176 BIRDS OF THE WORLD 



head, white on the outer tail-feathers, yellowish-white 

 under parts, and black bill. This bird is fond of 

 nesting near houses, showing little fear of man. Its 

 name is derived from its monotonous note. The 

 Phcebe is the only member of its family found in 

 numbers in the Southern States during the winter. 



The Wood Pewee is a slightly smaller bird than 

 the preceding. The colouring is generally dull dark 

 olive, and the wings have two whitish bars. The upper 

 mandible only is black. The wings are considerably 

 longer than the tail, as in one other species, the Olive- 

 sided Flycatcher, and the legs are short. The Wood 

 Pewee nests on the limbs of trees, from twenty to 

 thirty feet above the ground, and the nest, like that of 

 the Humming-bird, is hardly to be distinguished from 

 the bough on which it rests. 



The Great Crested Flycatcher is the largest of this 

 family, being slightly more than nine inches in length. 

 The upper parts of the body are greyish-brown, with 

 tints of olive green; the throat and breast are pearl- 

 grey, the rest of the under parts bright yellow. A 

 peculiar habit of this bird is the lining of its nest with 

 a cast snake-skin, for what reason is not known. The 

 Crested Flycatcher is a shy bird, keeping well out of 

 sight, and its habits are not so well known as those of 

 some other members of its family. 



SUB-ORDEE — OSCINES 



We pass now to the second of our two great groups 

 of Passerine birds. This group, which is divisible into 

 two sections, is made up of what are known as the 



