G8 
B L A C K - 1 ' H R 0 A T E D A V A R B I , E R . 
are intermediate between tliose of many of our "Wbarblcrs 
and the Vireos, tlie notes of which hitter it in a great 
measure assumes. 
It usually makes its appearance in ^Maryland and 
New Jersey about the first week in May, when it is 
observed to be actively engaged in searching for food, 
regardless, as it iverc, of the presence of man. Its 
movements when proceeding northward are rapid, and 
it advances through the Avoods solitarily, or nearly so, 
it being seldom that more than Uvo or three are found 
together at this time, or indeed during the breeding- 
season, at which period each pair appropriates to itself 
a certain extent of ground. Its retrograde march is 
also rapid, and by the middle of October they all seem 
to have passed beyond the limits of our most southern 
States. 
The food of this species consists during the summer 
months of various kinds of flies and caterpillars, many 
of the former of Avhich it captures by darting after 
them from its perch, in the manner of Flycatchers and 
Vireos, emitting, like them also, a clicking sound from 
its bill. In the autumn it is often seen feeding on 
small berries of various sorts, in Avhich respect also it 
resembles the birds just mentioned. 
I never found the nest of this bird, of which, hoAvever, 
Mr. Nuttall has given a minute description, Avhich I 
shall here, Avith his permission, place before you: — ‘Last 
summer, 1830, on the 8th. of June, I Avas so fortunate 
as to find a nest of this species, in a perfectly solitary 
situation, on the Blue Hills of Milton. The female was 
sitting, and about to hatch. The nest Avas in a Ioav, 
thick, and stunted Virginia juniper. When I approached 
near to the nest the female stood motionless on its edge, 
and peeped doAvn in such a manner that I imagined 
