28 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGs. 
atricapilla which I received in young plumage in 1887, did not acquire the distinc- 
tive black ventral band until the second moult; but a more curious change occurred 
in the spring of 1896, when one of my old examples of Quelea quelea assumed the 
breeding-plumage of Q. russ’, the black mask being wholly lost. 
This species appears to be more essentially a forest-haunting bird than our 
other Flycatchers, breeding in beech-woods, and only visiting gardens in their 
vicinity. The song is said by Seebohm to be very unobtrusive and intermediate 
between those of the Robin and Redstart, and he describes the alarm-note as pzvh, 
pink, pink, something like the sfzv of a Chaffinch; probably Naumann’s call-note 
of this species is the same sound, and he expresses it “‘/azd, fizd,’ I therefore 
have no doubt that the true rendering of the note would be “‘phwick” or “phwit” ; 
for no Chaffinch ever had a note the least bit like sA:vk or pink, and ¢, not d, is 
one of the terminal sounds in bird-notes: Dr. A. Walter, according to Gitke, 
describes the call as a rattling sound, but doubtless the latter would be a scolding 
note. 
In its actions the Red-breasted Flycatcher resembles our other species, some- 
times it pursues its prey in the air, but sometimes it picks them from the trunk 
of a tree: in addition to insects it also eats small fruits. 
The nest is usually placed in a beech-tree, either in a cavity, in trunk, or 
branch, or against the trunk, supported by outgrowing twigs; in form it is a 
somewhat deep cup, formed of moss, a few fragments of lichen, and a few soft 
feathers; the lining of fine bents and hairs. The number of the eggs varies from 
five to seven, bluish-green, more or less mottled or speckled with rusty-brown, 
sometime so densely as almost to conceal the ground-colour, and with greyish-brown 
shell-markings: in character they are intermediate between those of the Spotted 
Flycatcher and the Robin. 
This bird is said to be almost as pugnacious as a Robin; therefore it would 
be well to use caution in associating it with other species in an aviary. As a 
cage-bird it has been both kept and exhibited in Germany, and if reared from the 
nest would doubtless be very tame and make a most attractive pet, feeding readily 
on the usual soft food; Seebohm, however, states that ‘“‘ birds of this species in 
confinement feed upon the common house-fly with great avidity, preferring it to 
any artificial food.” Doubtless this statement is correct, but it would be quite out 
of the question to attempt to feed this, or any other bird upon flies alone. 
