102 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



to be a male Sand Grouse, Syrrhaptes paradoxus, in very fair plumage. 

 It was killed near Ibstones, a moorland village, about five miles from here, 

 in September, 1888; it was one of a party of four. Another bird was 

 wounded at the same time, and picked up dead a few days afterwards ; the 

 man who shot them mistook them at the time for Partridges. He came 

 upon them as they were dusting themselves in a sandy hedgebank, as Par- 

 tridges are very fond of doing. — E. W. H. Blagg (Cheadle, Staffordshire). 



Pied Flycatcher in Norfolk.— On June 8th, 1887, whilst driving over 

 Grimston Heath, by the road leading from Rudham to Congham, my 

 attention was suddenly attracted by the conspicuous black and white 

 plumage of a small bird, which I recognised as an adult male Pied 

 Flycatcher. I pulled my horse up and had a good view of the bird, both 

 whilst perched within ten yards of us and also when flying. Tn the 

 summer of 1878 I found the Pied Flycatcher breeding in the parish of 

 East Somerton, in thiscounty ; the site of the nest — which I found before 

 it was completed, and at first suspected to be that of the common Spotted 

 Flycatcher — was under the eaves of a tumble-down, disused shed. When 

 the first egg appeared I thought it must be a Redstart's, although the 

 structure of the nest was of rather too neat compilation for that com- 

 paratively careless architect. Moreover, I had not seen a Redstart at 

 Somerton until Aug. 29th, 1880, when a few of these birds stayed a few 

 days with us at the period of the autumn migration. I did not see the 

 Pied Flycatchers themselves till their nest contained seven eggs, which 

 were always laid early in the morning ; I refrained from taking one for my 

 collection until the seven were laid, and then, on going to the nest for that 

 very purpose, I found it had been already plundered and "pulled." The 

 birds when seen were especially shy, and quite the opposite to the description 

 given under such circumstances in ' Yarrell' (4th ed. vol. i. p. 23); in fact, 

 I never heard either male or female utter a note. The hen bird I put off 

 the nest once or twice, and the cock bird I saw several times, but until 

 incubation commenced I never could catch a glimpse of either. On Aug. 

 3rd, 1883, I saw a cock bird of this species, and three immature or hen 

 birds on Aug. 29th, in both instances in oak trees, and also a cock bird in 

 splendid plumage, which my brother and myself watched for some minutes 

 on an aurucaria on the lawn. The same day we picked up a young bird 

 dead on the lawn without any apparent injury; this I now have stuffed. 

 Within a day or so of this date a friend of mine shot an immature Pied 

 Flycatcher in the parish of Witton, Norfolk. In the northern counties 

 Muscicapa atricapilla is reported to frequent birch-plantations ; at Somerton 

 they exhibited a preference for oaks, and I think these two trees, the 

 birch and the oak, attract a greater amount and a more varied choice of 

 insect-life than any other two trees of the forest. — M. C. H. Bird (Brun* 

 Mead Rectory, Stalham). 



