248 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



bers greatly within four or five years. It arrives from the 

 South from about the 10th to the 25tli of May. The birds 

 seem to be mated on their arrival ; for I have noticed, that, 

 if a male is seen, a female is almost always to be found in 

 his immediate vicinity. 



About the first week in June, tlie nest is built.i This is 

 fixed in a fork of a low cedar or pine bush, very near the 

 ground, and is constructed of pine leaves, fine roots and 

 grasses, and a few hairs : it is loosely put together, and is 

 lined with fine pieces of the same materials and lichens. 



The eggs are four in number. They are small and 

 abruptly pointed : they are of a grayish-white color, with a 

 slight roseate tint, and are marked with spots and fine 

 blotches of lilac and brown, usually thickest near tlie larger 

 end. The only nest and eggs that I have seen were of this 

 description : they were found in Quincy, Mass.,* in an old 

 pasture, partly grown up with bushes. 



The eggs were nearly of a uniform size and shape, and 

 measured about .65 by .48 inch in dimensions. 



The habits of this species are so much like those of the 

 preceding, that, if the Wilson's Black-cap were more com- 

 mon, the two birds might be easily confounded. The flight 

 of the present is rapid ; and all the motions of the bird, when 

 it is pursuing insects, are those of the true Flycatchers. Its 

 note is a shrill iveechij, ivitcliij^ which is uttered at short 

 intervals by the bird, both while on the wing and when 

 perching. About the first week in September, it begins to 

 grow abundant ; and, by the loth of that month, it has 

 departed on its southern migration. 



SETOPHAGA, Swainson. 



Selophaga, Swalxson, Zool. Jour., IIL (Dec, 1827) 360. (Tj-pe Mmdcapa rutt- 

 dild, Linna;us.) 



Bill depressed, broader than high; rictus with long bristles; wings rounded, 

 equal to or shorter than the tail; first quill shorter than the fourth; tail long, some- 

 what graduated, the outer feathers about twenty one-hundredths of an inch or more 

 shorter: all the feathers unusually broad, and widened at the end; Icct short; tavsus 



1 See Appendix. 



