68 HOODED WARBLER. 



On such occasions I have approached them near enough to touch them 

 with my gun. By the middle of September they all retire farther south. 

 The plant on which I have represented a pair of these birds, is com- 

 mon in the localities which they usually prefer. Although richly colour- 

 ed, it has no scent. 



Hooded Flycatcheh, Mdscicapa cucullata, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. iii. p. 101, 



PL 26. Fig. 3. Male Nuttall, Manual, vol. i. p. 373. 



Sylvia mitkata, Lath. Index Ornith. vol. ii. p. 528 — Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds 



of the United States, p. 79- 



Adult Male. Plate CX. Fig. 1. 



Bill of moderate length, straight, subulato-conical, acute, nearly as 

 deep as broad at the base, the edges acute, the gap line a little deflected 

 at the base. Nostrils basal, elliptical, lateral, half- closed by a membrane. 

 Head rather small. Neck short. Body rather slender. Feet of ordinary 

 length, slender ; tarsus longer than the middle toe, covered anteriorly by 

 a few scutella, the uppermost long ; toes scu tell ate above, the inner free, 

 the hind toe of moderate size ; claws slender, compressed, acute, arched. 



Plumage soft and blended. Wings short, a little rounded, the second 

 and third quills longest. Tail longish, slightly emarginate. Rather strong 

 bristles at the base of the bill. 



Bill blackish above, paler below. Iris brown. Feet flesh-coloured. 

 Forehead, sides of the head, and the chin deep yellow, as are the breast 

 and belly. Hind-head, throat, and lower part of the neck black. The 

 general colour of the upper parts is yellowish-olive ; wings dusky ; three 

 lateral tail-feathers white on the terminal half of their inner webs. 



Length 5|, extent of wings 8 ; bill along the ridge nearly ■^■^. 



Adult Female. Plate CX. Fig. 2. 



The Female has the forehead, the sides of the head, and all the lower 

 parts yellow, the hind part of the head dusky ; in other respects she re- 

 sembles the male. 



Dimensions nearly the same as in the male. 



' This species more resembles a Flycatcher than a Sylvia in its habits, 

 as well as in the bristles at the base of the bill, and, in fact, is very nearly 

 allied to the Muscicapa Selbii, vol. i. p. 46. 



