the contrary, is rapid, and extremely graceful, its course through the air being diversified from time to time by a fluttering motion, produced by alternately completely closing and broadly spreading its pinions and tail. The voice of the Fly-catcher may be described as a gentle, twittering chatter. The call-note is monotonous, and in moments of terror or excitement usually accompanied by violent motion of the wings. Solitary individuals are seldom seen, and only during such time as the young are still under parental guidance are they met with in parties; at other times they are found in pairs, that keep apart from each other, and exhibit most determined pertinacity in driving off all intruders from the haunts they have appropriated. The nests are built in a great variety of situations--in holes of rocks, walls, or roofs, in hollow trunks of trees, or on a branch quite close against the main stem; brushwood or low clumps of old willows, however, afford the seclusion these birds prefer. Green moss, fine dry fibres, and similar materials are usually employed in constructing the somewhat carelessly-formed domicile, which is warmly lined with horsehair, wool, and feathers. The female alone undertakes the whole labour of building. Instances are recorded of the nest of this species being found in very odd situations. We have heard of one built in the head of a garden-rake that had been left standing against a wall; another was seen by Mr. Atkinson, on the angle of a lamp-post in one of the streets of London; and a third, mentioned by both Jesse and Yarrell, occupied a still more remarkable position--namely, within the crown of one of the lamps in Portland Place, in London. Should a couple not be disturbed, they produce but one brood of four or five eggs in the year; these are laid in June, and have a blueish or blueish green shell, very variously marked with light rust-red. Both parents assist in the work of incubation, and hatch the eggs within a fortnight. The young grow rapidly, but remain for a long time under the care of their parents. A curious circumstance concerning this bird is recorded by Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., President of the Horticultural Society, namely, that--"A Fly-catcher that had built in a stove in one of the green-houses in the Society's gardens was always observed to leave its nest when the thermometer stood at 72°, and resumed its place upon the eggs as soon as the temperature fell again below that point."