A male Pied Flycatcher is a creature of decided character. The one figured in our photograph was busy feeding his mate, sitting on six beautiful pale blue eggs, in a hole in an old tree, which had been struck and partially destroyed by lightning, when a friend of mine and I discovered him. Upon our examining the nesting site the female fluttered out, and joining her mate, they flitted about together from tree to tree until he evidently thought it was time for her to return to her maternal duties. She was, however, afraid to venture back to her nest because my camera stood within a few feet of the entrance hole, and flew nervously from one branch to another in the neighbouring trees. Her mate, with the evident intention of showing her that there was no cause for alarm, came along and, alighting right in front of my apparatus, took a leisurely peep inside the nesting hole. As this had no visible effect upon her nerves he went off and secured a fat, green caterpillar, which he would not offer her anywhere, although she shivered her little wings in supplication, excepting on the threshold of their breeding quarters. As even this kind of inducement failed, he indignantly gulped down the food, and with a great show of anger, began to chase her round and round, up and down, until at last he forced her indoors. Later on, this female grew bolder, however, and I succeeded in photographing her on the gnarled trunk of the lightning-blasted tree. A precisely similar kind of thing happened at another nest, but in this instance the lady was stronger minded, and refused to be bullied into the performance of her duties. In this particular wood, which was of no great size, four pairs of these interesting birds lived within a few hundred yards of each other. The males appeared to spend the day in catching winged and other insects for the females, in singing, and chasing each other away from particular spheres of influence. The Pied Flycatcher, like its commoner relative, the Spotted Flycatcher, is a migratory bird, arriving in this country in April and leaving again in September and October. It builds its nest generally in holes in trees, but sometimes in old walls. The structure is composed of dry grass, dead leaves, and moss, with an inner lining of hair and feathers. [Illustration: bird on branch] =THE LINNET.= [Illustration: cluster of flowers and grass]