( 148 ) 

 THE GREEN BLACK-CAPPED FLYCATCHER. 



MUSCJCAPA WiLSONlI. 

 PLATE CXXIV. Male and Female. 



This species passes rapidly through the United States on its way to 

 the Northern Districts, where it breeds and spends the summer. Wilson 

 saw only a few specimens, which he met with in the lower parts of Dela- 

 ware and New Jersey, and supposed it to be an inhabitant of the Southern 

 States, where, however, it is never found in the summer months. It is 

 not rare in the State of Maine, and becomes more abundant the farther 

 north we proceed. I found it in Labrador and all the intermediate 

 districts. It reaches that country early in June, and returns southward 

 by the middle of August. 



It has all the habits of a true Flycatcher, feeding on small insects, 

 which it catches entirely on the wing, snapping its bill with a smart click- 

 ing sound. It frequents the borders of the lakes, and such streams as 

 are fringed with low bushes, from which it is seen every moment sallying 

 forth, pursuing its insect prey for many yards at a time, and again throw- 

 ing itself into its favourite thickets. 



The nest is placed on the extremity of a small horizontal branch, 

 amongst the thick foliage of dwarf firs, not more than from three to five 

 feet from the grotind, and in the centre of the thickets of these trees so 

 common in Labrador, The materials of which it is composed are bits 

 of dry moss and delicate pine twigs, agglutinated together and to the 

 branches or leaves around it, and beneath which it is suspended, with a 

 lining of extremely fine and transparent fibres. , The greatest diameter 

 does not exceed 3^ inches, and the depth is not more than 1|. The eggs 

 are four, dull white, sprinkled with reddish and brown dots towards the 

 larger end, where the markings form a circle, leaving the extremity plain. 



The parents shew much uneasiness at the approach of any intruder, 

 skipping about and around among the twigs and in the air, snapping 

 their bill, and uttering a plaintive note. They raise only one brood in 

 the season. The young males shew their black cap as soon as they are 

 fully fledged, and before their departure to the south. The head of the 



