158 SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. 
The nest is frequently placed among creepers or trellis-work, or in 
a hole in a wall or a tree; occasionally behind loose bark ; often on 
a beam in a verandah or an out-building, whence the name of “‘ Beam- 
bird”; and sometimes in such odd situations as the top of a door- 
hinge, the inside of a lamp or of a stove, &c. The structure, which 
is rather neat, and generally assimilated to its surroundings, is of 
moss, lichens, and a few strips of bark, warmly lined with wool, hair 
and feathers. In the eggs, which are 4-6 in number, the ground- 
colour varies from bluish-white to pale green, spotted and clouded 
with rusty-brown: measurements °75 by °55 in. Incubation begins 
about the third week in May, and is said to devolve entirely upon 
the female, who is fed by the male ; two broods are not unfrequently 
produced in the season, the first being hatched early in June. There 
is evidence that the Spotted Flycatcher occasionally makes use of 
old nests of other birds, without alteration or addition (Cf C. Wolley 
Dod, ‘The Field’ August 14th 1897, p. 307). This is one of the 
few species which nest in some of our London parks and gardens. 
Its food consists principally of insects, and the bird may often be 
seen sitting on a fence or branch, whence it darts upon some fly or 
gnat, returning with a graceful sweep to the spot it has just quitted. 
It can even manage a tolerably large moth, such as the Yellow 
Underwing, and it will dash at the Small White butterfly (Pieris 
rape), though it always declines that insect on closer acquaintance ; 
while in the autumn it has been known to feed on berries, especially 
those of the mountain-ash, to which so many species of birds 
are partial. -The song is very faint and low, and the call-note is a 
at-chick. 
The adult has the crown light brown, with dark streaks down the 
centre of the feathers ; upper parts hair-brown, slightly darker on the 
wings and tail, and paler on the margins of the wing-coverts and 
secondaries ; chin and under parts dull white, with brown streaks on 
the throat, breast and flanks ; bill dark brown ; legs and feet blackish. 
The sexes are alike in plumage. Length 5°8 in. ; wing 3:3in. The 
young are very much spotted ; the feathers of the upper parts have 
pale centres with broad dark margins, and the wing- and tail-coverts 
are conspicuously tipped with buff, as are also the secondaries, 
