238 SMALL HEADED FLYCATCHER. 



feathers lighter, the outer web pale brownish-gre)^ fore part of neck and a 

 portion of the breast and sides ash-grey, the rest of the lower parts pale 

 yellow. 



Male, 5 T 2 2, wing, 2 T 5 ¥ . 



Columbia River. Fur countries. Labrador. Newfoundland. Rare in 

 the Atlantic States. 



The White Oak. 



Quercus prinus, WW. Sp. PL, vol. iv. p. 439. Pursh, Fl. Amer., vol. ii. p. 633. — Quer- 

 cus prinus palustris, Mich. Arbr. Forest, de L'Amer. Sept. vol. ii. p. 51. PI. 7. — Monce- 

 cia polyandria, Linn. — Amentace-e, Juss. 



Leaves oblongo-oval, acute, largely toothed, the teeth nearly equal, dilat- 

 ed, and callous at the tip; cupule craterate, attenuated at the base; acorn 

 ovate. This species grows in low shady woods, and along the margins of 

 rivers, from Pennsylvania to Florida. The wood is porous, and of inferior 

 quality. 



SMALL HEADED FLYCATCHER. 



~f-MuSCTCAPA MINUTA, WilsOll. 

 PLATE LXVII.— Male. 



The sight of the figure of this species brings to my recollection a curious 

 incident of long-past days, when I drew it at Louisville in Kentucky. It 

 was in the early part of the spring of 1 SOS, thirty -two years ago, that I pro- 

 cured a specimen of it while searching the margins of a pond. 



In those happy clays, kind reader, I thought not of the minute differences 

 by which one species may be distinguished from another in words, or of the 

 necessity of comparing tarsi, toes, claws, and quills, although I have, as you 

 are aware, troubled you with tedious details of this sort. When Alexander 

 Wilson visited me at Louisville, he found in my already large collection of 

 drawings, a figure of the present species, which, being at that time unknown 

 to him, he copied and afterwards published in his great work, but without 

 acknowledging the privilege that had thus been granted to him. I have 

 more than once regretted this, not by any means so much on my own ac- 



