MUSCICAPA, Lill. Sc. FLY-CATCHEIA.
Bill middle-sized, strong, angular ; depressed at the base, more or less broad; compressed towards the point, which is strong, hard, curved, and much notched, the base furnished with long and stiff hairs ; nostrils basal, lateral, ovoid, partly covered by hairs projecting forward; the tarsus as long as, or a little longer than, the middle toe, and the lateral toes almost always equal.
In Europe, these birds are migratory, arriving late in the spring, and departing early in autumn. They subsist almost entirely on flies and other winged insects, which they catch in the air, more rarely picking them off the leaves of trees. They perch on the tops of trees, and lead a solitary life in the forests. The species are very numerous, and spread over all temperate countries.
grisola, Lin, Sc. Spotted Fly-catcher, Prov.
Beam-bird, Bee-bird, Rafter, Cobweb, Chanchider, and Cherry-sucker. Brownish above, whitish beneath; neck longitudinally spotted; vent rufous. The bill is dusky ; the irides are hazel ; the sides under the wings tinged with dull orange; and the legs short and black. Size of the tit-lark, and scarcely six inches long. It is rare in the north, but very common in the southern countries of Europe, arriving in May, and disappearing in September. This species is either very susceptible or cold or very liable to privation of food on a sudden reduction of tem perature, as a few days of frost commonly prove fatal to the now comers. They mostly frequent woods, orchards and gardens, and are seldom seen on the ground. It is a prevailing notion in Kent, that they suck the cherries; but individuals, who have daily watched their proceedings in the French orchards, could never perceive that they at tacked that fruit, though frequently allured to the trees by the presence of insects. By sudden jerks and turnings, they will often lay hold on one of the latter that seemed to have eluded their pursuit ; but, in general, they appear to be shy, melancholy, and stupid birds. Their nest, which is laboriously constructed, and which they seem to be little careful of concealing, is by no means a model of neatness. The materials are usually vegetable fibres, moss, wool, Sc. interwoven with spiders' webs, and lined with wool ; and the situation is in trees or bushes, or the limb of a fruit tree, nailed to a wall ; in holes in the walls of out buildings, or on the end of a beam, rafter, Sc. The eggs are four or five, and not unlike those of the red breast, being bluish-white, with rust coloured spots, but the latter more distinct, and not so much confined to the larger end, where, however, they are of a deeper tint. Both sexes share the care of incubation. As soon as the young leave tile nest, they are conducted by their parents to some neighbouring wood or grove where insects abound, and where they may be seen darting, in every direction, in pursuit of flies. As the note of this species is a simple weak chirp, seldom uttered till the young have fled, the bird is less readily discovered than the red-start, and other summer migrants, which are perhaps less common. The spotted fly-catcher has been frequently noticed in Cornwall and Devonshire.
atricapilla, Lin. Sec. 1lx albicollis, Tern. M. col
laris, Bechst. Pied Fly catcher, or Cold Finch, appar ently a corruption of Coal or Cole Finch. Black above, under parts, forehead, spot on the wings, and lateral tail feathers, white. Nearly five inches long, and about the size of a Linnet. If Pennant and Vedeman be correct, the spotted fly-catcher, though migratory in the south of Europe, is stationary in the north, even as high as Sondmor ; and, according to Dr. Reeves, defies the Nor wegian winter, during which it repairs to houses, and subsists on flesh dried in the smoke. Vieillot appears to hive idt ratified it with one of the Beccaficos, or Fig-eaters, of the Italians. Mr. Bewick adverts to an alleged in stance of a nest of this species having been found in the hole of a tree, in Axwell Park, on the 18th of June; but the circumstance of its containing a very great number of young, is somewhat suspicious, the number of eggs not having been known to exceed six. The Rev. Mr. Dalton of Copgrove, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, procured a specimen of the nest and eggs for Colonel Montagu, in May, 1811. The nest was taken from the hole of a tree, and was composed of dried leaves, intermixed with broad pieces of the interior bark of the same tree, and a little hay, with a few long hairs, and lined with only three or four feathers, the whole very slenderly connected. The eggs were five in number, and of a very pale blue. \Ve have been induced to enter into these details, because the bird in question is, in this country, very rare, and very local, and because its general history is still involved in some degree of confusion and obscurity. In Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire, it is said to affect wild and uncultivated tracts, overrun with furze, and to court soli tude. In Lorraine, and some other parts of France, it chiefly frequents the forests, living entirely on flies and other winged insects. It. has no regular song, but a very shrill plaintive accent, which turns on the sharp sound crree, crree. Though generally of a dull and melancholy aspect, its attachment to its progeny inspires it with ac tivity, and even with courage. After the young are hatch ed, the parents frequently go in and out of the nest, dili gently catering for the brood.
M. tyrannus, Cuv. Lanius tyrannus, Lin. Sc. Ty rant Fly-catcher, Tyrant shrike, or Tyrant of Carolina. Grey-brown above ; whitish beneath ; crown black, and marked by a longitudinal fulvous stripe. The tail is black, with a white tip ; ahout the size of a thrush, mea suring eight inches in length ; but it varies both in res pect of dimensions and colours. In the province of New-York, it appears in April, constructing, in low bushes, a nest of wool and moss, lined with the small fi bres of roots, and laying five flesh-coloured eggs, marked at the larger end with spots of dark pink, and a few black ones. In August, it retires southward. It is found in Carolina, and other parts of the United States. Accord ing to Catesby, this little creature pursues and puts to flight all kinds of birds that come near his station, from the smallest to the largest, but when the young are flown, it is as peaceable as other birds.