THE KING-BIRD. 321 



arrives from the south about the middle of April ; and about 

 the beginning of May builds its nest, which it generally fixes 

 among the twigs of a tree, sometimes at the height of ten 

 feet from the ground, sometimes fifty feet high, on the ex- 

 tremities of the tops of a high tree in the woods. This nest 

 is formed of very slight and perishable materials, the husks 

 of buds, stems of old leaves, withered blossoms of weeds, down 

 from the stalks of fern, coated on the outside with gray lichen, 

 and lined with a few horse hairs. Yet in this frail receptacle, 

 which one would think scarcely sufficient to admit the body 

 of the owner, and sustain even its weight, does the female cow- 

 bird venture to deposit her egg ; and to the management of 

 these pigmy nurses leaves the fate of her helpless young. The 

 motions of this little bird are quick ; he seems always on the 

 look out for insects ; darts about from one part of the tree to 

 another with hanging wings and erected tail, making a feeble 

 chirping, tsee, tsee, no louder than a mouse. Though so 

 small in itself, it is ambitious of hunting on the highest 

 branches, and is seldom seen among the humbler thickets. 



The length of this species is four inches and a half, extent 

 six and a half ; front and line over the eye black ; bill black, 

 very slender, overhanging at the tip, notched, broad, and fur- 

 nished with bristles at the base ; the color of the plumage 

 above is a light bluish gray, bluest on the head, below bluish 

 white ; tail longer than the body, a little rounded and black, 

 except the exterior feathers, which are almost all white, and 

 the next two also tipt with white ; tail coverts black ; wings 

 brownish black, some of the secondaries next the body edged 

 with white ; legs extremely slender, about three-fourths of an 

 inch long, and of a bluish black color. The female is distin- 

 guished by wanting the black line round the front. 



The food of this bird is small winged insects and their 

 larvae, but particularly the former, which it seems almost 

 always in pursuit of. 



The Red -eyed Flycatcher is a numerous species, though 

 confined chiefly to the woods and forests, and is a bird of 

 passage. It arrives here late in April ; has a loud, lively, 



