Species II. MUSCICAPA CRINITA. 
GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER. 
[Plate XIII. Fig. 2.] 
Linn. Syst. 325.— Lath, ii., 357.— Arct. Zool. p. 386, No. 267.— Le mouche rolle de 
Virgiuie a huppe verte, Buff, iv., 565. PL Enl. 569. 
By glancing at the physiognomy of this bird and the rest of the figures 
on the same plate, it will readily be observed, that they all belong to 
one particular family of the same genus. They possess strong traits of 
their particular cast, and are all remarkably dexterous at their profes- 
sion of fly-catching. The one now before us is less generally known 
than the preceding, being chiefly confined to the woods. There his 
harsh sqxiealc, 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. He arrives in Penn- 
sylvania early in May, and builds his nest in a hollow tree deserted by 
the Blue-bird or Woodpecker. The materials of which this is formed 
are scanty, and rather novel. One of these nests, now before me, is 
formed of a little loose hay, feathers of the Guinea fowl, hog's bristles, 
pieces of cast snake skins, and dog's hair. Snake skins with this bird 
appear to be an indispensable article, for I have never yet found one 
of his nests without this material forming a part of it. Whether he sur- 
rounds his nest with this by way of terrorem, to prevent other birds or 
animals from entering ; or whether it be that he finds its silky softness 
suitable for his young, is uncertain ; the fact however is notorious. The 
female lays four eggs of a dull cream color thickly scratched with pur- 
ple lines of various tints as if done with a pen. See fig. 2. 
This species is eight inches and a half long, and thirteen inches in 
extent ; the upper parts are of a dull greenish olive ; the feathers on 
the head are pointed, centered with dark brown, ragged at the sides, 
and form a kind of blowzy crest ; the throat and upper parts of the 
breast delicate ash ; rest of the lower parts a sulphur yellow ; the wing 
coverts are pale drab, crossed with two bars of dull white ; the prima- 
ries are of a bright ferruginous or sorrel color ; the tail is slightly 
forked, its interior vanes of the same bright ferruginous as the prima- 
ries ; the bill is blackish, very much like that of the King-bird, fur- 
nished also with bristles ; the eye is hazel ; legs and feet bluish black. 
The female can scarcely be distinguished, by its colors, from the male. 
This bird also feeds on berries towards the end of summer, particu- 
larly on huckleberries, which, during the time they last, seem to form 
the chief sustenance of the 3 T oung birds. I have observed this species 
here as late as the tenth of September ; rarely later. They do not, to 
my knowledge, winter in any of the Southern States. 
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