Part 43

In this instance the parents showed much uneasiness at the approach of intruders, moving about among the twigs, snapping their bills, and uttering a plaintive note. In Newfoundland these birds had already begun to migrate on the 20th of August. He met with them in considerable numbers in Northern Maine in October, 1832. Mr. Turnbull mentions it as a rather abundant bird of Eastern Pennsylvania, appearing there early in May, _in transitu_, and again in October.

Mr. T. M. Trippe has observed this species at Orange, N. J., from the 19th to the 30th of May. It is said to keep low down in the trees, and is fond of haunting thickets and open brush fields. Occasionally he has heard it utter a loud chattering song, which it repeats at short intervals.

A nest of this species from Fort Yukon (Smith. Coll., 13,346), obtained May 20, by Mr. McDougal, contained four eggs. These varied from .60 to .63 of an inch in length, and from .45 to .49 in breadth. They were obovate in shape, their ground-color was a pure white; this was finely sprinkled round the larger end with brownish-red and lilac. No mention is made of the position of the nest, but it is probable this bird builds on the ground.

Myiodioctes pusillus, var. pileolatus, RIDGWAY.

_Motacilla pileolata_, PALLAS, Zoög. Rosso Asiat. I, 1831, 497 (Russian America). _Myiodioctes pusillus_, var. _pileolata_, RIDGWAY, Report U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par. _Myiodioctes pusillus_, AUCT. (all citations from Pacific coast of North and Middle America).—LORD, Pr. R. Art. Inst. Woolw. IV, 1864, 115 (Br. Col.).—DALL & BANNISTER (Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 101.

SP. CHAR. Similar to var. _pusillus_, but much richer yellow, scarcely tinged with olive laterally, and deepened into an almost orange shade on the front and chin. Above much brighter and more yellowish olive-green. The black pileum with a brighter steel-blue gloss. Bill much narrower, and deep, light brown above, instead of nearly black. Measures (4,222 ♂, San Francisco, Cal.), wing, 2.15; tail, 2.00.

HAB. Pacific coast region of North America, from Kodiak (Alaska); south through Western Mexico (and Lower California) to Costa Rica.

This is an appreciably different race from that inhabiting the eastern division of the continent; the differences, tested by a large series of specimens, being very constant.

A Costa-Rican specimen before me is almost exactly like specimens from California.

HABITS. The remarks, in the preceding article relative to specimens from the Pacific coast belong to this variety.

Myiodioctes canadensis, AUD.

CANADA FLYCATCHER.

_Muscicapa canadensis_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 327. (_Muscicapa canadensis cinerea_, BRISSON, II, 406, tab. 39, fig. 4.)—GMELIN.—WILSON, III, pl. xxvi, fig. 2.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, pl. ciii. _Setophaga can._ SWAINS.; RICH.; GRAY. _Myiodioctes can._ AUD. Birds Am. II, pl. ciii.—BREWER, Pr. Bost. Soc. VI, 5 (nest and eggs).—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1854, 111 (Ecuador; winter); 1855, 143 (Bogota); 1858, 451 (Ecuador).—IB. Catal. 1861, 34, no. 204.—SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1859, 11 (Guatemala).—LAWRENCE, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VI, 1862.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 294; Rev. 239.—SAMUELS, 247. _Euthlypis can._ CAB. Mus. Hein. 1850, 1851, 18; Jour. Orn. 1860, 326 (Costa Rica). _Sylvia pardalina_, BON.; NUTT. _Sylvicola pardalina_, BON. _Myiodioctes pardalina_, BON. _? Muscicapa bonapartei_, AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 27, pl. v. _Setophaga bon._ RICH. _Wilsonia bon._ BON. _Sylvania bon._ NUTT. _? Myiodioctes bon._ AUD. Syn.—IB. Birds Am. II, 1841, 17, pl. xvii.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 295. _Setophaga nigricincta_, LAFR. Rev. Zoöl. 1843, 292; 1844, 79.

