The Spotted Fly-catcher. 



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tail measures 2|in. The bill is blackish brown, but the base 

 is inclined to white, and is surrounded with short feathers, 

 which stand erect, and appear like bristles. The head is pale 

 brown, indistinctly spotted with black ; the back is brownish 

 grey ; the wings and tail are blackish brown, the former being 

 edged with white ; the breast and belly are white, the throat 

 and sides, beneath the wings, being slightly tinged with red. 

 The legs are black. 



Habits and Breeding. — The Spotted Fly-catcher is a bird of 

 passage, and arrives in this country about the latter part of 

 March, or early in April, leaving again at the end of September 

 or early in October. It is an inhabitant of Spain, Italy, France, 

 Greece, Switzerland, Turkey, and some parts of Germany 

 and Russia. It is a very familiar bird, and evidently delights 

 in the society of man, as it will build its nest in a vine or 

 cherry tree attached to a garden wall or dwelling-house, and 

 sometimes in a sweetbriar or rose bush, in close proximity to a 

 garden walk, or near to the main entrance of a residence. It 

 likewise builds in the roofs of detached buildings contiguous 

 to habitations, inside workshops, stores, barns, stables, or cow 

 houses, or in holes in a wall. 



The nest is chiefly composed of moss, intermixed with root 

 fibre, and is lined with, wool or hair ; its size is rather prodigious 

 in proportion to that of the bird. The hen once a year lays 

 from four to six eggs (usually four or five), of a greyish 

 colour, mottled with reddish brown spots, and incubates about 

 fourteen days. The parents are much attached to their off- 

 spring, uttering a mournful and piteous wail when deprived 

 of them, and continuing to grieve for a considerable time after- 

 wards. They return to the same locality year after year, if 

 not molested. 



Methods of Capture. — ^Spotted Fly-catchers are wary birds 

 apart from their tameness, and, consequently, difficult to ensnare. 

 Probably the best plan to adopt would be to place some good 

 birdlime on sundry gate posts and palings, or other places where 

 the birds are known to frequent, as they rarely go far away from 

 the locality selected for breeding operations until the young 

 are fully fledged, when they retire to the nearest woods that 

 afford them plenty of protection. Another plan is to wait until 

 the birds are so intent upon their occupation of fly-catching 

 as to be almost oblivious of all around them, and then to 



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