SPECIES 16. MUSCICAPSl MINUTE. 

 SMALL-HEADED FLYCATCHER. 



[Plate L. Fig. 5. Male.] 



THIS very rare species is the only one I have met with, and 

 is drawn reduced to half its size, to correspond with the rest of 

 the figures on the same plate. It was shot on the twenty-fourth 

 of April, in an orchard, and was remarkably active, running, 

 climbing and darting about among the opening buds and blos- 

 soms with extraordinary agility. From what qurter of the Uni- 

 ted States or of North America it is a wanderer, I am unable 

 to determine, having never before met with an individual of 

 the species. Its notes and manner of breeding are also alike un- 

 known to me. This was a male: it measured five inches long, 

 and eight and a quarter in extent; the upper parts were dull yel- 

 low olive; the wings dusky brown edged with lighter; the great- 

 er and lesser coverts tipt with white; the lower parts dirty white, 

 stained with dull yellow, particularly on the upper parts of the 

 breast; the tail dusky brown, the two exterior feathers marked 

 like those of many others with a spot of white on the inner vanes; 

 head remarkably small; bill broad at the base, furnished with 

 bristles, and notched near the tip; legs dark brown; feet yel- 

 lowish; eye dark hazel. 



Since writing the above I have shot several individuals of 

 this species in various quarters of New Jersey, particularly in 

 swamps. They all appear to be nearly alike in plumage. Hav- 

 ing found them there in June, there is no doubt of their breed- 

 ing in that state, and probably in such situations far to the 

 southward; for many of the southern summer birds that rarely 

 visit Pennsylvania, are yet common to the swamps and pine 

 woods of New Jersey. Similarity of soil and situation, of plants 



