21 



WILSON'S FLYCATCHING-WARBLER. 



-^ Myiodioctes Wilsojui. — Bonap. 



PLATE LXXV.— Male and Female. 



This species passes rapidly through the United States on its way to the 

 Northern Districts, where it breeds and spends the summer. Wilson saw 

 only a few specimens, which he met with in the lower parts of Delaware and 

 New Jersey, and supposed it to be an inhabitant of the Southern States, 

 where, however, it is never found in the summer months. It is not rare in 

 the State of Maine, and becomes more abundant the farther north we pro- 

 ceed. I found it in Labrador and all the intermediate districts. It reaches 

 that country early in June, and returns southward by the middle of August. 



It has all the habits of a true Flycatcher, feeding on small insects, which 

 it catches entirely on the wing, snapping its bill with a smart clicking sound. 

 It frequents the borders of the lakes, and such streams as are fringed with 

 low bushes, from which it is seen every moment sallying forth, pursuing its 

 insect prey for many yards at a time, and again throwing itself into its fa- 

 vourite thickets. 



The nest is placed on the extremity of a small horizontal branch, amongst 

 the thick foliage of dwarf firs, not more than from three to five feet from the 

 ground, and in the centre of the thickets of these trees so common in Labra- 

 dor. The materials of which it is composed are bits of dry moss and delicate 

 pine twigs, agglutinated together and to the branches or leaves around it, 

 and beneath which it is suspended, with a lining of extremely fine and trans- 

 parent fibres. The greatest diameter does not exceed 3^ inches, and the 

 depth is not more than 1^. The eggs are four, dull white, sprinkled with 

 reddish and brown dots towards the larger end, where the markings form a 

 circle, leaving the extremity plain. 



The parents shew much uneasiness at the approach of any intruder, skip- 

 ping about and around among the twigs and in the air, snapping their bill, and 

 uttering a plaintive note. They raise only one brood in the season. The 

 young males shew their black cap as soon as they are fully fledged, and be- 

 fore their departure to the south. The head of the young female is at first 

 of the same tint as the back, but I could not ascertain if they acquire their 

 full colour the first autumn. 



I found these birds abundant in Newfoundland, but perceived that they 

 had already begun to migrate on the 20th of August; they were moving 



Vol. II. 4 



