160 FLYCATCHER. 



the outer tail feathers are white on the outer webs, almost to the 

 end ;* upper tail coverts black and white mixed ;-f legs black. 



The female wants the white on the forehead, and is brown where 

 the male is black ; the under parts are dusky white ; the white on 

 the wings less pure. 



This is indigenous to England, but a very local species, and no 



where common ; most so in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire ; 



Mr. Bolton says, that it visits the West Riding of Yorkshire in 



April, and departs with the young in September, but not regularly 



every year; the nest, which he describes, was built on the branch 



of an almond tree, and well concealed ; the structure was loose, the 



outside composed of moss, hay, small sticks, roots, &c. and lined 



with finer roots, hairs, and a few feathers ; the eggs in number five, 



wholly of a pale bright blue ; the cock sings in breeding time, not 



far from the nest, his song like that of the Spotted Flycatcher, but 



more sprightly, and with more energy : it sometimes approaches 



towards London, as a young male was shot by Mr. Curtis, Surgeon, 



near Uxbridge, and now in Mr. Harrison's Collection : also seen on 



the walls of the old castle at Winchelsea. J Is known in many parts 



of the Continent of Europe ; comes into Lorraine and Brie, about 



the middle of April ; said to build in the hole of some tree, not very 



near the ground :§ found as far North as Sondmor, staying there the 



whole year, and during winter frequently taking refuge in the very 



houses; || seen in Russia, but only between the Kama and Samara; 



returns to Sweden in April ; appears at Gibraltar the middle of that 



month, but in small numbers, and stays but a little while, being soon 



dispersed in the open country, none remaining about the town after 



the spring season. 



* This mark is different in different birds. f In some wholly black. 



J Lin. Trans, iv. p. 5. Col. Montagu observes, that it is not in the more western coun- 

 ties of England, and that it does not inhabit the neighbourhood of Penrhyn, in Cornwall. 

 § Kramer, Arct. Zool. Sup. p. 94. || Jet. Nidros. v. 543. 



