220 
PIED FLYCATCHER. 
and extends to the Border ; the vicinity of some 
of the lakes in Cumberland and Westmoreland is 
a favourite locality ; and in some parts of Nor- 
thumberland and Durham it has also been met 
with. * We are not aware that it has been met 
with in Ireland, or in any part of Scotland. 
From their unfrequency, their habits have not 
been much studied by our British ornithologists. 
On the lakes, Dr Heysham states, that their 
manners considerably resemble those of the 
Spotted Flycatcher ; but they breed in the old 
pollard oaks, and old trees, and are very clamour- 
ous when the nest is approached. Mr Hewitson 
again states, on the authority of a friend near 
Penrith, that the nest is placed in the holes of 
trees, walls, and bridges, often near a stream of 
water, and that the hole is so small as scarcely 
to admit the hand. The eggs are from five to 
eight in number, and of a pale verdegris green. 
Among birds generically allied, we almost always 
perceive a similarity of colouring to prevail in 
their eggs, but which here is at much variance. 
In the manner of building and colour of the eggs, 
this bird runs into the Suxicolince, particularly 
the Redstarts, which it also resembles in the dis- 
tribution of the colours on the tail, dark at the 
end, with a partially pale bar at the base. 
Head, cheeks, and upper parts of the body, 
* Dr Heysham mentions, that they breed at Lowther, 
in the holes of trees. “ On the 12th of May, 1783, I 
shot there two pair.”t 
f Cat. of Cumberland Animals in Hutchinson’s Hist. vol. i. p. 13. 
