AVES—FLYCATCHER...REDSTART. 511 
THE WHITE-EYED FLYCATCHER! 
Is another of the cow-bird’s adopted nurses; a lively, active, and sociable 
little bird, possessing a strong voice for its size, and a great variety of notes, 
and sings during the whole summer. It probably winters in Mexico and the 
West Indies. It builds a very neat little nest in the figure of an inverted 
cone ; it is suspended by the upper edge of the two sides on the circular bend 
of a prickly vine that generally grows in low thickets. It is constructed of 
bits of rotten wood, fibres of weeds, and pieces of paper, commonly news- 
papers. From this circumstance it is sometimes called the Politician. It 
makes a great ado when any one comes near the nest; looking down and 
scolding with great vehemence. It is five inches and a quarter long; the 
upper parts are fine yellow olive; those below white, except the sides of the 
breast, which are yellow. 
THE SWALLLOW-TAILED FLYCATCHER? 
‘Is a very rare and beautiful bird, a specimen of which was shot, on the Ar- 
kansas river, by the exploring party under Major Long. It is as audacious 
as the king-bird, attacking with unhesitating intrepidity, and turning the flight 
of the most powerful of the feathered tribe. Its notes consist of a chirping 
something like ¢sch, tsch, much resembling that of the prairie dog, by which 
it deceived the members of Long’s party into a belief that they were ap- 
proaching one of the villages of this animal. 
To the above may be added the Arkansas, Say’s, Bonaparte’s, Selby’s, and 
Traill’s Flycatchers, all of which belong to the United States. 
THE AMERICAN, REDSTARTS 
Has been classed among the warblers, yet it has all the characteristics of 
the flycatchers, and is in fact one of the most expert of its tribe. It will 
pursue a party of flies from the tops of the tallest trees, in an almost per- 
pendicular, but zigzag direction, to the ground, while the clicking of its bill 
is distinctly heard; and 1 deubt not but it often secures ten or twelve of 
these in three or four seconds. Its notes or twitter, though animated and 
sprightly, are not deserving the name of song; sometimes they are wéese, 
wéese, wéese, repeated every quarter of a minute, as it skips among the 
branches ; at other times this twitter varies to several other chants, which we 
1 Muscicapa cantatrix, Witson. 2 Muscicapa forficata, GMEL. 
3 Muscicapa ruticilla, Lin. 
