closely allied to the manakins, but differ from them in the structure of their feet, the outer toe being united to the middle one at the base. They are found in both hemispheres, but are most abundant in Australia and Polynesia. They are small birds, inhabit woods and forests, and feed on fruits, seeds, buds, and insects. One of the Australian species, Eopsaltaria Australis, is called the YELLOW ROBIN by the colonists; another species found in Van Diemen's Land-the Pardalotus punctatus, called the DIAMOND-BIRD, on account of the spots on its head-excavates a horizontal passage two feet long in the trunk of a tree, at the end of which it builds its nest. This bird frequents the gum-trees, and freely approaches the habitations of man. Several species of the genus Leiothrix are found in India; they feed on insects, and for the purpose of seizing these, are often occupied in carefully examining the opening buds of the trees, whence they are called Bud Hunters.

THE CRESTED DRONGO.

These approach the true shrikes; they are found only in the eastern hemisphere, and are particularly abundant in the East Indies and the islands of the Asiatic Archipelago. Many of them are exceedingly beautiful birds; their average size is about that of a thrush, and they appear to migrate from one part of the country to another with the monsoons. The commonest of the Indian species, the Dicrurus macrocercus, has received the name of KING CROW, from its habit of persecuting the crows, which it follows with the greatest perseverance and clamor, pouncing down. upon them every now and then, but apparently seldom striking them. The principal food of this and most of the species consists of insects, especially grasshoppers, for which they watch from some elevated perch, and on perceiving one, immediately dart down upon it. For this purpose they not unfrequently establish themselves on the backs of cattle, sheep and goats, whilst these animals are grazing. They fly with great rapidity, and often capture insects on the wing. Some of the species appear only to have a harsh, screaming note, but others are said to be charming songsters ; and one species, the Dicrurus Paradiseus, has received the Hindoo name of "Huzar Dustan,” or "Bird of a thousand tales," from a belief that it is able to imitate the song of all other birds. The Dicrurinæ live in the jungles, and build their nests, which are composed of grass, twigs, moss, and lichen, in the forks of trees. Their architectural powers appear to be very variable, as the nests of some of the species are described as carelessly put together, while others are said to be very neat. The eggs are from three to five in number, of a white or whitish color, usually spotted with reddish-brown. The CRESTED DRONGO, Lanius forficatus of Gmelin, is an African species, black, with a green reflection, of the size of a thrush; they unite in flocks of twenty or thirty, and in attacking the bees present a very animated appearance, their cry of pia, griach, griah, being constantly repeated.

THE CAMPEPHAGINE OR CATERPILLAR-EATERS.

These birds, like the Dicrurinæ, are almost exclusively confined to the warmer parts of the Old World—Africa, and India-only the single genus Ptilonogonus being found in America. They have the bill short, the claws much curved, and live principally in woods and forests; but some of the species are also found about hedges and gardens. They are seen either singly or in small flocks, hopping about upon the trees, and prying inquisitively into every part of the foliage in search of their food, which consists almost entirely of soft insects, and especially of caterpillars. They also pick up ants and beetles, and in pursuit of these are not unfrequently seen upon the ground; fruits and berries are said also to form part of the diet of some of the species. The nests are built high up in trees; they are of small size, and composed of lichens, roots, and thin stalks. The eggs are few in number, sometimes only two, of a pale color, with brown streaks.

Another and an interesting group is that of the Gymnoderina or Fruit-Crows, consisting of some remarkable birds, which have been arranged by different authors among the chatterers and the crows. They have a stout, straight, depressed bill, with the ridge of the upper mandible curved, and its tip notched; the wings are long and pointed; the tail of moderate length, and rounded; the claws long, curved, and acute. They are peculiar to South America, and are of considerable size, some of the larger species being equal, in this respect, to our common crows. They feed principally upon fruits, and occasionally on insects. Some of the species have the face or part of the neck bare of feathers, and hence are called Bald-Heads: one species, the Gymnocephalus calvus, is called the CAPUCHIN BALD-HEAD. Another species, the BLOODY PAVAO, Coracina scutata, is fifteen inches long, and is entirely black, with a blood-red cuirass of feathers on the neck and breast, appearing like a bloody wound; it has a cry of bou, bou, bou, which in the deep forests of Brazil sounds like the horn of a herdsman calling his flock. Another species is the renowned UMBRELLA-BIRD, Cephalopterus ornatus, of a beautiful glossy black color, giving out bluish reflections; it has a superb tuft of blue, hair-like, curved feathers on the top of the head, and also a plume of blue feathers depending from a fleshy process on the neck. This bird is of the size of a crow, feeds principally on fruits, and has a loud, deep note, whence it is called by the natives Ueramimbé or Piper-Bird. It is found in the regions of the Rio Negro. Another celebrated species is the ARAPUNGA, or CAMPENERO, or BELL-BIRD, Arapunga alba, found in the wild forests of Guiana; it is about twelve inches in length, and of a pure white color. It is dis

