BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



FAMILY TYRANNID^E: FLYCATCHERS. 



THE First Part of our work has been devoted to the 

 Singing Birds, technically known as Oscine (or melodious) 

 Passeres, which are so numerously and variously repre- 

 sented in New England that a volume has scarcely 

 sufficed to exhibit their habits and characteristics. But 

 having finished our pen-portraiture of that great group, 

 including nearly one-half of the birds of New England, 

 we turn our attention to other aspects of bird-life, which 

 offer us much greater variety and certainly not less 

 interest. Part Second continues directly with the Cla- 

 material (or non-melodious) Passeres, represented in New 

 England, as they are elsewhere in North America, by the 

 single family Tyrannidce. 



Flycatchers abound in the warmer parts of America, 

 where the genera and species, no less than individuals, 

 are most numerous. Only twelve kinds, however, are 

 found in New England ; three of which are merely strag- 

 glers from the West and South, having each been observed 

 but once over our border, while a fourth has only recently 

 been ascertained to occur at all. But the remaining 

 eight species are more or less familiar and abundant 

 birds of our country during the migrations and in the 

 breeding season. 