SP. CHAR. Upper part bluish-ash; a ring around the eye, with a line running to the nostrils, and the whole under part (except the tail-coverts, which are white), bright yellow. Centres of the feathers in the anterior half of the crown, the cheeks, continuous with a line on the side of the neck to the breast, and a series of spots across the forepart of the breast, black. Tail-feathers unspotted. _Female_ similar, with the black of the head and breast less distinct. In the _young_ obsolete. Length, 5.34; wing, 2.67; tail, 2.50.

HAB. Whole Eastern Province of United States, west to the Missouri; north to Lake Winnipeg; Eastern Mexico to Guatemala, and south to Bogota and Ecuador (SCLATER). Not noted from West Indies.

HABITS. This is a migratory species, abundant during its passage, in most of the Atlantic States. It breeds, though not abundantly, in New York and Massachusetts, and in the regions north of latitude 42°. How far northward it is found is not well ascertained, probably as far, however, as the wooded country extends. It was met with on Winnepeg River, by Mr. Kennicott, the second of June. It winters in Central and in Northern South America, having been procured at Bogota, in Guatemala, and in Costa Rica, in large numbers.

Mr. Audubon states that he found this bird breeding in the mountainous regions of Pennsylvania, and afterwards in Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Although he describes with some minuteness its nests, yet his description of their position and structure is so entirely different in all respects from those that have been found in Massachusetts, that I am constrained to believe he has been mistaken in his identifications, and that those he supposed to belong to this species were really the nests of a different bird.

“In Vermont,” Mr. Charles S. Paine, of Randolph, informs me, “the Canada Flycatcher is a summer visitant, and is first seen about the 18th of May. They do not spread themselves over the woods, like most of our small fly-catching birds, but keep near the borders, where there is a low growth of bushes, and where they may be heard throughout the day singing their regular chant. A few pairs may occasionally be found in the same neighborhood. At other times only a single pair can be found in quite a wide extent of territory of similar character. They build their nests, as well as I can judge, about the first of June, as the young are hatched out and on the wing about the last of that month, or the first of July. I have never found a nest, but I think they are built on the ground. They are silent after the first of July, and are rarely to be seen after that period.” The song of this bird is a very pleasing one, though heard but seldom, and only in a few localities in Massachusetts.

Near Washington Dr. Coues found the Canada Flycatcher only a spring and autumnal visitant, at which seasons they were abundant. They frequented high open woods, and kept mostly in the lower branches of the trees, and also in the more open undergrowth of marshy places. They arrive the last week in April and remain about two weeks, arriving in fall the first week in September, and remaining until the last of that month.

The first well-identified nest of this bird that came to my knowledge was obtained in Lynn, Mass., by Mr. George O. Welch, in June, 1856. It was built in a tussock of grass, in swampy woods, concealed by the surrounding rank vegetation, in the midst of which it was placed. It was constructed entirely of pine-needles and a few fragments of decayed leaves, grapevine bark, fine stems, and rootlets. These were so loosely interwoven that the nest could not be removed without great care to keep its several portions together. Its diameter was three and a half inches, and it was very nearly flat. Its greatest depth, at the centre of its depression, was hardly half an inch. It contained four young, and an unhatched egg.

Another nest found in June, 1864, by the same observing naturalist, was also obtained in the neighborhood. This was built in a tussock of meadow-grass, in the midst of a small boggy piece of swamp, in which were a few scattered trees and bushes. The ground was so marshy that it could be crossed only with difficulty, and by stepping from one tussock of reedy herbage to another. In the centre of one of these bunches the nest was concealed. It measures six inches in its larger diameter, and has a height of two and a quarter inches. The cavity of this nest is two and three quarters inches wide, and one and three quarters deep. It is very strongly constructed of pine-needles, interwoven with fine strips of bark, dry deciduous leaves, stems of dry grasses, sedges, etc. The whole is firmly and compactly interwoven with and strengthened around the rim of the cavity by strong, wiry, and fibrous roots. The nest is very carefully and elaborately lined with the black fibrous roots of some plant. The eggs, which were five in number, measure .72 of an inch in length by .56 in breadth. Their ground-color is a clear and brilliant white, and this is beautifully marked with dots and small blotches of blended brown, purple, and violet, varying in shades and tints, and grouped in a wreath around the larger end.

GENUS SETOPHAGA, SWAINS.

