320 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Myiodioctes canadensis, Aid. 



CANADA FLYCATCHER. 



Muscica'pa canadensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 327. {MuscicajKi canadensis cincrca, Biiis- 

 SON, II, 406, tab. 39, lig. 4.) — Gmelin. — Wilson, III, pi. xxvi, tig. 2. — Aud. Orn. 

 Biog. II, pi. ciii. Setopliaga can. Swains. ; Rich. ; Gray. Myiodioctes can. Avd. 

 Birds Am. II, pi. ciii. — Brewer, Pr. Bost. Soc. VI, o (iie.st and eggs). — Sclateh, 

 P. Z. S. 1854, 111 (Ecuador ; winter) ; 1855, 143 (Bogota) ; 1858, 451 (Ecuador). — 

 1b. Catal. 1861, 34, no. 204. — Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, 1859, 11 (Guatemala).— 

 Lawrence, Ann N. Y. Lye. VI, 1862. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 294 ; Rev. 239. 

 — Samuels, 247. Euthlijpis can. Cab. Mus. Hein. 1850, 1851, 18 ; Jour. Orn. 1860, 

 326 (Costa Rica). Sylvia pardalina, Bon.; Nutt. Sylvicolu jiardalina, Bon. Myio- 

 dioctes jJardaliJia, Bon. ? MuscicajKi bonapartci, Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 27, pi. v, 

 Setojjhaga ban. Rich. Wilsonia ban. Bon. Sylvania bon. Nutt. ? Myiodioctes bon. 

 Aud. Syn. — Ib. Birds Am. II, 1841, 17, pi. xvii. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 295. 

 Setop>]uuja nigricincta, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1843, 292 ; 1841, 79. 



Sp. Char. Upper part bluish-ash ; a ring around the eye, with a line running to the 

 nostrils, and the whole under part (except the tail-coverts, Avhieh are white), bright yellow. 

 Centres of the feathers in the anterior half of the crown, the cheeks, continuous with a 

 line on the side of the neck to the breast, and a series of spots across the forepart of the 

 breast, black. Tail-feathers unspotted. Female similar, Avith the black of the head and 

 breast less distinct. In the young obsolete. Length, 5.34 ; wing, 2.G7 ; tail, 2.50. 



Hab. Whole Eastern Province of United States, Avest to the Missouri ; north to Lake 

 Winnipeg; Eastern Mexico to Guatemala, and south to Bogota and Ecuador (Sclater). 

 Not noted from West Indies. 



Habits. This i.s a migratory species, abundant during its passage, in 

 most of tlie Atlantic States. It breeds, though not abundantly, in New 

 York and Massachusetts, and in the regions north of latitude 42°. How far 

 northward it is found is not well ascertained, probably as far, however, as the 

 wooded country extends. It was met with on Winnepeg Eiver, by ]\Ir. Ken- 

 iiicott, the second of June. It winters in Central and in Xorthern South 

 America, having been procured at Bogota, in Guatemala, and in Costa liica, 

 in large numbers. 



Mr. Audubon states that he found this bird breeding in the mountainous 

 regions of Pennsylvania, and afterwards in Maine, New Brunswick, Nova 

 Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Although he describes with some mi- 

 nuteness its nests, yet his description of .their position and structure is so 

 entirely different in all respects from those that have been found in Massa- 

 chusetts, tliat I am constrained to believe he has been mistaken in his iden- 

 tifications, and that those he supposed to belong to this species were really 

 the nests of a different bird. 



" In Vermont," Mr. Charles S. Paine, of Eandolph, informs me, " the Can- 

 ada Flycatcher is a summer Aisitant, and is first seen about tlie 18tli of May. 

 They do not spread themselves over the woods, like most of our small fiy- 

 catching birds, but keep near the borders, where tliere is a low growth of 

 bushes, and where they may be heard throughout the day singing their regu- 



