8 4 
British Birds. 
THE 
FLYCATCHERS 
Family 
MUSCICAPIDJE. 
the summer migrants, as if it timed its arrival when the warm 
weather might be 
The Flycatchers have distinctly spotted young, and hence 
they show their alliance with the Thrushes. Many of 
them, however, though not moulting entirely in the spring 
as the Warblers do, gain their summer plumage by a 
change of feather without moult, therein differing from the 
majority of the Turdidce. The Flycatchers are essentially ‘snappers,’ and catch 
their insect prey on the wing, returning to their original perch from whence they 
sally forth again. The bill is much flatter than in the Thrushes and is furnished 
with very distinct rictal bristles. 
This little bird arrives in Great Britain after the bulk of 
THE COMMON 
FLYCATCHER. 
( Muscicapa grisola.) 
expected to have 
set in in our uncertain climate, so that 
it is hardly to be expected before the 
early part of May. It then spreads 
over the whole of Great Britain and 
migrates south in autumn, after the 
moult is completed, to Western and 
Southern Africa. The breeding-range 
of the species extends to the Yenesei 
valley in Siberia, and the eastern 
examples apparently winter in Persia 
and North-western India. 
The colour of the Common or 
* Spotted ’ Flycatcher, as it is often 
called, is a plain brown, with the under 
surface white, except for a tinge of 
isabelline-brown on the breast and sides 
of the body, which are streaked with 
dark brown, It frequents every kind of situation where its insect food is assured, 
and is to be found in parks, orchards, and gardens, even in the suburbs and parks of 
London, where it may be seen sitting on railings or the lower branches of trees, 
from which vantage it sails out after any passing insect, which it secures, and again 
takes up its former position. In the case of large flies, which are often captured, 
the hard portions of the bodies are thrown up by the birds in the shape of pellets, 
which form small iridescent particles on the ground near the nest. The young 
birds, in spotted plumage, generally take up their seats, side by side, on a rail 
or lawn-tennis net in the autumn, and are assiduously fed by the parent birds 
till the moult is complete and they are strong enough to perform their long 
southern journey. 
i — T he Common Flycatcher. 
2 — The Pied Flycatcher. 