_Setophaga_, SWAINSON, Zoöl. Jour. III, Dec. 1827, 360. (Type, _Muscicapa ruticilla_, L.)—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 297. _Sylvania_, NUTTALL, Man. Orn. I, 1832. (Same type.)

[Line drawing: _Setophaga ruticilla_, SW.]

GEN. CHAR. Bill much depressed, the lateral outlines straight towards tip. Bristles reach half-way from nostril to tip. Culmen almost straight to near the tip; commissure very slightly curved. Nostrils oval, with membrane above them. Wings rather longer than tail, pointed; second, third, and fourth quills nearly equal; first intermediate between fourth and fifth. Tail rather long, rather rounded; the feathers broad, and widening at ends, the outer web narrow. Tarsi with scutellar divisions indistinct externally. Legs slender; toes short, inner cleft nearly to base of first joint, outer with first joint adherent; middle toe without claw, not quite half the tarsus.

The genus _Setophaga_ is very largely represented in America, although of the many species scarcely any agree exactly in form with the type. In the following diagnosis I give several species, referred to, perhaps erroneously, as occurring in Texas.

Belly white. End of lateral tail-feathers black. Sexes dissimilar.

Ground-color black, without vertex spot. Sides of breast and bases of quills and tail-feathers reddish-orange in male, yellowish in female … _ruticilla_.

Belly vermilion or carmine red. Lateral tail-feathers, including their tips, white. Sexes similar.

Entirely lustrous black, including head and neck. No vertex spot. A white patch on the wings … _picta_.[60]

Plumbeous-ash, including head and neck. A chestnut-brown vertex spot. No white on wings … _miniata_.[61]

Setophaga ruticilla, SWAINS.

AMERICAN REDSTART.

_Motacilla ruticilla_, LINN. Syst. Nat. 10th ed. 1758, 186 (Catesby, Car. tab. 67). _Muscicapa ruticilla_, LINN.; GMELIN; VIEILLOT; WILS.; BON.; AUD. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xl. _Setophaga rut._ SWAINS. Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 358.—BON.; AUD. Birds Am.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. (Ecuador, Bogota, Cordova, Oaxaca, City of Mexico).—SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1859, 12 (Guatemala).—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 297; Rev. 256.—MAX.; SALLÉ, P. Z. S. 1857 (St. Domingo).—NEWTON, Ibis, 1859, 143 (St. Croix; winter).—CAB. Jour. 1856, 472 (Cuba); 1860, 325 (Costa Rica).—GUNDLACH, IB. 1861, 326 (Cuba).—BRYANT, Pr. Bost. Soc. VII, 1859 (Bahamas).—LAWRENCE, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. 1861, 322 (Panama R. R.).—SAMUELS, 249. _Sylvania rut._ NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 291 (type of genus). _Motacilla flavicauda_, GMELIN, I, 1788, 997 (♀).

SP. CHAR. _Male._ Prevailing color black. A central line on the breast, the abdomen, and under tail-coverts white; some feathers in the latter strongly tinged with dark brown. Bases of all the quills except the inner and outer, and basal half of all the tail-feathers except the middle one, a patch on each side of the breast, and the axillary region, orange-red, of a vermilion shade on the breast. _Female_ with the black replaced by olive-green above, by brownish-white beneath, the red replaced by yellow; the head tinged with ash; a grayish-white lore and ring round the eye. Length, 5.25; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.45.

HAB. Eastern and in part Middle Provinces of North America to Fort Simpson, west to Great Salt Lake; Fort Laramie; Denver City; most of the West Indies; Mexico to Ecuador.

The young male in early autumn greatly resembles in plumage the adult female, but has the upper tail-coverts and tail deep black, sharply contrasted with the olive of the rump, instead of having the upper tail-coverts olive, the tail simply dusky; in addition the back is more greenish-olive, and the abdomen and crissum pure white. The male does not obtain the perfect adult plumage until about the third year.

HABITS. The so-called Redstart has an extended distribution from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, and from Florida to high northern latitudes, having been found breeding at Fort Simpson by Mr. Ross, and at Fort Resolution by Mr. Kennicott and Mr. Lockhart. It is generally abundant in suitable localities, and probably breeds wherever found north of the Potomac. It winters in large numbers in Guatemala and in other parts of Central America, as well as in the West Indies. It is common in St. Croix in the spring, and is especially seen about houses, according to Newton. It remains there until the end of April.

