hird communicated to me by the same gentleman nearly two years later. Inaletter
a third was ¢c \ :

ill be pleased to
It was observed by my nephew and Mr. A. Pechell, who were the

the occurrence of
dated Nov. 7, 1865, he says :—* You w
obtained at Scilly a day or two since.

turing flies ;
] returning to, the same branch. From the secondary quills and the

ad of being of a uniform cinereous, I think it is a young male

hear that another specimen of the Muscicapa parva was

busil red in cap ‘ts actions, while so doing, much resembled those of the common
captors, busily engage e
Spotted Flycatcher in darting off, anc
ing edg “ith rufous inste
greater coverts being edged wi None 4 Og
of th Its note was louder than the suppressed one of the common species, and was a well-expressed
of the year. i$ ; eee ee
P thi i f » same pen W 1e ‘ Zoologist,’ for 1863, p. 8841 :
>” A notice of this specimen from the same pen will be found in the ‘ Z gist, 863, | :

os the Rev. J. H. Jenkinson, of St. Margaret’s Vicarage, Reading, for

and I have to thank Mr. Rodd’s nephew,
the following additional particulars respecting it.

“The bird was first noticed by Mr. Pechell, ima small covert & Nor ee close by the house—Tresco
Abbey, the residence of Augustus Smith, Esq. After watching it for a few De came to a eon-
as; and I fetched a small walking-stick gun, and shot it. While we were looking

clusion as to what it w aa
among the branches after insects, flirting up its tail as it

at it, it was continually on the move, flitting

settled on a branch, and uttering now and then a rather
a Willow-Wren or Chiffchaff, for which we at first mistook it, with a

harsh Stonechatty kind of note, repeated once or
twice. Its actions were like those of
dash of those of the Flycatcher. The elongated white patch on each side of the tail was very

strong
On taking up the bird, the eye struck us as being very large and full; it had

visible as it flew about.
a pale buffy rim all round it. The tawny colour of the throat and aa was not mee aPrenes but was
deepest on the sides of the breast. The sex could not be determined, owing to its being too much
damaged about the lower part of the body.”

Having given, in the above passages, all that is known respecting the two British-killed examples, I
conclude my history of the bird with Dr. Bree’s account of it as observed in other countries :—

“This pretty and interesting species inhabits the vast forests of Hungary and the neighbourhood of
Vienna in summer, but only during the short time necessary to rear its young. It is an annual migratory
bird in the Crimea, and accidental in France, Switzerland, and Italy. M. Nordmann says that the young bird
may be seen in flocks, in the Botanic Gardens of Odessa, from the last days of July till the end of October,
and that the birds in full plumage, which pass in the spring, only stop a short time in those gardens.
Nordmann adds that the vivacity of its movements, as well as the white of its tail, reminds one of the
smallest species of Stonechat. It constantly utters a feeble chirp, lowers its tail slowly and repeatedly, and
spreads it out, or raises it suddenly above its wings.

“The Red-breasted Flycatcher, like the rest of its family, lives upon flies and other insects. It builds its
nest in the forks of the branches of trees.”—History of the Birds of Europe not observed in the British Isles,
vol. i. p. 179.

Mr. Jerdon, speaking of the bird as observed by him in India, says—‘‘ In spring, by the end of March or
the beginning of April, the male, by a partial moult, assumes a bright orange-rufous chin and throat, and
the lores, cheeks, and sides of the neck become tolerably pure ashy. This livery is again cast at the
autumnal moult.”

‘This interesting little bird is found throughout the whole of India, from the base of the Himalayas to
the extreme south, and in Ceylon; also in Burmah, and from China to Afghanistan. It is more common
towards northern and central India than in the south, and may be seen in every grove. Often a party of five
or six may be observed sporting about the trunk of some mango or tamarind tree, now clinging to the trunk,
then darting after an insect in the air, or alighting on the ground to pick one up. It io however, fre-
quently seen singly, and its actions much remind one of those of the British Robin.” —Birds of Inda,
vol. i. p. 481.

When fully adult the two sexes differ considerably, the male only hav

7 ing the dull rufous throat.
le figures represent a male and a female, of the natural size.