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THE PIED FLYCATCHER IN WESTMORELAND. 



By the Rev. H. A. MACPHERSON, M.A., 

 Ca7-lislc. 



Early on May 19th, 1884, we started to search for Pied Flycatchers 

 at Lowther Castle, where my companion, Mr. W. Duckworth, had 

 observed them during many previous summers. In this locality 

 these Flycatchers are usually to be found near the water ; neverthe- 

 less, on this occasion, we had hardly entered the Park when a 

 beautiful Httle male caught my eye ; a moment later Mr. Duckworth 

 spied its less obtrusive mate, A second pair were flitting in and out 

 of some shrubberies, while a few hundred yards from the Castle a 

 female was clinging to the entrance of her nesting hole. In a minute 

 or two she popped inside, dislodging the male, which almost at the 

 same moment quitted the nest by an upper orifice. When we 

 reached the Eamont's hanging banks, the charming song of this 

 species resounded on all sides. We watched another female convey- 

 ing a leaf to her nest. 



Most of the males were singing in the upper branches of oaks 

 that grow beside the river ; occasionally they darted down to pluck 

 an insect from the grass. The movements of these individuals 

 seemed to be more active and lightsome than those of the Pied Fly- 

 catchers that I have seen in Switzerland in August and September ; 

 but the latter were chiefly young birds. At Lowther the males seemed 

 to be chiefly adult birds, but we noticed some males of the previous 

 year in full song. Having previously obtained leave to shoot a few 

 for the Carlisle Museum, we obtained an adult female and four males, 

 one of which I sent to the British Museum. 



Three of the males were mature, but one was not ; this bird bore 

 considerable resemblance to a female, from which it differed chiefly 

 in the white of the forehead, in having black upper tail coverts and 

 black wing coverts. As we rambled along the water side, ever and 

 anon a male Pied Flycatcher would dart out of the woods on either 

 side, as though to dart across the stream, but checking in midstream 

 would poise himself for rest upon the summit of a grey rock in the 

 river's bed. 



Occasionally we observed a female resting pensively in the cool 

 shade, but the nymphs seemed less energetic than their suitors, 

 especially as the heat increased towards noon. The most careful use 

 of two pairs of glasses failed to detect a single White-collared Fly- 

 catcher, though the number of birds examined during the day was very 

 large. We bade farewell to the Flycatchers only when we quitted the 

 Park ; but as we approached the borders of Cumberland their 



Jan. 1885. ' / • ,; ^ , 02 



