BRITISH BIRDS. 
34 
THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, 
BEAM BIRD. 
(Muscicapa Grisola , Lin — Le Gobe-mouche , Buffi) 
Length nearly five inches and three quarters : the 
bill is broad, flatted, and wide at the base, where it is 
beset with a few short bristles ; a ridge runs along the 
upper mandible ; both that and the under one are dusky 
at the tips, and the latter is yellowish towards the base ; 
the inside of the mouth is yellow : all the upper plu- 
mage is of a mouse colour, darkest on the wings and 
tail : the head and neck are more or less obscurely 
spotted with dark brown ; the wing coverts, secondary 
quills, and scapulars, are also dark brown, edged with 
dingy white; the under parts are of a very pale ash, 
or lint coloured white, tinged with rufous on the sides 
and breast, which latter is marked with streaks of 
brown : the legs are short, and of a darkish colour. 
