322 THE KING-BIRD. 



and energetic song, which it continues, as it hunts among 

 the thick foliage, sometimes for an hour with little intermis- 

 sion. In the months of May, June, and to the middle of July, 

 it is the most distinguishable of all the other warblers of the 

 forest ; and even in August, long after the rest have almost 

 all become mute, the notes of the Red-eyed Flycatcher are 

 frequently heard with unabated spirit. These notes are in 

 short, emphatical bars, of two, three, or four syllables. In 

 Jamaica, where this bird winters, and is probably also resi- 

 dent, it is called, as Sloan informs us, " Whip-Tom Kelly," 

 from an imagined resemblance of its notes to these words. 

 And indeed, on attentively listening for sometime to this bird 

 in his full ardor of song, it requires but little of imagination 

 to fancy that you hear it pronounce these words, < ; Tom 

 Kelly ! Whip-Tom Kelly !" very distinctly. It inhabits from 

 Georgia to the river St. Lawrence. 



This bird builds in the month of May a small neat pensile 

 nest, generally suspended between two twigs of a young dog- 

 wood or other small sapling. It is hung by the two upper 

 edges, seldom at a greater height than four or five feet from 

 the ground. It is formed of pieces of hornets' nests, some 

 flax, fragments of withered leaves, slips of vine bark, bits of 

 paper, all glued together with the saliva of the bird, and the 

 silk of caterpillars, so as to be very compact ; the inside is 

 lined with fine slips of grape vine bark, fibrous grass, and 

 sometimes hair. These nests are so durable that I have often 

 known them to resist the action of the weather for a year ; 

 and in one instance I found the nest of the yellow-bird built 

 in the cavity of one of these of the preceding year.. The 

 mice very often take possession of them after they are aban- 

 doned by the owners. The eggs are four, sometimes five, 

 pure white, except near the great end, where they are marked 

 with a few small dots of dark brown or reddish. They gen- 

 erally raise two broods in a season. 



The White-eyed Flycatcher is a lively, active, and sociable 

 little bird, possessing a strong voice for its size, and a great 

 variety of notes ; and singing with little intermission, from 