Richardson found this species abundant on the Saskatchewan, as far to the north as the fifty-eighth parallel. It appeared there the last of May, and left early in September. He found it frequenting moist, shady lands, flitting about among the moss-grown and twisted stems of the tall willows that skirt the marshes. It was easily recognized by the red lining of its wings as it flitted through the gloomy shades in pursuit of mosquitoes and other winged insects.

Among the memoranda of the late Mr. Kennicott, we find two to the effect that on the 26th of May he found both males and females of this species common near Rainy Lake, and that on the 6th of June he also observed these birds near Lake Winnepeg. June 14, at Fort Resolution, he obtained a female Redstart with nest and four eggs. The nest was built in the fork of a willow, in a thick but low wood of alder and willow. It was entirely unprotected by leaves or branches. The female was taken on the nest.

The Newtons found this a very common species in St. Croix, in the spring of the year, and it was especially seen about houses. For about a week, at the end of April, 1857, they were extremely numerous. On their return from their summer quarters, they were first observed September 6. Mr. Taylor also mentions them as common in Trinidad. Mr. Ridgway found it a common species among the willow thickets of the river valleys, west as far as the Great Salt Lake.

This species, in its spring and autumnal migrations, is abundant in Louisiana and Texas, as well as in the Gulf States. Wilson speaks of meeting with it in the then “Mississippi Territory.” Audubon gives it as abundant in Louisiana, and Nuttall as found throughout Louisiana and Arkansas into Mexico. Mr. Dresser also mentions it as very common near San Antonio in the spring and autumn, arriving on the Medina the 27th of April.

Dr. Coues says that the Redstart near Washington is chiefly a spring and autumnal visitant, and but very few remain to breed. In the spring it is very abundant from April 25 to May 20, and in the fall from the 1st to the 20th of September, in all woody and swampy situations. He found it in the habit of running along slender twigs, sideways, and having a note very similar to that of _D. œstiva_.

Although placed among the _Oscines_, where, as an excellent singer, it clearly has a good right to be classed, it is yet also a true Flycatcher in habits and manners. It is a lively, active bird, ever on the wing, and continually in pursuit of insects. In this pursuit it never awaits the approach of its prey, but, espying them at a distance, darts with great velocity in pursuit, and the continued clicks of its bill attest the rapidity and frequency with which it will overtake and catch insect after insect. Even when lamenting the loss of a part of its brood, and flying around with cries of distress, the sight of passing insects is a temptation not to be resisted, and the parent bird will stop her lamentations to catch small flies.

Its notes are a varied twitter, rather than a song, a repetition of two simple notes, uttered every few seconds as it seeks its prey, flying among the thick foliage usually in dense groves. Its common habit is to glide along a branch, between its smaller twigs, at times darting forth into more open spaces in quest of insects it has espied.

Their nests are usually, though not always, built in a low branch, eight or ten feet from the ground, in the midst of a thick grove. I have known it to build in an open field and in close proximity to a dwelling. It keeps to groves and thickets, and frequents moist places rather than dry, evidently because of the greater abundance of insects, and not because of timid or retiring habits. It is indeed far from being timid, and will permit a near approach without any exhibitions of uneasiness. When its nest is visited, the male bird manifests great disturbance, and flies back and forth around the head of the intruder with cries of distress. The female is far less demonstrative, and even when her nest is despoiled before her eyes is quite moderate in the expression of her grief.

Its flight is graceful, easy, and rapid, varied by circumstances as it glides in its intricate course among small interlacing branches, or darts rapidly forth into more open space. As it moves, it is continually opening out, closing, or flirting from side to side its conspicuous tail, the white spots in its expanded feathers constantly appearing and disappearing.

