SMALL HEADED FLYCATCHER. 
239 
account, as for the sake of one to whom we are so deeply indebted for his 
elucidation of our ornithology. 
I consider this Flycatcher as among the scarcest of those that visit our 
middle districts ; for, although it seems that Wilson procured one that “ was 
shot on the 24th of April, in an orchard,” and afterwards “ several individuals 
of this species in various quarters of New Jersey, particularly in swamps,” 
all my endeavours to trace it in that section of the country have failed, as 
have those of my friend Edward Harris, Esq., who is a native of that 
State, resides there, and is well acquainted with all the birds found in the 
district. I have never seen it out of Kentucky, and even there it is a very 
uncommon bird. In Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, or farther east- 
ward or southward, in our Atlantic districts, I never saw a single individual, 
not even in museums, private collections, or for sale in bird-stuffers’ shops. 
In its habits this species is closely allied to the Hooded and Green Black- 
capt Flycatchers, being fond of low thick coverts, whether in the interior 
of swamps, -or by the margins of sluggish pools, from which it only removes 
to higher situations after a continuation ofwvet weather, when I have found 
it on rolling grounds, and amid woods comparatively clear of under-growth. 
Differing from the true Flycatchers, this species has several rather pleasing 
notes, which it enunciates at pretty regular intervals, and which may be 
heard at the distance of forty or fifty yards in calm weather. I have more 
than once seen it attracted by an imitation of these notes. While chasing 
insects on wing, although it clicks its bill on catching them, the sound thus 
emitted is comparatively weak, as is the case with the species above men- 
tioned, it being stronger however in the Green Blackcapt than in this or 
the Hooded species. Like these birds,, it follows its prey to some distance 
at times, whilst, at others, it searches keenly among the leaves for its prey, 
but, I believe, never alights on the ground, not even for the purpose of 
drinking, which act it performs by passing lightly over the water and 
Bipping, as it were, the quantity it needs. 
All my efforts to discover its nests in the lower parts of Kentucky, 
where I am confident that it breeds, have proved fruitless ; and I have 
not heard that any other person has been more successful. 
Small-headed Flycatcher, Muscicapa minuta, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vi. p. 62. 
Sylvia minuta, Bonap. Syn., p. 86. 
Small-headed Sylvan Flycatcher, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 296. 
Small-headed Flycatcher, Muscicapa minuta , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 291. 
Wings short, the second quill longest; tail of moderate length, even ; 
general colour of upper parts light greenish-brown ; wings and tail dark 
/olive-brown, the outer feathers of the latter with a terminal white spot on 
