The Spotted Flycatcher. 



19 



and killed. Selby also observes that he has not been able 

 to verify the alleged fondness of this bird for cherf-ies, and he 

 is inclined to believe that the Garden Warbler, sometimes 

 called the greater Pettichaps {^Sylvia hortensis) has in most 

 cases been mistaken for the Plycatcher. 



The spotted fly-catcher may often be seen either taking a 

 short sharp flight in search of insects, or perched on a rail, 

 gate, or branch, making frequent swoops at passing 

 insects and returning to its coign of vantag'e. Sometimes it 

 half jumps, half flutters, from the ground and snaps up 

 flies, gnats, and other insects within easy reach. It takes all 

 kinds of insects : moths, flies, beetles, and aphides. During 

 August when the air is thick with aphides coming in swarms 

 from the hop gardens, or from damson trees, the Fly- 

 catchers appear to be perpetually in motion from their 

 eagerness to devour the winged hosts. Sawflies are also a 

 favourite food with them, and Flycatchers should therefore 

 be encouraged to breed near gooseberry plantations in order 

 that they may clear off the destructive gooseberry sawfly 

 {Nematus ribesii) which is so difficult to get rid of when 

 once established. Macgillivray says that the food of this 

 bird consists exclusively of insects of various kinds. He 

 gives a description of the feeding of their young by a pair of 

 Flycatchers. The parent birds brought food to the nest five 

 liundred and thirty-seven times during the course of a day. 



Their motions,'' Macgillivray says, were so uncommonly 

 rapid that I could not for a single moment keep my eye off 

 the nest. By short jerks they usually caught the winged 

 insects. It is impossible to give the precise number of flies that 

 might have been consumed by this brood, as they sometimes 

 brought them one large fly, at other times two, three, four, 

 five, and even more flies of different sizes.'' 



The spotted Flycatcher is not quite six inches in length 

 from head to tail. The head and back of the bird are of a 

 chestnut-brown colour, while the wings and tail are of a 

 darker brown ; the breast and the under parts vary from 

 greyish-white to greyish-brown ; the legs and bill are dark 

 brown. On either side, at the base of the bill, there are 

 numerous hair-like pointed projections, or short bristles, 



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