all 
248 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
bers greatly within four or five years. It arrives from the 
South from about the 10th to the 25th of May. The birds 
seem to be mated on their arrival; for I have noticed, that, 
if a male is seen, a female is almost always to be found in 
his immediate vicinity. 
About the first week in June, the nest is built.1 This is 
fixed in a fork of a low cedar or pine bush, very near the 
ground, and is constructed of pine leaves, fine roots and 
grasses, and a few hairs: it is loosely put together, and is 
lined with fine pieces of the same materials and lichens. 
The eggs are four in number. They are small and 
abruptly pointed: they are of a grayish-white color, with a 
slight roseate tint, and are marked with spots and fine 
blotches of lilac and brown, usually thickest near the larger 
end. The only nest and eggs that I have seen were of this 
description: they were found in Quincy, Mass., in an old 
pasture, partly grown up with bushes. 
The eggs were nearly of a uniform size and shape, and 
measured about .65 by .48 inch in dimensions. 
The habits of this species are so much like those of the 
preceding, that, if the Wilson’s Black-cap were more com- 
mon, the two birds might be easily confounded. The flight 
of the present is rapid ; and all the motions of the bird, when 
it is pursuing insects, are those of the true Flycatchers. Its 
note is a shrill weéchy, wéechy, which is uttered at short 
intervals by the bird, both while on the wing and when 
perching. About the first week in September, it begins to 
grow abundant; and, by the 15th of that month, it has 
departed on its southern migration. 
SETOPHAGA, Swatrnson. 
Setophaga, SwAtnson, Zool. Jour., III. (Dec., 1827) 860. (Type Muscicapa ruti- 
cilla, Linnzus.) 
Bill depressed, broader than high; rictus with long bristles; wings rounded, 
equal to or shorter than the tail; first quill shorter than the fourth; tail long, some- 
what graduated, the outer feathers about twenty one-hundredths of an inch or more 
shorter; all the feathers unusually broad, and widened at the end; feet short; tarsus 
1 See Appendix. 
