264 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 



those which are bitter or astringent.) They have generally but a 

 single brood in the season ; they perch on the summits of trees, living 

 in single pairs in the forest where they form their nests, often morn- 

 ing and evening, and sometimes nearly the whole day, taking a 

 station near some stagnant water, and flying to and from this perch 

 alternately after hovering insects. The broad-billed North American 

 species are taciturn, or have only a few quaint, stridulous calls and 

 cries, and form no attachment to those who feed them in a state of 

 domestication, yet eat greedily ; these also have only one moult in 

 the year. — In another section, or rather genus, allied to Sylvia, the 

 voice is melodious, and the moult of the male double, arriving in the 

 spring in a more brilliant nuptial plumage. The young differ from 

 the adult only during the first year. The shells and drier parts of in- 

 sects, as well as the skins and seeds of fruits, are brought up from 

 the stomach, and ejected by the bill. 



t MusciPETA. With the moult single, and the voice without cadence. 



* Larger species (or Tyranni). 

 These are unusually petulant, tyrannical, and courageous, driving 

 sometimes from the vicinity of their nests the most powerful birds 

 of prey. 



