TYRANXID^ — THE FLYCATCHERS. 323 



^Ir. AiuUibon states that this Flycatcher reaches the Florida Keys about 

 the first of April. He describes their usual fliglit as performed by a con- 

 stant flutter of the wings, except when in chase, when they exhibit con- 

 siderable power and speed. He noticed them pursue larger birds, such as 

 Herons, Crows, Cuckoos, Grakles, and Hawks, following them quite a dis- 

 tance. They did not molest the Doves. They built their nests in a manner 

 similar to the Kingbird, on the horizontal branches of the mangrove, almost 

 invariably on the western side of tlie tree and of the island. Some were not 

 more than two feet above the water, others were twenty feet. On one of the 

 keys, although of small size, he saw several of their nests, and more than 

 a dozen of the birds living amicably together. 



Dr. J. G. Cooper, who visited Florida in the spring of 1859, informed me, 

 by letter, on his return, that when he reached Cape Florida, IMarch 8, none 

 of this species were to be seen on any of the keys. The first he noticed were 

 about the first of May, near Fort Dallas on the mainland. As, however, it 

 rarely appears at this place, he supposes they reached the keys some weeks 

 sooner. About May 14 he found se\-eral pairs at the Cape, and, going up 

 the coast to New Smyrna, he found tliem abundant about the marshy islands. 

 On the first of June, with a companion, he went in a small boat for the ex- 

 press purpose of finding their nests ; and, pushing the boat about among the 

 islands which almost filled Mosquito Lagoon, he discovered three in one after- 

 noon. They were all built among the small branches of low dead mangrove- 

 trees, about ten feet from the ground, formed of a loose, open flooring of 

 small twigs, with scarcely any lining of a finer material. One contained four 

 eggs half hatched, another three young and one egg, the third four young 

 just hatched. He preserved one nest and all the eggs, and presented them 

 to the National ]\Iuseum in Washington. The old birds showed no resent- 

 ment, and neither came near nor followed him, differing very much in this 

 respect from the fearless and devoted Kingbird. The only notes this bird 

 was heard to utter were loud and har.sh rattling cries. Dr. Bachman in- 

 formed Dr. Cooper that these liirds had become qiiite regular summer ^isi- 

 tants of Charleston, where they continued to breed each season. Dr. Cooper 

 saw none away from the Florida coast, and thinks tliat none go inland. 



The eggs of this species measure from 1 to 1.05 inches in length, and from 

 .70 to .72 of an inch in breadth. They are of an oblong oval shape, vari- 

 ously marked with large blotches and smaller spots of purple, red-brown, 

 and a dark purplish-brown. The latter color, in a few cases, is found in 

 large masses, covering nearly a fifth of the entire surface of the egg ; not 

 inaptly compared by ^Ir. Gosse to the sinuous outlines of lands, as repre- 

 sented on a terrestrial globe. 



