MUSCICAPA ATRICAPILLA, 
Pied Flycatcher. 
Muscicapa atricapilla, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 326. 
nigra, Briss. Orn., tom. ii. p. 381. 
ficedula, Cuv. 
hictuosa, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2nd edit. tom. i. p. 155 ; tom. iii. p. 84. 
nmscipeta, Bechst. Naturg. Deutsch., vol. iii. p. 435. 
Emberiza luctuosa, Scop. Ann. Hist. Nat., tom. i. No. 215. 
Rubetra Anglicana, Briss. Orn., tom. iii. p. 436. 
Sylvia ficedula. Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 517. 
The Pied Flycatcher, in the strictest sense of the term, is a migrant ; for it passes the summer only in 
the British Islands. In the months of Ajn'il and May its arrival may be looked for, and solitary individuals 
generally seen in our southern counties, during their passage from Africa to the northern parts of the island. 
Here, Avithin circumscribed limits, it takes up its abode and rears its young, and when autumn terminates, 
and insect-life becomes scarce, Avings its Avay hack to the south. 
If Ave look to the Avorks of Yarrell, Selby, and Morris, we shall find numerous instances of its accidental 
occurrence in many other parts of England than those above mentioned. In Scotland it is extremely 
scarce, that country being apparently beyond its ordinary limits of location. In Ireland I belicA^e it has not 
yet been discovered. Scarce as is the Pied Flycatcher in the southern parts of England, few birds are 
more plentiful in Westmoreland, Cumberland, Yorkshire, and Durham. In the neighbourhood of Carlisle 
the late Mr. Heysham frequently met Avith it, Avhen he spent a day in the suburbs of the town. It is even 
more plentiful at Penrith, particularly in the Avoods bordering the Eamont and the LoAvther: in this district 
it breeds in abundance, and there the specimens from which my drawing was made were procured. 
Examples have also been sent to me from Hunmanby in Yorkshire, by Admiral Mitford, in whose gardens 
one or tAvo pairs annually breed. The summer home, then, of the Pied Flycatcher in Britain is confined to 
a narroAV belt of tAvo or three degrees. On the Continent I believe it is also found in similar latitudes, but 
it there proceeds further north than Avith us ; for I saAv it breeding near the Lake Mjosen, in NorAA’^ay : Avhile 
Mr. Wheelwright speaks of it as being more numerous than the Spotted species in the Quickiock district of 
Lapland, where he suav it as high as the birch-region extends ; and principally found the nest in small dead 
birch-stubs by the river-side. EastAvard it is found as far as the confines of Europe ; everywhere it is a 
migrant, as in England. 
In its habits and economy it is much less sedentary than the Spotted Flycatcher. In disposition it is more 
shy, exposes itself less, and keeps to the leafy branches of the trees ; I have, however, seen its breeding- 
place very near a dwelling-house, Avhere the busy throng, one AA'ould have supposed, was incompatible with 
the shyness of its nature. The site of the nest is someAvhat varied : a holloAv in the bole of a large tree, 
the interior of an outhouse, or even in an upright post, with the least possible hole for an entrance, seems to 
be preferred; just space enough to squeeze its tiny body through the aperture is apparently Avhat it likes. 
Beyond the entrance there must, of course, be room enough for it to construct its carelessly formed nest. 
On the someAvhat shallow structure it deposits five or six beautiful pale greenish-blue eggs, someAvhat of 
the character of those ol some of the smaller SaxicolincB , to which group it is seemingly allied ; still its 
structure and arboreal habits point out that this alliance is one of analogy rather than of affinity. 
As no one in England enjoyed better opportunities of observing this bird in a state of nature than the 
late Mr. Heysham, I cannot do better than transcribe his admirable description from the third volume of 
the ‘ Magazine of Natural History : ’ — 
“ The migration of this species appears to be principally confined to the northern counties, as it is 
seldom observed beyond Yorkshire, and rarely seen in the south of England, although it has occasionally 
been met with in Norfolk, Suffolk, Middlesex, Surrey, and Dorsetshire. In some parts of Westmoreland 
it is very plentiful, especially in the beautiful and extensiAe AAoods surrounding LoAvther Castle, the 
magnificent and j)rincely residence of the Earl of Lonsdale, where Ave have seen it in very great numbers, 
and where it has bred unmolested and almost unknown for years. On the contrary, we have reason to 
think it has not resorted to the vicinity of Carlisle more than five or six years, and, as far as we have yet 
been able to ascertain, only to one locality, where it is evidently on the increase. In this situation the 
males generally arrive about the middle of April ; the females not until ten or fifteen days afterwards. They 
commence nidification early in May, and the young are excluded about the first or second week in June. 
