A Faithful Fly-catcher While engaged during several weeks in the
congenial occupation of frequenting the haunts of large and rare birds for the most part unfamiliar to me, I saw one pair of small and most familiar birds that made me quite forget the Harriers and Bitterns and Terns and Gulls and Shelduck. Four years ago a Fly-catcher built its nest on the foundation of a bit of mesh wire overlapping the eaves of a thatched shed and twisted up- wards into a half-circle. The site so pleased the pair and became so " memorable " (like 1066 A.D.) that the birds have returned there ever since, and not only that, they have used the very same nest after due repairs and a fresh lining. A clutch was being laid for the fourth consecutive year when I was shown the nest. It is not very common for birds to use the old nest, though I once knew a pair of Swallows that reared four broods in the same nest (cleaned and repaired by the cottager) within the same summer.
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