324 iSOUTll AMERICAN lURDS. 



of tlio year, and it was ("spepially seen alxmt houses. For about a week, at 

 tlie end ol' April, IS.")?, they wore extremely luinierous. On their return iVoni 

 their suninier (quarters, they were first oljserved Sejjteniber G. Mr. Taylor 

 also mentions them as conniion in Trinidad. Mr. ilidgway found it a com- 

 mon species amon,L; the willow thickets of the river valleys, west as far as 

 the Cireat Salt Lake. 



This s])eeics, in its spring and autumnal migrations, is alnuidant in Louisi- 

 ana and Te.\as, as well as in the Gulf Stivtcs. Wilson speaks of meeting 

 with it in the then " ^li.ssissipjti Territory." Audubon gives it as abundant 

 in Louisiana, and Nuttall as found throughout Louisiana and Arkansas into 

 Mexico. ^Ir. l)re.s.ser also mentions it as very common near San Antonio in 

 the .siu'ing and autunni, arriving on the ^fedina the 27th of Ajn-il. 



J)r. Coues says that the iictlstart near Washington is chietly a spring and 

 autumnal visitant, and l)ut very few remain to lireed. In the spring it is 

 very abundant from April 2") to May 2<>, and in the fall from the 1st to the 

 20th of Sejitemljer, in all Mdody and swampy situations. He found it in 

 the habit of ruiming along slender twigs, sideways, and having a note very 

 similar to that of D. (v.stiva. 



Although placed among the 0.sr//(f.>.', where, as an excellent singer, it clearly 

 has a good right to be cla.ssed, it is yet also a true Flycatcher in habits and 

 manners. It is a lively, active bird, ever on the wing, and continually in 

 pursuit of in.sect.s. In tliis pursuit it never awaits the apiiroach of its jirey, 

 but, espying them at a distance, darts with great velocity in pursuit, and the 

 continued c'ieks of its bill attest the ra})idity and friMpu'ncy with which it 

 will overtake and catch insect alter insect. Even when lamenting the loss 

 of a part of its brood, and living around with cries of distress, the sight of 

 passing insects is a temptation not to l)e resisted, and the parent bird will 

 stop her lamentations t(» catch small ilies. 



Its notes are a varied twittei', rather than a song, a repetition of two simple 

 notes, uttered every few .seconds as it seeks its prey. Hying among the thick 

 foliage usually in dense groves. Its common haliit is to glide along a branch, 

 between its smaller twigs, at times darting forth into more ojien siiaces in 

 quest of insects it has (;spied. 



Their nests are usually, though not always, built in a low branch, eight or 

 ten feet from the ground, in the midst of a thick grove. I have known it 

 to build in an o]K'n iield and in close ])roximity to a dwelling. It keeps to 

 groves and thickets, and frei[uents moi.st ])laces rather than dry, evidently 

 because of the greater abundance of insects, and not because of timid or 

 retiring habits. It is indeed far from being timid, and will permit a near 

 ajtproach without any exhibitions of uneasiness. When its nest is visited, 

 the male bird manifests great disturlianee, and tlies back and forth around the 

 head of the intruder with ci'ies of distress. The female is iiir less demon- 

 strative, and even when hei- nest is desjxnled before her eyes is (piite moder- 

 ate in the exjiression of her grief. 



