P A S S EKES. m u s c i c a p i d j :.
M u sc ica pa g r is o l a , Linnasus*.
THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER.
Muscicapa grisola.
M u sc ic a pa , Linnceusf.—Bill of moderate length, broad and depressed at the
base; compressed and slightly curved towards the point. Nostrils basal,
lateral, and partly concealed by the frontal plumes. Gape beset with bristles.
Feet small, the tarsus about the same length as the middle toe, which is much
longer than the lateral toes. Wings long and pointed, the first primary very
short, the second rather shorter than the third, fourth, and fifth, which are
the longest in the wing.
T h e S p o t t e d F l y c a t c h e r is one of the latest, hut, at the
same time, one of the most regular of our summer-visitors.
White of Selborne remarks, even more than once, in his
miscellaneous observations published in Jesse’s ‘ Gleanings,’
that it arrives on the 20th of May. Selby says, this bird
seldom makes its appearance till the oak-leaf is partly expanded,
but begins its nest almost immediately on its arrival.
Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 328 (1866). f Tom. cit. p. 324.
It frequents woods, orchards, gardens and lawns, and is not
a little remarkable for the singularity of the places in which
it sometimes makes its nest. There is also very good
reason for believing that the same pair of birds return to
occupy the same spot for several years in succession.
The more usual places for this bird’s nest are, the smaller
twigs which grow from the bole of a large tree, the side ol
a faggot-stack, a hole in a wall, or on a beam in an outbuilding,
whence arises one of its provincial names, that of
Beam-bird; it also frequently fixes its nest on a branch of a
pear-tree, a vine, or a honeysuckle, when trained against a
building. Of three cup-shaped nests now before me, one is
formed on the outside of old dark-coloured moss, mixed with
roots, the lining of grass stems, with only two or three white
feathers ; the second has the bottom and outside of fresh
green moss, lined with a few grass bents, long horse-hairs, and
several mottled feathers ; the third is similar to the last on the
outside, but lined with long 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, excepting under very
favourable circumstances, 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, laying in the remainder as she makes
circle after circle. The eggs of the Spotted hlycatclier are
four or five in number, measuring from -83 to -6G by from
•6 to -51 in.; the ground-colour varying from french white
to pale greenish-blue, or being occasionally of a cream-colour
blotched and speckled with rusty, sometimes of a very deep
hue, or less frequently closely mottled with minute streaks
of pale rusty so as almost to hide the ground-colour. White
says, the female while sitting on the eggs is fed by the male