CRESTED FLY-CATCHER— RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. 



41 



inside a little with fine dry grass, and a few feathers. Its eggs 

 are usually three, of a dirty-white color, and marked with reddish 

 spots or dots. The young are at first covered with a light-colored 

 down, but are soon full-fledged. In the latter part of the fall, the 

 Pigeon Hawk retires with the Blackbirds toward the South. 



PLATE XXXII. 



The Great Crested Fly-catcher. (Myiarchus crinitus.) 

 Fig. i. 



This beautiful bird is mostly an inhabitant of the forests, and 

 much more so than the Tyrant Fly-catcher, and consequently is 

 not so well known. According to Nuttall, this species, nearly un- 

 known in New England, arrives in Pennsylvania early in May, 

 and builds his nest in the deserted holes of the Woodpecker or 

 Blue-bird. He also frequents the orchard, and is equally fond of 

 bees with the King-bird. He has no other note than a harsh 

 squeak, which sounds like 'paup, 'pai'p, payiip, 'paywip, with a 

 strong accent on the first syllable. He preys actively on in- 

 sects, which he collects from his stand, and, in short, has most of 

 the manners and physiognomy of the whole section or family to 

 which he belongs. The nest being formed in the hollow of a 

 tree, the materials are consequently scant, but somewhat novel, 

 being, according to Catesby and Wilson, a little loose hay and 

 large feathers, with hogs' bristles, dogs' hair, and pieces of cast 

 snake-skins, the last of which, though an extraordinary material, 

 is rarely wanting, its elastic softness forming a suitable bed for the 

 young. The eggs are four, of a dull white, thickly marked with 

 scratches and purple lines of various tints, as if laid on with a pen. 

 The note of the male appears often delivered in anger and impa- 

 tience, and he defends his retreat from the access of all other 

 birds, with the tyrannic insolence characteristic of the King-bird. 



Toward the end of summer, they feed on berries of various 

 kinds, being particularly partial to poke-berries and whortle-ber- 

 ries, which, for a time, seem to constitute the principal food of the 

 young. They remain in the Middle States till about the middle 

 of September, when they retire to tropical America. I observed 

 a pair in an orchard at Acton, Mass. They had reared a brood 

 in the vicinity, and still appeared very stationary on the premises ; 

 their harsh 'payup, and sometimes a slender twittering, as they took 

 the perch, were heard almost from morn to night, and resembled 

 at first the chirp of the Robin. According to Wilson, they possess 

 strong traits of their particular caste, and are all remarkably dex- 

 terous at their profession of fly-catching. In the woods, his harsh 

 squeak — for he has no song — is occasionally heard above most 

 others. He also visits the orchard ; is equally fond of bees, but 

 wants the courage and magnanimity of the King-bird. According 

 to Audubon, the Great Crested Flv -catcher arrives in Louisiana 

 and the adjacent country in March. Many remain there and 

 breed, but the greater number advance toward the Middle States, 

 and disperse among the loft)' woods, preferring, at all times, se- 

 questered places. I have thought that they gave a preference to 

 the high lands, and yet I have often observed them in the low, 

 sandy woods of New Jersey. Louisiana and the countries along 

 the Mississippi, together with the State of Ohio, are the districts 

 most visited by this species in one direction ; and, in another, the 

 Atlantic States, as far as Massachusetts. In this last, however, it 

 is very seldom met with, unless in the vicinity of the mountains, 

 where occasionally some are found breeding. Farther eastward, 

 it is entirely unknown. . . . No association takes place among 

 different families, and yet the solicitude of the male toward his 

 mate, and of the parent birds toward their young, is exemplary. 

 The latter are fed and taught to provide for themselves, with a 

 gentleness which might be copied by beings higher in the scale 



of nature, and in them might meet with as much gratitude as that 

 expressed by the young Fly-catchers toward their anxious parents. 

 The family remain much together while in the United States, and 

 go off in company early in September. This species, like the 

 Tyrant Fly-catcher, migrates by day, and, during its journey, is 

 seen passing at a great height. The squeak or sharp note of the 

 Great Crested Fly-catcher is easily distinguished from that of any 

 of the genus, as it transcends all others in shrillness, and is heard 

 mostly in those dark woods, where, recluse-like, it seems to de- 

 light. During the love-season, and so long as the male is paying 

 his addresses to the female, or proving to her that he is happy in 

 her society, it is heard for hours, both at early dawn and some- 

 times after sunset ; but as soon as the young are out, the whole 

 family are mute. 



The nest of this bird is usually built in the hollow of a tree, in 

 the excavation made by the Woodpecker, or a vacant hollow de- 

 serted by a Blue-bird. It is very artlessly constructed of differ- 

 ent kinds of materials, such as dry grass, feathers, hogs' bristles, 

 horse hair, fibrous roots, and pieces of cast snake-skins. Snake- 

 skins with this bird appear to be an indispensable article ; nests 

 are seldom, if ever, found without this material forming a part of 

 them. The female lays four eggs of a dull cream color, thickly 

 scratched with purple lines of various tints, as if done with a pen. 



The Red-bellied Woodpecker. ( Centurus caroltnus.) 

 Fig. 2, Male. Fig. 3, Female. 



This species is a visitor to a large extent of country. It is found 

 from Upper Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and from near the 

 Rocky Mountains down to the Atlantic coast. Audubon says : 



"I have found it from Texas to the extremities of the Brit- 

 ish provinces of Nova Scotia, and as far inland as I have trav- 

 eled. It appears, however, that it does not inhabit the fur coun- 

 tries, as no mention is made of it by Dr. Richardson in the Fauna 

 Boreali-Americana. It is generally more confined to the interior 

 of the forests, especially during the time of its breeding, than the 

 Hairy Woodpecker, although, in winter, I have found it quite as 

 easily approached. In autumn, it frequently occurs in the corn- 

 fields, where it takes its share of the grain, in common with the 

 Hairy, the Downy, and other Woodpeckers. It is a lively and 

 active bird, fond of rolling its tappings against the decayed top- 

 branches of trees, often launching forth after passing insects, and 

 feeding during w r inter on all such berries as it can procure. Its 

 flight is strong and better sustained than that of the Yellow-bellied 

 or Hairy Woodpeckers, and, like the Golden-winged species, it not 

 unfrequently alights across the smaller branches of the trees, a 

 habit which, I assure you, is oftener exhibited than has been sup- 

 posed, by all our species of this interesting tribe of birds. Ac- 

 cording to Nuttall, this species inhabits the whole North American 

 continent, from the interior of Canada to Florida, and even the 

 island of Jamaica, in all of which countries it probably rears its 

 young, migrating only partially from the colder regions. The 

 Red-bellied Woodpecker dwells in the solitude of the forest ; 

 amidst the tall and decaying trees only, he seeks his less varied 

 fare, and leads a life of r^ ing wildness and independence, con- 

 genial with his attachmer t to freedom and liberty. Sometimes, 

 however, on the invasion o< his native haunts by the progress of 

 agriculture, he may be seen prowling among the dead and girdled 

 trees, which now afford him an augmented source of support; 

 and, as a chief of the soil, he sometimes claims his native rights 

 by collecting a small tithe from the usurping field of maize. His 

 loud and harsh call of 'tshow, Hshozv, 'ishozv, Hshozu, reiterated 

 like the barking of a cur, may often be heard, through the course 

 of the day, to break the silence of the wilderness in which his 

 congenial tribe are almost the only residents. On a fine spring 

 morning, I have observed his desultory ascent up some dead and 

 lofty pine, tapping at intervals, and dodging from side to side, as 



