4l6 FLYCATCHERS. 



far they proceed to the South at this season is not satisfac- 

 torily ascertained ; a few, no doubt, winter in the milder parts 

 of the Union, as Wilson saw them in February in the swamps 

 of North and South Carolina, where they were feeding on 

 smilax berries, and occasionally even giving their well-known 

 notes; but in the winter and early spring of 1830, while em- 

 ployed in an extensive pedestrian journey from South Carolina 

 to Florida and Alabama, I never heard or met with an individ- 

 ual of the species. Audubon found them abundant in the 

 Floridas in winter. 



These faithful messengers of spring return to Pennsylvania as 

 early as the first week in March, remain till October, and 

 sometimes nearly to the middle of November. In Massa- 

 chusetts they arrive about the beginning of April, and at first 

 chiefly frequent the woods. 



Their favorite resort is near streams, ponds, or stagnant 

 waters, about bridges, caves, and barns, where they choose to 

 breed ; and, in short, wherever there is a good prospect for 

 obtaining their insect food. Near such places our little hunter 

 sits on the roof of some out-building, on a stake of the fence, 

 or a projecting branch, calling out at short intervals and in a 

 rapid manner phehe phebe, and at times in a more plaintive 

 tone phee-be-ee. This quaint and querulous note, occasionally 

 approaching to a warble, sometimes also sounds like pewait 

 pewait, and then pe-wai-ee, also phebe phe-bee-ee, twice alter- 

 nated ; the latter phrase somewhat soft and twittering. In the 

 spring this not unpleasing guttural warble is kept up for hours 

 together until late in the morning, and though not loud, may 

 be heard to a considerable distance. From a roof I have 

 heard these notes full half a mile across the water of a small 

 lake ; and this cheerful, though monotonous, ditty is only in- 

 terrupted for a few seconds as the performer darts and sweeps 

 after his retreating prey of flies, frequently flirting and quiver- 

 ing his tail and elevating his feathery cap, while sharply 

 watching the motions of his fickle game. 



In the Middle States he begins to construct his nest about 

 the latter end of March, in Massachusetts not before the first 



