■' RED-EYED FLYCATCHER. 147 



pleasing. It is often heard among the weeping willows and Lombardy 

 poplars ot the city ; is rarely observed in the woods ; but seems particu- 

 larly attached to the society of man. It gleans among the leaves, 

 occasionally darting after winged insects, and searching for caterpillars ; 

 and seems by its manners to partake considerably of the nature of the 

 genus Sylvia. It is late in departing, and I have frequently heard its 

 notes among the fading leaves of the poplar in October. 



This little bird may be distinguished from all the rest of our song- 

 sters by the soft tender easy flow of its notes, while hid among the 

 foliage. In these there is nothing harsh, sudden or emphatical ; they 

 glide along in a kind of meandering strain that is peculiarly its own. 

 In May and June it may be generally heard in the orchards, the bor- 

 ders of the city, and around the farm-house. 



This species is five inches and a half long, and eight inches and a 

 half in extent ; bill dull lead color above, and notched near the point, 

 lower a pale flesh color ; eye dark hazel ; line over the eye and whole 

 lower parts white, the latter tinged with very pale greenish yellow near 

 the breast ; upper parts a pale green olive ; wings brown, broadly edged 

 with pale olive green ; tail slightly forked, edged with olive ; the legs 

 and feet pale lead ; the head inclines a little to ash ; no white on the 

 wings or tail. Male and female nearly alike. 



Species XII. MUSCICAPA OLIVACEA. 



RED-EYED FLYCATCHER. 



[Plate XII. Kg. a.] 



Linn. Syst. i., p. 327, 14. — Gobe-mouche de la Caroline et de la Jamaique, Buff, iv., 

 p. 539, Edw. t. 253. — Catesb. t. 54. — Lath. Syn. in., p. 351, No. 52. — Muscicapa 

 sylmcola, Bartram, p. 290.* 



This is a numerous species, though confined chiefly to the woods and 

 forests, and, like all the rest of its tribe that visit Pennsylvania, is a 

 bird of passage. It arrives hgre late in April ; has a loud, lively and 

 energetic song, which it continues, as it hunts among the thick foliage, 

 sometimes for an hour with little intermission. In the months of May, 

 June, and to the middle of July, it is the most distinguishable of all 

 the other warblers of the forest ; and even in August, long after the 

 rest have almost all become mute, the notes of the Red-eyed Flycatcher 

 are frequently heard with unabated spirit. These notes are in short, 

 emphatical bars, of two, three, or four syllables. In Jamaica, where 



* 'Muscicapa aliiloqua, Vieill. Ois. de VAm. Sept. pi. 38. 



