126 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



detection. The manners and habits of the Pied Flycatcher have 

 considerable affinity to those of the Eedstart ; they arrive about 

 the same time, associate together, and often build in the same 

 holes, for which they will sometimes contend. On one occasion 

 we found a dead female Redstart in the nest of a Pied Flycatcher 

 containing two eggs; and at another time, when both these 

 species had nests within a few inches of each other, upon the 

 Redstarts' [eggs] being removed, the female Redstart took forci- 

 ble possession of the Flycatchers' nest, incubated the eggs, and 

 brought up the young. We have now (August 26th) two young 

 Pied Flycatchers taken from the nest on the 21st of last June, 

 and should we succeed in our attempts to domesticate them, we 

 may, in all probability, on some future occasion, make a remark 

 or two upon the change of their plumage from youth to maturity.' 

 Heysham was so well aware of the comparative scarcity of this 

 Flycatcher in the south of England, that, with a view to its 

 naturalisation, he sent fresh eggs to his contemporary, Sweet. 

 Writing from Pomona Place, June 10th, 1829, Mr. Sweet says : 

 ' I feel much obliged by your kindness in sending me the eggs of 

 the Musicapa atricapilla, which unluckily met with bad treatment 

 in their journey ; three of them were broke before they arrived, 

 the others were so shook that none of them have come to perfec- 

 tion, though I set them under a Redbreast immediately.' 



T. C. Heysham replied to this letter in another of June 19, 

 1829: 'I have now two nests of this bird (which I have 

 inspected since the receipt of your letter, although they are 

 nearly twelve miles from this place) j one with young which will 

 be able to leave the nest in a few days, the other with eggs, 

 which I expect will hatch in a day or two, and I think a pair 

 of the old birds might be obtained without much difficulty.' 

 T. C. Heysham certainly antedated the arrival of the Pied Fly- 

 catcher when he said that it reached Lakeland ' about the middle 

 of April/ just as Dr. Gough postdated its arrival when he wrote 

 that it appeared about the 8th of May. The usual date for its 

 first appearance with us is the 25th of April, but for the first few 

 weeks after their arrival many of these Flycatchers appear to be 

 very unsettled. Heysham apparently only knew of two colonies, 

 including Lowther. At the present day a few Flycatchers breed 



