508 



FLY- CATCHER. 



hazel. The female has the upper part inclining to 

 brown, less white on the tail, and the top of the head 

 dull orange. The young in their first plumage have 

 no orange on the crest. 



The Great Crested Tyrant (T. crinatus) is another 

 American species found in the tropical parts, and also 

 in the temperate. It is rather longer in the bod}' 

 than the former species ; but less powerfully winged, 

 and in all its character a less bold and dashing bird. 

 The general colour on the upper part is dark green- 

 ish olive. The feathers on the head are produced 

 and pointed, forming a loose crest, dark brown in the 

 centre of each feather, but paler and ragged at the 

 sides. The throat and upper part of the breast are 

 delicate ash colour, and all the rest of the under part 

 sulphur yellow. The wing coverts are pale fawn 

 colour, and the primaries bright russet, marked with 

 bands of white. The tail is of the same colour as the 

 primaries, and slightly forked. The bill is very like 

 that of the first mentioned species ; and the tarsi and 

 toes are bluish black. The female is very similar to 

 the male in appearance. " The bird now before us," 

 says Wilson, " is less generally known than the pre- 

 ceding, being chiefly confined to the woods. There 

 his harsh squeak, for he has no song, is occasionally 

 heard above most others. He also visits the orchard ; 

 is equally fond of bees ; but wants the courage and mag- 

 nanimity of the king bird. He arrives in Pennsylvania 

 early in May, and builds his nest in a hollow tree 

 deserted by the bluebird or woodpecker. The mate- 

 rials of which this is formed are scanty and rather 

 novel. One of these nests, now before me, is formed 

 of a little loose hay, feathers of the guinea fowl, hogs' 

 bristles, pieces of cast snakes' skin, and dogs' hair. 

 Snake skins with this bird appear to be an indispensa- 

 ble article, for I have never yet found one of his nests 

 without this material forming a part of it. Whether he 

 surrounds his nest with this by way of terrorem,to pre- 

 vent other birds or animals from entering, or whether 

 it be that he finds its silky softness suitable for his 

 young, is uncertain ; the fact, however, is notorious. 

 The female lays four eggs of a dull cream colour, 

 thickly scratched with purple lines of various tints, as 

 if done with a pen." 



TJw Small Green-crested Tyrant. This bird is also 

 a native of America, and ranges into the United 

 States during the summer season. It inhabits the 

 deepest, thick shaded, solitary parts of the wood ; 

 sits generally on the lower branches ; utters every 

 minute or so a sudden sharp squeak, which is heard a 

 considerable distance through the woods ; and, as it 

 flies from one tree to another, has a low querulous 

 note, something like the twitterings of chickens nest- 

 ling under the wings of the hen. On alighting, this 

 sound ceases, and it utters its notes as before. It 

 arrives from the south about the middle of May ; 

 builds on the upper side of a limb, in a low swampy 

 part of the wood, and lays five white eggs. It leaves 

 about the beginning of September. It is a rare and 

 very solitary bird, always haunting the most gloomy, 

 moist, and unfrequented parts of the forest. It feeds 

 on flying insects, devours bees, and in the season of 

 buckleberries, they form the chief part of its food. 

 Its northern migrations extend as far as Newfound- 

 land. The length of this species is five inches and 

 a half ; breadth, nine inches ; the upper parts are of 

 a green olive colour, the lower pale greenish yellow, 

 darkest on the breast ; the wings deep brown, crossed 

 with two bars of yellowish white, and a ring of the 



same surrounds the eye, which is hazel. The tail is 

 rounded at the end ; the bill is remarkably flat and 

 broad, dark brown above, and flesh colour below ; 

 egs and feet, pale ash. The female differs little from 

 the male in colour. 



Such is all the specimen we can afford to give of 

 this exceedingly numerous genus of birds. We have 

 taken our materials chiefly from Wilson, and these of 

 course refer to those species which reach the United 

 States on their summer migrations. In tropical Ame- 

 rica they are very abundant ; and there are consider- 

 able diversities both in size and colour, and in the 

 form of particular parts of the structure, especially 

 in the termination of the tail, which is much forked 

 in some, square over in others, and in others again 

 rounded or wedge-shaped. These differences indicate 

 a considerable degree of dissimilarity in some of the 

 habits of the birds ; but except as regards difference of 

 size, and locality as being more woodland, or more a 

 frequenter of the open places, the distinctions between 

 them are not of very great interest ; and though their 

 history were as complete as it is imperfect, their num- 

 ber would preclude us from going into the details of 

 them, therefore we must pass into the next sub-genus. 

 MUSCIPETA (Fly-hunters). These inhabit a differ- 

 ent region of the world, being found only on the old 

 continent, in Asia or Africa. There are, indeed, some 

 species found in New Holland, but they differ from 

 the rest in the structure of their bill. This genus is 

 however, not very definitely arranged, the birds which 

 are included in it differ more from each other than 

 those of the former ; and therefore it is by no means 

 easy to determine what species ought or ought not to 

 belong to it. 



The general characters are : the bill long, and very 

 depressed ; the breadth being double the height even 

 from the base, the culmen flat and rounded, but not- 

 withstanding it is flexible in many species, the mar- 

 gins of the bill are a little curved, and there is a 

 slight notch near the point. The base is furnished 

 with long bristles. The feeble and flexible nature of 

 the beak restricts them almost entirely to vegetable 

 food, as they are unable to divide any animal or 

 vegetable substance which has any degree of tough- 

 ness or hardness. To compensate for this want of 

 power, they are furnished, in many of the species, 

 with floating feathers, of which those of the former 

 sub-genus are, generally speaking, destitute. These 

 are attached to various parts of the head, but generally 

 speaking they consist of produced feathers in the tail, 

 or handsome crests on the head ; and in general the 

 colours of their plumage are more rich and gay than 

 those of the tyrants. 



The greater number of those which may be regarded 

 as the most typical, or at least as the ones upon which 

 the sub-genus is more directly founded, are, as has 

 been already said, natives of Africa and the south of 

 Asia. There are, however, some species in New 

 Holland, and some others on the American continent, 

 which resemble the typical ones in many of their 

 characters ; but they haveat the same time some which 

 are peculiar to themselves, and therefore they should 

 perhaps be separated as a further sub-division of this 

 portion of the family. The New Holland ones are 

 remarkable for the breadth and flatness of their bills ; 

 and the American ones are characterised by much 

 greater length of the tarsi and shortness of the tail, 

 than any of the characteristic species. We shall 

 mention one or two of the leading ones. 



