( 27 ) 

 BONAPARTE'S FLY-CATCHER. 



MUSCICAPA BONAPJRTII. 

 PLATE V. Male. 



Whilst I have the pleasure of honouring this beautiful new species 

 with the name of so distinguished a naturalist as Charles Lucien 

 Bonaparte, Prince of Musignano, I regret that I am unable to give any 

 account of its habits, or even of its manner of flight, and must therefore 

 confine my remarks upon it within very brief space. The following ex- 

 tract from my journal contains all that I have to say respecting it. 



" Monday, August 13th 1821. — Louisiana. — On arriving at the 

 Cypress Swamp (about five miles from St Francisville), I saw a great 

 number of small birds of different species, and as I looked at them I ob- 

 served two engaged in a fight or quarrel. I shot at them, but only one 

 fell. On reaching the spot, I found the bird was only wounded, and 

 saw it standing still and upright as if stupified by its fall. When I 

 approached it to pick it up, it spread its tail, opened its wings, and snap- 

 ped its biU about twenty times sharply and in quick succession, as birds 

 of the genus do when seizing insects on wing. I carried it home, and 

 had the pleasure of drawing it while alive and full of spirit. It often 

 made off" from my hand, by starting suddenly, and then would hop round 

 the room as quickly as a Carolina Wren, uttering its tweet, tweet, tweet 

 all the while, and snapping its bill every time I took it up. I put it in- 

 to a cage for a few minutes, but it obstinately thrust its head through 

 the lower parts of the wires. I relieved it from this sort of confinement, 

 and allowed it to go about the room. Next day it was very weak and 

 -ruffled up, so I killed it and put it in spirits." To this account I have 

 only to add, that I have not seen another individual since. 



MusciCAPA BoNAPARTii. Plate V. 



Bill of moderate length, straight, subtrigonal, depressed at the base, 

 acute, upper mandible slightly notched and a little inflected at the tip, 

 lower mandible straight. Nostrils basal, lateral, roundish, partly cover- 



