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. — Degland. 



The Flycatchers arc 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 Europe, 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 during 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 



