318 THE KING-BIRD. 



to be heard in the woods ; about which time also, it even 

 approaches the city, where I have frequently observed it 

 busily engaged under trees, in solitary courts, gardens, &c., 

 feeding and training its young to their profession. About 

 the middle of September it retires to the south a full month 

 before the other. 



Length six inches, breadth ten ; back dusky olive, inclining 

 to greenish ; head subcrested and brownish black ; tail forked 

 and widening towards the tips, lower parts pale yellowish 

 white ; the only discriminating marks between this and the 

 preceding are the size, and the color of the lower mandible, 

 which in this is yellow in the Pewee black. The female is 

 difficult to be distinguished from the male. 



The small Green-crested Flycatcher is a species which is but 

 little known. It inhabits the deepest, thick shaded, solitary 

 parts of the woods, sits generally on the lower branches, utters 

 every half minute or so a sudden sharp squeak, which is 

 heard a considerable way through the woods ; and as it flies 

 from one tree to another has a low querulous note, something 

 like the twitterings of chickens nestling under the wings of 

 the hen. On alighting this sound ceases ; and it utters its 

 note 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 woods, and lays five white eggs. It leaves us 

 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 buckle-berries they form 

 the chief part of its food. Its northern migrations extend as 

 far as Newfoundland. 



The length of this species is five inches and a half, in 

 breadth nine inches ; the upper parts are of a green olive 

 color ; the lower pale greenish yellow, darkest on the breast ; 

 the wings are 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 remarka- 

 bly flat and broad, dark brown above, and flesh color below ; 