tinguished by a singular fleshy cylindrical appendage, often furnished with a few small feathers, which rises from the base of the bill. Its voice is peculiar, resembling the deep tolling of a bell. According to Waterton, it may be heard at a distance of nearly three miles during the heat of the day, when most of the feathered inhabitants of those tropical forests are hushed in silence.

THE CHATTERERS.

The Ampelina or True Chatterers have the gape wide, the bill broad at the base, depressed near the tip, and distinctly notched; they are found in both hemispheres.

Genus BOMBYCILLA: Bombycilla—Ampelis of some authors. Of this there are several species. The EUROPEAN WAX-WING-Jaseur of the French; Garrulo di Boemia of the Italians; Gemeine Seidenschwantz of the Germans; Silk-Tail of the English-B. Garrula, is known throughout the northern parts of both continents. It is a very handsome bird, about eight inches long, of a general grayish color, with a large patch on the throat and a band on the head of black. The crest on the crown of the head and the lower tail-coverts are brownish-orange; the primary wing-coverts are tipped with white; the primary and secondary quill-feathers are black, tipped with yellow, as are also the quills of the tail; and the tertiaries are brownish-purple, tipped with white. Four of the secondaries, and from one to four of the tertials, according to the age of the bird, are terminated by small horny expansions of the shaft of the feathers, resembling, both in color and texture, red sealing-wax. The name of Bohemian Chatterer, commonly applied to this bird, appears to be peculiarly inappropriate, as it is by no means more abundant in Bohemia than in other parts of Europe, and its actual home and breeding-place is probably within the arctic circle. It is a winter visitor to France, England, &c. In Europe it feeds upon the berries of the mountain ash, hawthorn, and ivy, which are all to be found abundantly during the winter. upon the plants producing them; in the high northern latitudes of America, to which it is here. chiefly confined, though sometimes found as far south as Philadelphia, it eats the berries of the juniper. It also occasionally feeds upon insects, which it captures on the wing in the same manner as the fly-catchers.

The AMERICAN WAX-WING, OF CEDAR-BIRD, or CHERRY-BIRD, B. Carolinensis, is a familiar bird in all parts of the United States, migrating to the north in summer and the south in winter. It closely resembles the preceding, though it is smaller. It is known in all North America, from Canada to Mexico, and feeds upon different kinds of berries, especially those of the red cedar and cherries, and also upon insects. It breeds in June, sometimes building in the cedars, but more commonly in orchards. The nest is composed of grass, and the eggs, which are three or four in number, are of a dingy bluish-white color, variously spotted with black. When berries are abundant, as in the autumn and the beginning of summer, the birds become very fat, and are then in considerable esteem for the table. They fly in compact flocks of twenty to thirty; the

term Chatterer is wholly inapplicable to them, as they have only a faint chirp, generally uttered as they rise to fly. Nuttall tells a curious instance of politeness which he noticed among them ; one having caught an insect gave it to his neighbor; this took it and gave it to another, and he to another, and so it went round for some time before it was devoured.

The JAPANESE WAX-WING, B. phonicoptera, resembles the American species, but is smaller, and is without the wax-like appendages.

THE COTINGAS.

These are considered as allied to the preceding, and comprise several genera, remarkable for the splendor of their plumage. The Piauhaus, so called from their cry, live in flocks in South America, and feed on insects. The GREAT PIAUHAU, Coracias militaris of Shaw, is entirely purple, The True Cotingas inhabit humid places in South America. The SCARLET COTINGA, Ampelis carnifex, is seven inches long, scarlet above, and reddish-brown below. The POMPADOUR Cotinga, A. Pompadora, is a reddish-purple; the BLUE COTINGA, A. cotinga, splendid ultramarine, with a violet breast. Our common bluebird resembles these, and was formerly included in the group.

