ICTERIA. 299 



Length of the Blue-grey Flycatcher 4^ inches ; alar extent 6^. 

 Front and line over the eye black. Above, light bluish-grey, bright- 

 est on the head. Below bluish-white and pale (white, in the fe- 

 males.) Tail edged with blue, its coverts black. Wings brownish 

 black, some of the secondaries next the body edged with white. 

 Legs pale blue. Iris hazel. Bill black, broad, notched somewhat 

 more at the tip, than the rest of this subgenus. 



ICTERIA. (ViEILLOT, BONAP.) 



The BILL robust, rather long, convex, curved, compressed, entire, 

 and pointed, with divergent bristles at its base ; the mandibles nearly 

 equal, with the edges somewhat bent inwards. Nostrils rounded, 

 half covered by an arched membrane. Tongue cartilaginous, slightly 

 cleft at the point. — The inner foe unconnected with the adjoining 

 one. First primary a little shorter than the 2d, 3d, and 4th, which 

 are longest. — Female similar to the male in color. 



They feed on insects and berries j are fond of concealment ; alight 

 occasionally on the ground near the thickets where they hide. 

 Their flight is irregular, and their song quaint and varied. — The 

 genus contains but a single species, and is peculiar to America. It 

 is allied to Muscieapa as well as to the Vireo and Thrush. 



YELLOW-BREASTED ICTERIA. 



(Icteria Viridis, Bonap. Pipra piolyglotta, Wilsox i. p. 90. pi. 6. 

 fig. 2. Muscieapa viridis. Gmel. Philad. Museum, No. 6661.^ 



Observ. The general color of this bird above is deep olive-green ; 

 the throat and breast is yellow ; with the abdomen and a line 

 encircling the eyes white. 



This remarkable bird is another summer resident of 

 the United States, which passes the winter in tropical 

 America, being found in Guiana and Brazil, so that its 

 migrations probably extend indifferently into the milder 

 regions of both hemispheres. Even the birds essentially 



