the occurrence of a third was communicated to me by the same gentleman nearly two years later. In a letter 
dated NW. 7 , 1865, he says : — “ You will he pleased to hear that another specimen of the Muscicapa parm was 
obtained at Scilly a day or two since. It was observed by ray nephew and Mr. A. Pechell, who were the 
captors, busily engaged in capturing flies ; its actions, while so doing, much resembled those of the common 
Spotted Flycatcher in darting off, and returning to, the same branch. From the secondary quills and the 
greater coverts being edged with rufous instead of being of a uniform cinereous, I think it is a young male 
of the year. Its note was louder than the suppressed one of the common species, and was a well-expressed 
‘ chat.’ ” A notice of this specimen from the same pen will be found in the ‘ Zoologist,’ for 1863, p. 8841 ; 
and I have to thank Mr. Rodd’s nephew, the Rev. J. H. Jenkinson, of St. Margaret’s Vicarage, Reading, for 
the following additional particulars respecting it. 
“ The bird was first noticed by Mr. Pechell, in a small covert of low trees, close by the house — Tresco 
Abbey, the residence of Augustus Smith, Esq. After watching it for a few moments we came to a con- 
clusion as to what it was ; and I fetched a small walking-stick gun, and shot it. While we were looking 
at it, it was continually on the move, flitting among the branches after insects, flirting up its tail as it 
settled on a branch, and uttering now and then a rather harsh Stonechatty kind of note, repeated once or 
twice. Its actions were like those of a Willow-AVren or Chiffchaff, for which we at first mistook it, with a 
strong dash of those of the Flycatcher. The elongated white patch on each side of the tail was very 
visible as it flew about. Ou taking up the bird, the eye struck us as being very large and full ; it had 
a pale huffy rim all round it. The tawny colour of the throat and breast was not very strong, but was 
deepest on the sides of the breast. The sex could not be determined, owing to its being too much 
damaged about the lower part of the body.” 
Having given, in the above passages, all that is known respecting the two British-killed examples, I 
conclude my history of the bird with Dr. Bree’s account of it as observed in other countries : — 
” This pretty and interesting species inhabits the vast forests of Hungary and the neighbourhood of 
Vienna in summer, but only during the short time necessary to rear its young. It is an annual migratory 
bird in the Crimea, and accidental in France, Switzerland, and Italy. M. Nordmann says that the young bird 
may be seen in flocks in the Botanic Gardens of Odessa, from the last days of July till the end of Octobei*, 
and that the birds in full plumage, which pass in the spring, only stop a short time in those gardens. 
Nordmann adds that the vivacity of its movements, as well as the white of its tail, reminds one of the 
smallest species of Stonechat. It constantly utters a feeble chirp, lowers its tail slowly and repeatedly, and 
spreads it out, or raises it suddenly above its wings. 
“ The Red-breasted Flycatcher, like the rest of its family, lives upon flies and other insects. It builds its 
nest in the forks of the branches of trees .” — History of the Birds of Europe not observed in the British Isles, 
vol. i. p. 179. 
Mr. Jerdon, speaking of the bird as observed by him in India, says — “ In spring, by the end of March or 
the beginning of April, the male, by a partial moult, assumes a bright orange-rufous chin and throat, and 
the lores, cheeks, and sides of the neck become tolerably pure ashy. This livery is again cast at the 
autumnal moult.” 
“ This interesting little bird is found throughout the whole of India, from the base of the Himalayas to 
the extreme south, and in Ceylon ; also in Burmah, and from China to Afghanistan. It is more common 
towards northern and central India than in the south, and may be seen in every grove. Often a party of five 
or six may be observed sporting about the trunk of some mango or tamarind tree, now clinging to the trunk, 
then darting after an insect in the air, or alighting on the ground to pick one up. It is, however, fre- 
quently seen singly, and its actions much remind one of those of the British Robin .” — Birds of India, 
vol. i. p. 481. 
When fully adult the two sexes differ considerably, the male only having the dull rufous throat. 
The figures represent a male and a female, of the natural size. 
