222 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
NOTES ON THE PIED FLYCATCHER (MUSCICAPA 
ATRICAPILLA). 
By E. P. Burrerriexp. 
Hiver since my boyhood days a certain glamour has always 
clustered around the Pied Flycatcher, but it was not until the 
year (I believe) 1874 that I made my first acquaintance with 
this most charming bird. Previous to the above year I had 
heard of its breeding in Wharfedale. This, however, was said to 
be a very rare occurrence, but my brother James Alfred Butter- 
field, of Plumstead, and I decided on a visit to confirm or 
discard this record; so, as might be expected, neither of us 
was at all sanguine that our visit would be attended with 
success. However, after travelling about twenty miles, half of 
which was accomplished on foot, immediately on entering the 
wood, one can imagine our surprise when a fine male Pied 
Flycatcher was seen flying from one old oak to another in a 
small wooded dell, after which it was seen to enter a hole in an 
old oak tree, in which was found its nest. 
An experience such as this comes to a naturalist but at rare 
intervals, and the above will always stand out as a ‘‘ purple 
patch ” in my life. 
On subsequent investigation we found this species, within a 
certain limited area, to be not only common but what might be 
described as fairly numerous—as plentiful perhaps, or more s0, 
than in any other of its habitats in Britain. 
Scarcely a year has passed since my first acquaintance with 
this bird but I have paid a visit to its haunts, and this familiarity 
has been provocative of an ever-increased interest. 
The distribution of this species in Britain is very peculiar, 
for, while it is said to have bred occasionally in the Southern 
Counties and Midlands, it seems to affect more particularly hilly 
and deeply wooded valleys where old timber abounds, but is by 
no means confined to districts which embrace such physical 
