5 
seldom can penetrate to the ground, one finds this species quite at home. Its bell-like metallic- 
toned song may be heard at some distance, and cannot fail to please and astonish any orni- 
thologist by its sweetness. One can soon discover where the bird is by its pleasant song, which 
most closely resembles that of the Wood-Warbler, but is richer and more full in tone. Both 
these birds are found in the same locality, so that one can casily compare their notes; but 
pleasing as the Wood-Wren’s note is, the song of Muscicapa parva throws it entirely into the 
shade. This latter flits about the dead twigs high up amongst the foliage, about forty to sixty 
feet above the ground. It does not wander over a large extent of ground, but is always in 
motion. It will catch an insect on the wing, then fly to and perch on a dead twig, utter its song 
and fly off again—now pick an insect off the trunk of a tree, and then return up to the upper 
portion of the tree. Here it will again sing, and then fly down to pay a visit to its mate, which 
is sitting, but is soon off again, always on the move the entire day. It sings most zealously 
early in the forenoon to about ten o’clock, being quieter up to about three in the afternoon, but 
in the evening it sings, as joyously as in the early morning, until sunset.” Count Wodzicki 
describes the song of the old male as follows :—*“ tivi tivi, tévi tivi, tivi, two or three times 
repeated ; and then come tones like the syllables cico, cico, tiv, tiu.” Young males, he says, 
seldom utter the last flute-like notes ¢iw téw, and he has heard red-throated males which have 
not the full song. 
Mr. Ludwig Holtz, who speaks of it (J. f. O. 1873, p. 142) as a common breeding species in 
South Russia, says that it breeds in woods where the undergrowth is dense, its nest being placed 
in the hole in a bough usually from eight to ten feet above the ground, the nest itself being 
constructed of moss (Hypnum) and scantily lined with hair. The eggs, which are deposited early 
in June, vary in number from five to six, sometimes seven. The young are hatched in June, and 
are carefully tended by their parents. In their first or nestling plumage they resemble young 
‘Robins, except that the basal portion of the tail is white, and they are of course much smaller. 
This dress is retained about a month, most of which time they remain with their parents, and 
are by them fed with small insects of various kinds. 
I possess the eggs of this species, taken at Schlosskampen, which I can best describe by 
comparing them to dull, closely marked Robins’ eggs, except as regards size. They are white, 
closely marked with dull light reddish buff, or reddish grey, and in size measure from 7¢ by 
4 inch to 43 by 4 inch. One is white, with a faint greenish tinge, rather more sparingly marked 
than the other specimens with dull reddish. 
The specimens figured are an old male in full plumage and a young male in the plumage 
in which it so closely resembles the female, both specimens being in my collection. 
In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens :— 
E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 
a, & juv. Silesia (Dr. Kutter), 6, gad.,c,9 ad. Austria (Baron De Selys-Longchamps). d, 3 jun. Buyukdere 
valley, Turkey, May 7th, 1869 (Robson). e,d. Guiken, Asia Minor, May 11th, 1869 (Rodson). f,g, dad. 
Maslak, Turkey, October 10th, 1870 (Rodson). h, 3 juv., i, 2 ad. Ortakeuy, Turkey, September 12th, 
1871 (Robson). k,l, djuv. Ortakeuy, October 3rd, 1871 (Rodson). m, 3 jun. March 15th. 2, gad. 
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