tail as in the adult, except that the outer tail-feathers on each side have less white on them; bill 
and feet brownish yellow. According to Count C. Wodzicki the nestling plumage is only worn about a 
month, when it is changed for that of the young bird above described, except that the underparts are 
more as in the female, warm buff. * During the winter the plumage fades; and the next spring it wears 
that of the young male above described, until August, when it moults, and commences to assume the 
red breast; but the blue-grey colour on the neck is not assumed until later, when the edges of the 
feathers commence to wear away. ‘This agrees well with the result of a careful examination of the 
specimens before me; for the autumn-killed young birds have the underparts much suffused with warm 
buff, the centre of the abdomen being alone white in some, whereas those killed in the spring have the 
underparts much whiter, and the plumage worn and faded. One young male shot at Etawah, India, 
on the 15th March, has the throat and breast washed with yellowish red, the rest of the plumage being 
as in the other young males obtained in the spring. But on the other hand, old males obtained in 
October, November, and December appear to be fresh moulted, and have the blue-grey on the head 
and sides of the neck and the rich red breast most fully developed; and it would appear that when the 
full plumage is obtained it is worn at all seasons of the year, though of course it is richest when the 
feathers are fresh moulted. It not unfrequently breeds in the immature dress; and hence the young 
male was described by Hornschuch and Schilling (/.c.) as a distinct species. 
THE present species of Flycatcher inhabits Central and Southern Europe, rarely passing over to 
North Africa; and to the eastward it occurs as far as the continent of India, being replaced 
east of Bengal by a closely allied species (Muscicapa leucura). 
It has been obtained at least on three occasions in Great Britain; and one other example 
was seen, but not obtained. The first example was shot on the 24th January, 15635, by 
Mr. Copeland, of Carwythenack House, in the parish of Constantine, near Falmouth; another 
was seen, but not obtained, by that gentleman. A second example, a young male, was pro- 
cured on one of the Scilly Isles in October 1864, by Mr. Augustus Pechell and a nephew of 
Mr. Rodd’s; and on the 5th November, 1865, a third was killed on Tresco Island, in Sicily, 
by Mr. Pechell and Mr. John Jenkinson, but was so much injured that the sex could not be 
determined. Full details respecting these occurrences are given by Professor Newton in the 
edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds, on which he is now engaged. He also transcribes the 
following notes given by Mr. Copeland to Mr. Rodd respecting the first example obtained :— 
“We first observed it on a dead holly-tree; this tree and the ground around the house were its 
favourite resort. It was particularly active, skimming the grass to within about a foot, then 
perching itself, darted occasionally with a toss, resting either on a shrub or the wire fencing. 
There is another in the neighbourhood, for which a vigilant watch will be kept. I saw it a few 
days back in a plantation which is four hundred yards from my house.” 
On the continent of Europe the distribution of this Flycatcher is somewhat exceptional. 
It has not been met with as far north as in Sweden or Norway, though it is tolerably numerous 
in North Germany, and, according to Kjerbélling, has once occurred in Denmark, a specimen 
