marauding Sparrows. In Northamptonshire this bird 

 is generally known as " Cobweb " ; " Beam-bird " is 

 another common local name for it ; and in Kent it goes 

 by the name of " Cherry-sucker," a singular misnomer, 

 as I need hardly say that our bird is exclusively insecti- 

 vorous. In this connection it is somewhat remarkable 

 that Morton, in his ' Natural History of Northampton- 

 shire' (1712), in alluding to the Tree-Creeper states: 

 "At Desborough 'tis said to build in walls and to feed 

 on cherries in cherry-time, and so is called Cherry-bird 

 by some, — this I look upon as a mistake ; its proper food 

 being insects." The author no doubt here applied a 

 local myth to the wrong species, as I think that it is 

 sufficiently obvious that the " Cherry-bird " of Des- 

 borough Avas the subject of the present writing. 



I believe that the Flycatcher often rears two broods, 

 as, although our pleasure-grounds swarm with young 

 birds almost throughout July, I have frequently found 

 fledglings in the nests late in August. 



The pleasant familiarity of this species, and the 

 enormous number of pestilential house-flies and other 

 insects that it destroys, should ensure its protection 

 and render it a general favourite ; as a proof of its 

 fearlessness of human beings, this summer a Flycatcher 

 sat steadily on her eggs and hatched out her brood on 

 the branch of a yew-tree, within three or four feet of 

 my favourite shade-resort in our flower-garden, my 

 head as I sat in my wheeled chair being constantly at 

 the distance mentioned from the nest. Gardeners, 

 gamekeepers, and others are apt to bring charges of 

 depredation against all sorts of perfectly innocent birds ; 



