206 
RED-EYED FLYCATCHER. 
and is probably also resident, it is called, as Sloane informs us, i 
Wliip-tom-kelly, from an imagined resemblance of its notes 
to these words. And, indeed, on attentively listening for 
some time to this bird in his full ardour of song, it requires but 
little of imagination to fancy that you hear it pronounce these 
words, ce Tom-kelly, whip-tom-kelly !” very distinctly. It 
inhabits from Georgia to the river St Lawrence, leaving 
Pennsylvania about the middle of September. 
This bird builds in the month of May, a small, neat, pensile 
nest, generally suspended between two twigs of a young dog- 
wood or other small sapling. It is hung by the two upper 
edges, seldom at a greater height than four or five feet from 
the ground. It is formed of pieces of hornets’ nests, some 
flax, fragments of withered leaves, slips of vine bark, bits of 
paper, all glued together with the saliva of the bird, and the 
silk of caterpillars, so as to be very compact ; the inside is ! 
lined with fine slips of grape vine bark, fibrous grass, and 
sometimes hair. These nests are so durable, that I have often 
known them to resist the action of the weather for a year; I 
and, in one instance, I have found the nest of the Yellow Bird 
built in the cavity of one of those of the preceding year. The 
mice very often take possession of them after they are aban- 
doned by the owners. The eggs are four, sometimes five, 
pure white, except near the great end, wdiere they are marked 
with a few small dots of dark brown or reddish. They gene- 
rally raise two broods in the season. 
The Red-eyed Flycatcher is one of the adopted nurses of 
the Cow Bird, and a very favourite one, shewing all the 
symptoms of affection for the foundling, and as much solicitude 
for its safety, as if it were its own. The figure of that singular 
bird, accompanied by a particular account of its history, is 
given in Plate XVIII. of the present volume. 
Before I take leave of this bird, it may not be amiss to 
observe that there is another, and a rather less species of 
Flycatcher, somewhat resembling the Red-eyed, which is 
frequently found in its company. Its eyes are hazel ; its back 
