432 BLUE-GREY FLY-CATCHER. 



hair. I have found these nests always attached to two slender twigs of 

 Willow. The eggs are four or five, pure white, with a few reddish dots 

 at the larger end. Two broods are reared in a season. The young and 

 old hunt and migrate together, passing amongst the tops of the highest 

 trees, from one to another. They leave the State of Louisiana in the be- 

 ginning of October, the Middle States about the middle of September. 

 I have seen some of these birds on the border line of Upper Canada, 

 along the shores of Lake Erie. I have also observed them in Kentucky, 

 Indiana, and along the Arkansas River. 



In the plate is represented, along with a pair of these delicate birds, a 

 twig of one of our most valuable trees, with its pendulous blossoms. 

 This tree, the Black Walnut, grows in almost every part of the United 

 States, in the richest soils, and attains a great height and diameter. The 

 wood is used for furniture of all sorts, receives a fine polish, and is ex- 

 tremely durable. The stocks of muskets are generally made of it. The 

 Black Walnut is plentiful in all the alluvial grounds in the vicinity of 

 our rivers. The fruit is contained in a very hard shell, and is thought 

 good by many people. 



Sylvia ciehulea, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 540 — Ch. Bonaparle, Synops. of Birds 



of the United States, p. 85. 

 MoTACiLLA ccERULEA, Linti. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 337. 

 CiERULEAN Wabbler, Lath. Synops. vol. iv. p. 490. 

 Blue-gkey Fly-catcher, Muscicapa c(erui,ea, Wils. Amer. Ornith, vol. ii. 



p. 164. PL 18. fig. 5. 



Adult Male. Plate LXXXIV. Fig. 1. 



Bill of ordinary length, straight, subulato-conical, depressed at the base, 

 acute; upper mandible with the edges acute and overlapping, notched close 

 to the end, the tip slightly declinate. Head rather large. Neck short, body 

 ovate. I-egs of ordinary length ; tarsus slender, compressed, scutellate be- 

 fore, acute behind ; toes free, scutellate ; claws arched, compressed, acute. 



Plumage soft, blended, tufty. Basirostral bristles distinct. Wings 

 short, much curved, the third quill longest. Tail longish, rounded, of 

 twelve rounded feathers. 



Bill bluish-black. Iris hazel. Feet greyish-blue. The general co- 

 lour of the upper parts is bright blue, approaching to ultramarine, deeper 

 on the head, and fading on the tail-coverts. Quills and primary coverts 



