77 



SMALL GREEN, CRESTED FLYCATCHER. 

 MUSCICAPA QUERULA. 

 [Plate XIIL— Fig. 3.] 



Muscicapa subviridis, Bartram, 289. — Jrct. Zool. p, 386, No. 268. — Pe ale's Museum^ 



No. 6825. 



THIS bird is but little known. It inhabits the deepest, thick 

 shaded, solitary parts of the woods, sits generally on the lower 

 branches, utters every half minute or so, a sudden sharp squeak, 

 which is heard a considerable way thro the woods; and as it flies 

 from one tree to another has a low querulous note, something like 

 the twitterings of chickens nestling under the wings of the hen. 

 On alighting this sound ceases ; and it utters its note as before. It 

 arrives from the south about the middle of May; builds on the 

 upper side of a limb, in a low^ swampy part of the woods, and lays 

 five white eggs. It leaves us about the beginning of September. 

 It is a rare and very solitary bird, always haunting the most gloomy, 

 moist and unfrequented parts of the forest. It feeds on flying in- 

 sects ; devours bees ; and in the season of huckle-berries they form 

 the chief part of its food. Its northern migrations extend as far 

 as Newfoundland. 



The length of this species is five inches and a half, breadth 

 nine inches; the upper parts are of a green olive color; the lower 

 pale greenish yellow, darkest on the breast; the wings are deep 

 brown, crossed with two bars of yellowish white, and a ring of the 

 same surrounds the eye, which is hazel. The tail is rounded at the 

 end; the bill is remarkably flat and broad, dark brown above, and 

 flesh color below; legs and feet pale ash. The female differs little 

 from the male in color. 



VOL. II. u 



