152 NATURAL HISTOKY. 



be interesting to notice, but I will speak of only two of 

 three more. The Catbird, so familiar to us, is a beauti- 

 ful singer, but when provoked or alarmed, utters a disa- 

 greeable mewing sound, from which it gets its name. 

 The Brown Thrush, or Thrasher, is a songster of great 

 sweetness and compass. So also is the European Black- 

 bird. This must not be confounded with our common 

 American Blackbird, which belongs to the Crow family. 

 252. The family of Fly-catchers is comparatively a 

 small one in regard to the number of its species, but it 

 is quite widely diffused. They derive their name from 

 their skill in catching insects as they fly. For this pur- 

 pose the bill is quite broad at the base, so that when the 

 mandibles are separated, the mouth presents a wide 

 opening. In this respect they approach the division of 

 Fissirostres, § 236. Like them, also, they have bristles 

 about the mouth at the sides ; and their legs are small 

 and weak, as they are mostly on the wing. The most 

 prominent of this family in this country is the Kingbird, 

 one of the most bold and brave of all birds. Its dispo- 

 sition to drive off all other birds from the neighborhood 

 of its nest, and keep sole possession of what it considers 

 its own domains, has given this bird its name. It wiU 

 attack even such large birds as Crows, Hawks, and 

 Eagles, mounting above them, and . darting down upon 

 their backs, and by this continual annoyance will succeed 

 in driving them off. It will sometimes pursue one of 

 these birds a long distance, over a mile, and then return 

 to the neighborhood of its nest with the proud air of a 

 conqueror, uttering rapidly its shrill and triumphant 

 notes. I have sometimes been amused with the boldness 

 of this bird in flying in quick darts close to my head as 

 I approached the tree where it had built its nest. Some 

 of the birds manage, by agility or some cunning expe- 

 dient, to escape the attacks of this tyrant. " I have 

 seen," says Wilson, " the Red-headed "Woodpecker, while 

 clinging on the rail of a fence, amuse himself with the 



