176 WHITE-COLLARED FLYCATCHER. 
Specific Characters.—Wings with the bastard feather a third of 
the length of the first quill, this either on a level with the fourth 
or extending beyond it; a small-clear white spot upon the wing. 
Length five inches and three-fifths —Drenanp. 
5 
4 
THE Flycatchers are merely birds of passage in 
Europe, and we, only recognise four species in its 
fauna, of which two are in the British lists, and the 
others will be described and figured in this work. ‘The 
tropics are rich in species of this family. 
The White-collared Flycatcher is found especially in 
the provinces of the centre of Hurope, and is dispersed 
rather plentifully in many parts of France, less regularly 
in the north. Degland says that he has found it at 
Lisle in May, and that it breeds in considerable num- 
bers in Lorraine. ‘Temminck says that it is never found 
in Holland, and rarely in the middle of Italy. Count 
Von der Miihle observed it in Greece, in the spring 
passage in April, but then only for a few days, and in 
considerable numbers, and in the breeding plumage, from 
which he thinks it probable that it breeds in Rumelia. 
It is included in Captain Loche’s “Birds of Algeria.” 
Latham thought that the White-collared Flycatcher 
was a variety of the Pied, and observes—“ These 
varieties the less surprise us when we are told that the 
bird varies in plumage in different seasons of the year, 
the male only possessing the full black durmg. the 
summer; after that growing so like the female as not to 
be known from her. Hence such variety of description 
and sentiment concerning this bird.” The specific dis- 
tinction, however, between the two birds, was clearly 
pointed out by Temminck in the first edition of his 
“Manual.” The males in breeding plumage are easy 
to distinguish, but only after the change in the colour 
