210 WAKE-ROBIN 
properly songsters, but are classed by some writers 
as sereechers. Their pugnacious dispositions are 
well known, and they not only fight among them- 
selves but are incessantly quarreling with their 
neighbors. The kingbird, or tyrant flycatcher, 
might serve as the type of the order. 
The common or wood pewee excites the most 
pleasant emotions, both on account of its plaintive 
note and its exquisite mossy nest. 
The phoebe-bird is the pioneer of the flycatchers, 
and comes in April, sometimes in March. It comes 
familiarly about the house and outbuildings, and 
usually builds beneath hay-sheds or under bridges. 
The flycatchers always take their insect prey on 
the wing, by a sudden darting or swooping move- 
ment; often a very audible snap of the beak may 
be heard. 
These birds are the least elegant, both in form 
and color, of any of our feathered neighbors. They 
have short legs, a short neck, large heads, and 
broad, flat beaks, with bristles at the base. They 
often fly with a peculiar quivering movement of 
the wings, and when at rest some of the species 
oscillate their tails at short intervals. 
There are found in the United States nineteen 
species. In the Middle and Eastern districts, one 
may observe in summer, without any special search, 
about five of them, namely, the kingbird, the 
pheebe-bird, the wood pewee, the great crested fly- 
catcher (distinguished from all others by the bright 
ferruginous color of its tail), and the small green- 
crested flycatcher. 
