J. JO VEKTEliUATA. 



beetles ami otluT liiinl-skiriiied species, while others principally devour the small insects which 

 thcv take on tli.' win^', and others, again, aj)p(ar to have a predilection for caterpillars, for which 

 they search the leaves of the trees. They also occasionally eat berries. They bnild their nests 

 Boinetinu's in trees, sDUietinies in thick bnshes, forming them of dry leaves, grass, fibrous roots, 

 luoss, and liclu-ns, A'c. 



(fi'iiii.s \']\l\'A>: Vii-cn. — This includes several species, often called Greenlets. The Red-eyed 

 Fly-Catchkk or W'liir-ToM-KEi.i.v, V.olivaceus, isa very numerous and familiar species, even ven- 

 turin«>' into parks, gardens, and vards of cities, where it rears its young and sings its song. Wilson 

 sjivs: "In Jamaica, where this bird is resident, it is called, as Sloane informs us, Whip-tom-kelly, 

 from an imagined resemblance of its notes to these words. And, indeed, on attentively listening 

 for some time 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, v,liip-tom-kelIy!' very distinctly." But Mr. 

 Gosse, who has furnished us with several excellent works on Natural History, and lieard this bird 

 often in .lamaii-a, states that its notes bear a very close resemblance to the syllables " John-to-whit," 

 pronounced with an emphasis on the last syllable; an evidence of a fact we have before noticed, 

 that two persons, in attempting to write down the notes of birds, rarely give precisely the same 

 syllables. 



The other noted species of Yireo are as follows : the White-eyed Fly-Catcher, V. Nove- 

 horacnms, a small species, but a loud singer, noted, as Wilson says, for introducing fi'agments of 

 newspaper into the construction of its nest, whence some of liis friends proposed to call the bird 

 the Politician: the Yellow-throated Greenlet, V. Jlavifrons, five and a half inches long, and 

 of a greenish-olive color : the Solitary Greexlet, V. solitarius, four and a half inches long, 

 dusky-olive color : the Warbling Fly-Catcher, V. ffihnis, a pleasing singer : all the preceding 

 common in the United States : the V. altiloguus, occasionally visiting Florida, and having some 

 curious notes : the Black-headed Fly-Catcher, V. atriccipillus, recently discovered in Texas, 

 seven and a half inches long, above dark olive-green, below white. To these may be added the 

 V. Bartraini, found in New Jersey and Kentucky: the V. longirostris of the Antilles: the V. 

 belli of the upper Missouri. 



THE TRUE FLY-CATCHERS. 



In these the form of the bill closely resembles that of the Vireos ; but this organ is rather 

 longer, and has the ridge slightly flattened at first, but curved toward the tip. The gape is fur- 

 nished with bristles ; the wings are long and pointed, and the toes are short, the outer lateral toe 

 being longer than the inner one. 



These birds, which exhibit the characteristic habits of the family in their greatest perfection, 

 are pretty generally distributed over both hemispheres, but more especially in the tropical re- 

 gions. The species which occur in the temperate and colder regions, generally are summer birds 

 of passage. 



Gcmts MUSCICAPA : Muscicajw. — This includes the Spotted Fly-Catcher, M. f/riarola, the 

 most familiar and abundant European species, six inches long, of a brownish tint above, with a 

 few dark spots on the head, and dull white beneath ; it is common during the summer in Eng- 

 land, France, and generally over Europe. In England its nest is usually placed in a hole in a 

 wall, in a faggot stack, or an out-building, but the branches of trees trained against a wall are 

 sometimes selected for its reception. A pair have also been known to build on the head of a 

 garden-rake, which had been accidentally left standing near a cottage ; another pair built in a 

 bird-cage ; but the most curious instances of caprice in this matter are those of two pairs of these 

 birds which selected street lamp-posts for the purpose of nidification. 



Among other foreign species are the Pied Fly-Catcher, M. atricajnlla, common in the south of 

 Europe : called Bcc-finue or Fig-Pecker by the French, because it catches insects on the fig-trees, 

 and, it is said, eats tlie figs when ripe ; the Collared Fly-Catcher, M. albicollis, subject to very 

 great changes of plumage ; and the M. scita, an extremely small species of Southern Africa. 

 The Crested Gobe Moiiche of Bufi'on— .¥^. coronata of Latham— is a handsome South American 

 species, which is noted for catching butterflies which flutter around the cotton-plants. 



