A summer visitor from Africa, not common except in certain areas in the Lake District and in Wales. It favours wooded valleys with a stream running through. The nest is in holes in trees in which is deposited grass and leaves with a covering of hair and wool.
As its name implies it feeds on flies, and as well as catching flies on the wing it will take insects and caterpillars from the herbage. The male bird is depicted in his summer plumage. Where he is black the female is brown, and her breast is not pure white but is clouded with buff. |