In the construction of the nest there is a general uniformity of character, although the materials differ and the localities are far apart. They are never pendent, but are placed among three or more small upright branches, around which it is firmly woven with vegetable flax-like fibres. A nest obtained in Lynn, by Mr. George O. Welch (S. I. 3,778), in June, measures two inches in height by three in diameter. It is a small, compact, and homogeneous nest, composed almost entirely of shreds of savin-bark intermixed with soft vegetable wool. Within are loosely intertwined minute vegetable fibres and strips of bark, and a lining of horsehair, fine pine leaves, and dry grasses. The nest contained four eggs. Another nest found in Grand Menan, June 24, 1851, was very similar in size, structure, and materials. It was in the centre of a thick, swampy thicket, five feet from the ground, and contained five eggs.

Another nest of this bird, obtained in Lynn by Mr. Welch, is only a reconstruction of a nest begun by a pair of _Dendroica œstiva_, and either abandoned by them, or from which they had been driven. Above the original nest of the Warbler the Redstarts had constructed their own. The base is composed of the downy covering of the under sides of the leaves of ferns, mixed with a few herbaceous stems and leaves. Within this was built an entirely distinct nest, composed of long and slender strips of bark, pine-needles, and stems of grasses. These are firmly and elaborately interwoven together.

A nest found in Hingham, built in a tree in an open space near a dwelling, was seven feet from the ground, and of the usual size and shape. In this the more usual strips of bark were replaced by hempen fibres of vegetables, thistle-down, bits of newspaper, and other fragments. Within is a strong lining of hair and fine stems of grasses. In this nest there were two young, about half fledged, and two eggs nearly fresh. The latter were taken, the female parent being present and making only a very slight protest, stopping, from time to time, to catch insects.

The eggs of the Redstart vary considerably in their size and in their general appearance, but resemble somewhat those of the common Summer Yellow-Bird. They vary in length from .55 to .68 of an inch, and in their breadth from .45 to .53. Their ground-color is a grayish-white, blotched and clotted with purple, lilac, and brown.

FAMILY HIRUNDINIDÆ.—THE SWALLOWS.

CHAR. Bill short, triangular, very broad at base (nearly as wide as long) and much depressed, narrowing rapidly to a compressed, notched tip; mouth opening nearly to the eyes. Primaries nine, graduating rapidly less from the exterior one; tail-feathers twelve. Feet weak; tarsi scutellate, shorter than middle toe and claw. Number of joints in toes normal; basal joint of middle toe partially or entirely adherent to lateral toes. Wings long, falcate. Tail forked. Eyes small. Plumage compact, usually lustrous. All the American species with a white patch on the sides under the wing, and with the irids hazel or brown.

The _Hirundinidæ_ form a very well marked group of birds easily distinguished from all others. They exhibit a close resemblance, in external appearance and habits, to the _Cypselidæ_; from which, apart from the internal structure, they are readily distinguished by the possession of nine, instead of ten primaries; twelve, instead of ten tail-feathers; scutellate tarsi, toes with normal number of joints (1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, exclusive of ungual phalanges), instead of a different proportion; differently shaped nostrils, etc. In both families the wings are developed to an extraordinary degree; the outer primary nearly twice or more than twice the length of the inner, and enabling its possessor to sustain flight almost indefinitely. The relations of the family among the _Oscines_ appear closest to the Old World _Muscicapidæ_.

In comparing the wings of the _Hirundinidæ_ with those of the _Cypselidæ_ we readily notice one of the essential characters of the _Oscines_, namely, that the greater wing-coverts hide only half or less than half of the secondary quills, instead of reaching much beyond their middle, or nearly to the end. (See Sundevall, Ornith. Syst.)

The precise character of scutellation of tarsus is somewhat difficult to make out, owing to a tendency to fusion of the plates, although not essentially different from most _Oscines_. There is a series of scutellæ along the anterior face of the tarsus, and a longitudinal plate on each side, meeting, but not coalescing, behind. The anterior scutellæ sometimes appear to fuse into the outer lateral plate; or sometimes the latter is more or less subdivided; the inner plate is generally more distinct from the anterior scutellæ, and usually entire, except perhaps at the lower extremity.

Genera of North American Hirundinidæ.

A. Nostrils broadly oval, or circular; opening upwards and forward, and exposed; without overhanging membrane.

_a._ Edge of wing smooth. Tarsus short, stout; equal to middle toe without claw; feathered on the inner side above. Nostrils almost or entirely without membrane.