tliers ; tlie second has the bottom and outside of fresh green
moss, lined with a few grass bents, long horse-hairs, and
several mottled feathers, apparently those of a Turkey; the
third is similar to the last on the outside, but lined with loner
horse-hairs, wool, and feathers. The labour and art bestowed
by birds on the construction of their nests have long
'been the theme of admiration ; but the state of vegetation at
the nest-building season of the year, and the care manifested
by birds generally in selecting a place of security, render it
difficult to obtain a sight of the nest-makers when at work.
From what has been observed, however, it is believed that
the female is generally the nest-builder; the male collects
and brings to her the materials required : long stems of grass,
or long horse-hairs, are interwoven by the bird, fixing in one
end, and then traversing the edge of the nest, lays in the
remainder as she makes circle after circle. A female bird
has been seen going backward round the upper edge of the
nest, arranging the materials which formed the inner lining.
The eggs of the Spotted Flycatcher are four or five in number,
about nine lines in length by seven lines in breadth ; the
ground colour white tinged with blue, and spotted with pale
red. White says, the female while sitting on the eggs is fed
by the male even as late as nine o’clock at night.
This bird has no power of voice beyond a chirping call
note.
A curious circumstance in reference to this bird has been
noticed by Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. the President of
the Horticultural Society. A Flycatcher built in his stove
several successive years. He observed that the bird
quitted its eggs whenever the thermometer in the house was
above 72°, and resumed her place upon the nest again when
the thermometer sunk below. According to Mr. Jenyns,
the young Flycatchers are hatched about the second week in
June : when able to leave the nest, they follow the parent
birds, who feed them, and soon learn them, by their example,
to catch insects for themselves. When on the look-out
for food, they generally take their stand on the top of a post,
on the upper bar of a flight of rails, or the extreme end of a
branch of a tree, from whence they dart off on the approach
of an insect, appear to catch it with ease by a short and rapid
movement, returning frequently to the spot they had quitted,
to keep watch as before. These birds are believed to feed
almost exclusively on winged insects. They have been accused
of eating cherries and raspberries ; but they seem rather
to be induced to visit fruit-trees for the sake of the flies
which the ripe fruits attract, since on examination of the stomachs
of Flycatchers killed under such circumstances no
remains of fruit were found.
White, in his History of Selborne, says that the Spotted
Flycatcher only rears one brood in this country; but I have
known some instances of this bird s producing a second hatch,
and have been told of several others ; and as it does not leave
England till near the end of September, there is ample time
to bring up a second brood.
The Spotted Flycatcher is common during summer in
most of, if not all, the counties of England ; and Mr. Thompson
of Belfast informs me, it is also a regular summer visiter
to the North of Ireland. Dr. Fleming says it is rare in
Scotland. Mr. Selby observed it in Sutherlandshire in June
1834 ; and it is also found in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
It is a common bird on the European Continent, and
its range extends to western and southern Africa, even as far
as the Cape.
The beak is dark brown; the irides hazel; the head and
the whole of the upper surface of the body and wing-coverts
hair brown, the quills and tail-feathers being a little darker,
with a few dark brown spots on the top of the head ; the ter-
tials with a narrow margin of light brown ; the under parts