70 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 03. 



performed by passing' lightly over the water and sipping, as 

 it were, the quantity it needs. All my efforts to discover its 

 nest in the lower ])arts of Kentucky, where I am confident 

 that it breeds, have proven fruitless ; and I have not heard 

 that any other person has been more successful." 



The varied thouirh net altogether satisfactory notes on its 



SMALL-HEADED FLYCATCHER, Miiseicapa minuta, Wilson. 



Description — Wilson, American Ornitliolot/y, Vol. VI., 1S12, pi. L, 

 fig. 5, p. G2 



Upper parts^"dull yellow-olive" 



Wing — "dusky-brown, edged with lighter, the greater and lesser 

 coverts tipped with white" 



Tail — "dusky-brown, the two exterior feathers with a spot of white 

 on inner vanes" 



Head — "remarkably small" 



LoAver parts— "dirty-white, stained with dull yellow, particularly on 

 upper parts of breast" 



Beak — "broad at base, furnished with bristles and notched at tip" 



Tarsus — "dark brown" 



Feet — "yellowish" 



Iris — "dark hazel" 



Sex — "male" 



Length — "five inches" 



Extent — "eight and a quarter inches" 



Station — "orchard" 



Locality — [Pennsylvania] 



Date— "April 24," [1811] 



Remarks — "From what quarter of the United States or of North 

 America it is a wanderer, I am unable to determine, 

 having never before met with an individual of the spe- 

 cies. Its notes and manner of breeding, are also alike 

 unknown to me. Remarkably active, running, climbing 

 and darting about among the opening buds and blos- 

 soms with extraordinary agility." 



habitSj besi>eak a much greater familiarity with the bird than 

 the incomplete description would seem to warrant. The 

 improbability of the only men in all our broad land at that 

 timje figuring birds capturing the only specimens of an 

 anomaloius or vanishing race, at a distance of many hundred 



