motions and the white mark on their tail remind one, he says,
of the smaller species of Saxicola.
The male of this Flycatcher in breeding plumage has
much of the appearance of our familiar Redbreast. The top
of the head is smoky-grey; the lores whitish; cheeks, ear-
coverts and sides of the neck light bluisli-grey; orbital
feathers white; scapulars and back mouse-colour, passing
into blackish-grey on the rump, the upper tail-coverts being
edged with whitish. Wing-coverts and primaries dark hair-
brown, the outer edge of the latter lig h te r; the first quill
extremely short, the second considerably shorter than the
third, which is slightly longer than the fifth but shorter than
the fourth—the longest in the wing; the secondaries like
the primaries but with the light edge broader and the tip
whitish. Tail of ten feathers, blackish-brown—the middle
pair entirely so, but the rest with more or less of a white
basal or median patch extending across one or both webs,
increasing in size from the outer pair, which have it only on
the inner web, to the third pair, and then decreasing to the
pair next the middle, which have it only on the outer web.
Chin, throat and upper part of the breast light reddish-
orange, belly white tinged on the sides and flanks with buff;
lower tail-coverts like the flanks but paler ; inside of the
wings pale yellowish-buff. The bill is said to be horn-
colour, the upper mandible darkest, irides hazel, legs, toes
and claws dark brown.
A. male in winter resembles the former, but the top of the
head is like the back, and there is no trace of bluish-grey on
its sides; the throat is dull buff with dusky transverse bars,
and the whole lower surface more suffused with dull buff.
The old female has a general likeness to the male in
winter ; but the whole upper surface inclines to hair-brown,
the tips of the wing-coverts and tertials are buff, the lower
surface except a band of light brown across the breast is paler.
The young in autumn resemble the female; but the
colours are everywhere lighter, and there is hardly any trace
of buff beneath. The nestlings are said to have a spotted
plumage, which they lose at a very early age.
M u s c ic a p a a t r ic a p i l l a , Linnaeus *.
THE PIED FLYCATCHER.
Muscicapa atricapilla.
T h e P i e d F l y c a t c h e r is in England much less numerous
as a species than the well-known Spotted Flycatcher, and
has a comparatively restricted distribution ; but it is also
a summer-visitor to this country, arriving in April, and
leaving to go southward in September. I t appears to be
most plentiful in the vicinity of the Lakes of Cumberland
and Westmoreland; and in some of its habits, particularly
in its mode of feeding, as also in the nature of its food,^ it
resembles its commoner congeneric companion ; but with
* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 326 (1866).