Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/153

Rh The flight of the Warbling Flycatcher is performed by gentle glid- ings, and seldom extends to a greater length than a hundred yards at a time. I never saw it on the ground.

It was never observed by me in Louisiana or Kentucky, nor does it pass along the maritime districts of Georgia or the Carolinas; but from Virginia to Maine it is not uncommon, although I saw none farther north. It arrives in the Jerseys and Pennsylvania about the first of May, some years perhaps a little earlier, and proceeds farther east as the season advances. I do not think tliatit raises more than one larood each season, although I have observed it as late as the 1 5th of October in the Middle Districts, where I believe the greater number of these birds spend the summer. Not one could I see during the winter in the Floridas, where, however, the White-eyed and Red-eyed Flycatchers were frequently heard in full sonff.

ViREO GiLVus, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 70.

Wakbling Flycatcher, Muscicapa melodia, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. v. p. 85. pi. 42, fig. 2.

Warbling Vireo, Nuttall, Manual, voL i. p. 309.

Adult Male. Plate CXVI II.

Bill rather short, depressed at the base, subtriangular, compressed to- ward the tip, acute ; upper mandible with the sides convex, notched to- wards the end, and deflected at the tip. Nostrils basal, lateral, oblong. Head rather large, neck short, body ovate. Feet of ordinary length ; tarsus compressed, anteriorly scutellate, sharp behind ; toes slender, free ; claws small, slightly arched, compressed, acute.

Plumage soft and blended. Wings of ordinary length, the second and third primaries longest, first and fifth about equal. Tail of ordinary length, slightly emarginate. Basirostral bristles rather short.

Bill lead-colour above, flesh-colour beneath. Iris dark hazel. Feet lead-colour. The general colour of the plumage above is pale olive-green, tinged with ash on the neck and shoulders. A white line over the eye ; space beneath it and the under parts generally of the same colour, the sides tinged with pale greenish-yellow. Quills and their coverts dark- brown, margined with pale olive-green. Tail similarly edged.

Length 5| inches, extent of wings 8^ ; bill along the ridge -/j, along ihc edge j*2 ; tarsus j.j.