236 



LEAST PEWEE FLYCATCHER. 



- Muscicapa pusilla, Swains. 



PLATE LXVI.— Male. 



This small and plainly-coloured species, first described by my friend Wil- 

 liam Swainson, Esq. in the Fauna Boreali-Americana, under the name of 

 "Tyrannula pusilla" is a common inhabitant of the northern and north- 

 western parts of America, but has not, I believe, been known to pass along 

 our Atlantic shores. Dr. Richardson, who observed it in the Fur Coun- 

 tries, says that "it was first seen by us at Carlton House, on the 19th of May, 

 flitting about for a few days among low bushes on the banks of the river, 

 after which it retired to the moist shady woods lying farther north." 



My friend Thomas Nuttall, Esq. procured this bird on Wapatoo Island, 

 which is formed by the junction of the Multnomah with the Columbia, 20 

 miles long, and 10 broad. The land is high and extremely fertile, and in 

 most parts supplied with a heavy growth of cotton-wood, ash, and sweet-wil- 

 low. But the chief wealth of the island consists of the numerous ponds in 

 the interior, abounding with the common arrow-head, Sagittaria sagiitifo- 

 lia, to the root of which is attached a bulb" growing beneath it in the mud. 

 This bulb, to which the Indians give the name of Wapatoo, is the great arti- 

 cle of food, and almost the staple article of commerce, on the Columbia. It 

 is never out of season, so that at all times of the year the valley is frequented 

 by the neighbouring Indians, who come to gather it. It is collected chiefly 

 by the women, who take a light canoe in a pond, where the water is as high 

 as the breast, and by means of their toes, separate the root from the bulb, 

 which on being freed from the mud rises immediately to the surface of the 

 water, and is thrown into the canoe. This plant is found through the whole 

 extent of the Columbia Valley, but does not grow farther eastward. 



"I observed," he continues, "a male of this species very active and cheer- 

 ful, making his chief residence in a spreading oak, on the open border of a 

 piece of forest. As usual, he took his station at the extremity of a dead 

 branch, from whence, at pretty quick intervals, he darted after passing in- 

 sects. When at rest, he raised his erectile crest, and in great earnest called 

 out sishui, sishui, and sometimes tsishea, tsishea, in a lisping tone, rather 

 quickly, and sometimes in great haste, so as to run both calls together. This 

 brief, rather loud, quaint and monotonous ditty, was continued for hours to- 

 gether, at which time, so great was our little actor's abstraction; that he al- 



