RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER. 333 



third example was shot on the 5th of November, 1865, and was recorded 

 in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History ' (ser. 3, xvi. p. 447) and 

 the ' Zoologist ' for 1866, p. 31, by Mr. Rodd. This bird was taken on 

 Tresco Island in Scilly ; but from the injuries it received from the shot 

 it was impossible to determine the sex. 



Upon the European continent the range of the Red-breasted Flycatcher 

 is somewhat restricted. It breeds in Germany, Austi-ia, and South Russia 

 as far north as the Baltic Provinces, arriving during the latter end of 

 April or early in May, and departing again in August or September. Its 

 occurrence in Western Europe is only accidental. A single bird was taken 

 in the Baltic near Laudsort, off the coast of Sweden, and it has once been 

 obtained near Copenhagen. Two specimens have been killed in the south 

 of France ; one example has been killed and another observed in Spain ; 

 and its occurrence in Italy is almost as exceptional. Loche says that it is 

 found in Algeria, where it may be a rare winter visitor. It passes through 

 Transylvania, Turkey, Greece, and Asia JNIiuor on migration, and winters 

 in Nubia, where it was found by Hemprich and Ehrenberg. It breeds in 

 the Caucasus and winters in Persia. In Asia, Severtzow says that it passes 

 through Turkestan on migration. Radde, Schrenck, and Dybowsky all 

 record it from the Baikal district ; and it is said that skins from Kam- 

 schatka, collected by Wosnessenski, are in the St. -Petersburg jMuseum. It 

 winters in North India and South China. 



The Red-breasted Flycatcher is represented by Prof. Newton as forming 

 an exception to the ordinary rules of migration. He suggests that the 

 European birds winter in India. It appears to me, however, that both 

 Prof. Newton, in his edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,^ and Mr. Sharpe, 

 in his ' Catalogue of the Birds in the British ^Museum,' have entirely 

 misunderstood the geographical distribution of this bird. In my opinion, 

 the range of this bird during the breeding-season extends from Pomerania 

 to Lake Baikal, the Asiatic birds wintering in India and China, the 

 Caucasian birds in Persia, and the European birds in North-east Africa. 

 Eastern examples have been described as another species under the name 

 of M. leucura, which has been said to differ in having the chestnut confined 

 to the throat and not extending onto the breast. It seems probable, 

 however, that the latter are merely not fully adult examples of the former. 

 Radde found both forms at Tarei-nor ; and I have a perfect series from 

 one to the other. The two extremes are both found in India and China, 

 European examples being somewhat intermediate. My Indian skins, 

 showing the greatest development of the chestnut on the breast, are 

 labelled M. hyperythra ; but this species may easily be distinguished 

 by the chestnut extending onto the flanks and under tail-coverts, 

 and by the nearly black line separating the chestnut of the breast from 

 the slate-grey of the neck. That this bird does not lose this dark line in 



