NOTES ON THE PIED. FLYCATCHER. 225 
to the eggs of the Redstart, and anyone who has observed the 
habits of this Flycatcher must have been struck with its close 
affinity to that bird. 
Once I found the nest of this species ina hole in a mountain- 
ash, occupied by a pair, the male of which was in its immature 
plumage, and it was some time before I could discover which was 
the male bird. When hunting for insects it has a curious habit 
at times of dropping from some distance to the ground, returning 
to some dead branch. Like its congener, its spotted cousin, it 
is fond of building in the same place year after year, and rather 
courts than shuns the presence of man. 
One of its provincial names is ‘‘Coldfinch.”” Whether this 
has its origin because it affects mountainous districts, or on 
account of its plumage, it is impossible to say; but whether 
this name ‘‘ Coldfinch”’ is a misnomer or not, no other British 
bird can form a warmer friendship for man, and anyone who 
can lightly misplace its confidence, much less seek the de- 
struction of this bird, deserves to be ostracised from the society 
of all true naturalists. 
I very well remember the first and only time I saw the Roller 
in this district, and the first instance to come to my notice, after 
long years of searching, of the breeding of the Hawfinch; and 
my impressions on first seeing the Scotch Argus in all its glory 
in its only Yorkshire station, and my rapture at the first sight 
of the Clouded Yellow Butterfly in this district in 1876; but no 
witchery that can be conjured up from my memory can equal my 
first sight of the Pied Flycatcher. Since then my pilgrimages 
to its haunts have been many, and I trust they may be still 
more. It is the ‘‘ White Admiral” among birds. Long may 
England continue to be a dulce domum to this charming and 
interesting bird! 
