MUSCICAPA COLLARIS, Beense.
White-collared Flycatcher.

Muscicapa collaris, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb., tom. 1. p. 158.
albicollis, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2nd edit., tom. i. p- 153, et tom. iii. p. 84.
——— streptophora, Vieill. Faun. Frang., p. 145, pl. 151. figs. 2, 3.
———— atricapilla, var. 8, Gmel. edit. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 835.
(Hedymala) collaris, G. R. Gray, Hand-l. of Birds, part i. p. 322.
albifrons et albicollis, Brehm, Vg. Deutschl., p. 223.

 

 

I can furnish no evidence of this bird having been killed in England beyond what is stated in my ‘ Birds of
Kurope ;’ but I recollect perfectly seeing a specimen in the flesh at the house of the late Mr. Leadbeater in
Brewer Street, which, as far as my memory serves, was destined for the collection of the late Mr. Lombe,
of Norfolk, who was very particular that it should contain as many British-killed specimens as possible ;
and that the specimen I saw at Mr. Leadbeater’s went to Mr. Lombe is almost certain from the following
note lately received from Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. :—*In your ‘Birds of Europe’ you state that you
saw the White-collared Flycatcher in a collection of British birds, on which authority Jenyns and Doubleday
introduced it doubtfully. I have just detected an adult male in the late Mr. Lombe’s collection. ‘Tt is one
of the few birds marked in the catalogue as having been received in a fresh state. Mr. Lombe got his best
birds of Leadbeater ; and at his death they were moved from Great Melton to Wymondham, where his
daughter (Mrs. Clark) keeps them.”

The circumstance of a White-collared Flycatcher having been killed in England need not excite surprise,
inasmuch as it is as plentiful on the Continent as the Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa atricapilla). Both are
migratory, spending the summer in the northern and central parts of Europe, and retiring southward to
warmer climates in winter. When the MJuscicapa collaris becomes better known to our living ornithologists
and field-naturalists it is not improbable that we shall hear of its occasionally occurring on our island.
Although the two birds are found on comparison to be very different, each possessing characters sufficiently
distinct to warrant their specific separation, those characters are not so easily seen in the living birds among
the foliage of trees; and hence the rarer species may have escaped notice.

As already mentioned, the White-collared Flycatcher is abundant in the central provinces of continental
Europe, it is also somewhat plentiful in various parts of France, but less so in the northern portion of that
country. Degland says he has found it at Lisle in May, and that it breeds in considerable numbers in
Lorraine. Temminck says that it is never found in Holland, and but seldom in Central Italy. Count
von der Mihle observed it in Greece for a few days during its spring passage in April, in breeding-plumage
and in considerable numbers, whence he thinks it probable that it breeds in Roumelia. Captain Loche
includes it in his list of the birds of Algeria. The best account of the bird and its habits that I find
recorded is comprised in the following somewhat free translation of some passages in Bailly’s ‘ Orni-
thologie de la Savoie :’—

“The White-collared Flycatcher is much less common in Savoy than the Muscicapa atricapilla, even at
the time of its two migrations, which take place from the 8th to the 15th of April, and at the end of
August or the commencement of September. It is at the latter season that it is most abundant, particularly
if warm rains are prevalent; it then remains a little longer than usual with us, no doubt in consequence of
the abundance of insects that occur under those circumstances, and are so necessary for its subsistence.
In spring it arrives in pairs, rather than singly as at the end of summer. Some pairs breed in the northern
part of our territory, particularly in those districts rendered humid by the thick forests of Chamounix,
Maurienne, Tarentaise, and the environs of Albertville.

‘Both sexes unite in the construction of the nest towards the middle of May. It is formed with moss,
lichens, blades of grass, and straw and flexible roots, lined with hair, fine grass, feathers, and down. It is
negligently constructed, and is placed in a perforated tree, in a cavity abandoned by a Woodpecker or Tit,
for which these birds often dispute the ownership with the Nuthatch and Wryneck. The eggs, which
are four or five in number, rarely six, are sometimes nearly round, but ordinarily are pointed, and of a
uniform bluish tint, but are occasionally washed with green or a light greenish brown. The young are fed
by both parents with small winged insects, for which they diligently search. They attend to their young