THE COLLARED FLY-CATCHER.

THE MUSCICAPIDE OR FLY-CATCHERS.

In this extensive and interesting family, which closely resemble the shrikes in their habits, the bill is generally straight, broad, and depressed at the base, with the gape wide, and furnished with long, stout bristles springing from the base of the upper mandible. The wings and tail are long, and the legs short and weak, with the toes more or less elongated. They are small birds, feeding for the most part upon insects, which they take upon the wing. They establish themselves in some elevated position, from which they dart off after their prey, returning again to their post to swallow it. The larger species, however, like the Shrikes, are not content with such small game, but make war upon the smaller vertebrate animals. They include five groups, or sub-families, the Vireos, the True Fly-Catchers, the Becards, the Tyrant Fly-Catchers, and the Cock-Tails.

THE VIREOS OR GREENLETS.

This is a group of small American birds, of which the general plumage is usually more or less tinted with green or olive. They have a short, straight bill, and the bristles of the gape are short and weak; the wings are long and pointed, and the toes of moderate size, the lateral ones being about equal, and both more or less united to the middle one at the base. They migrate from the tropical regions of America-Brazil, Guiana, and the West Indian Islands-to the United States, arriving here about the month of May, and returning southward in August and September. Some of them have an exceedingly sweet warbling note, while the song of others appears to have little merit. They feed almost entirely upon insects, some apparently preferring VOL. II.-16

beetles and other hard-skinned species, while others principally devour the small insects which they take on the wing, and others, again, appear to have a predilection for caterpillars, for which they search the leaves of the trees. They also occasionally eat berries. They build their nests sometimes in trees, sometimes in thick bushes, forming them of dry leaves, grass, fibrous roots, moss, and lichens, &c.

Genus VIREO: Vireo. This includes several species, often called Greenlets. The RED-EYED FLY-CATCHER OF WHIP-TOM-KELLY, V. olivaceus, is a very numerous and familiar species, even venturing into parks, gardens, and yards of cities, where it rears its young and sings its song. Wilson says: “In Jamaica, where this bird is resident, it is called, as Sloane informs us, Whip-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 ardor of song, it requires but little of imagination to fancy that you hear hear it pronounce these words, 'Tom kelly, whip-tom-kelly!' very distinctly." But Mr. Gosse, who has furnished us with several excellent works on Natural History, and heard this bird often in Jamaica, states that its notes bear a very close resemblance to the syllables "John-to-whit," pronounced with an emphasis on the last syllable; an evidence of a fact we have before noticed, that two persons, in attempting to write down the notes of birds, rarely give precisely the same syllables.

The other noted species of Vireo are as follows: the WHITE-EYED FLY-CATCHER, V. Noveboracensis, a small species, but a loud singer, noted, as Wilson says, for introducing fragments of newspaper into the construction of its nest, whence some of his friends proposed to call the bird the Politician: the YELLOW-THroated GreenlET, V. flavifrons, five and a half inches long, and of a greenish-olive color: the SOLITARY GREENLET, V. solitarius, four and a half inches long, dusky-olive color: the WARBLING FLY-CATCHER, V. gilvus, a pleasing singer: all the preceding common in the United States: the V. altiloquus, occasionally visiting Florida, and having some curious notes: the BLACK-HEADED FLY-CATCHER, V. atricapillus, recently discovered in Texas, seven and a half inches long, above dark olive-green, below white. To these may be added the V. Bartrami, found in New Jersey and Kentucky: the V. longirostris of the Antilles: the V. belli of the upper Missouri.

THE TRUE FLY-CATCHERS.

In these the form of the bill closely resembles that of the Vireos; but this organ is rather longer, and has the ridge slightly flattened at first, but curved toward the tip. The gape is furnished with bristles; the wings are long and pointed, and the toes are short, the outer lateral toe being longer than the inner one.

These birds, which exhibit the characteristic habits of the family in their greatest perfection, are pretty generally distributed over both hemispheres, but more especially in the tropical regions. The species which occur in the temperate and colder regions, generally are summer birds of passage.

Genus MUSCICAPA: Muscicapa.-This includes the SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER, M. griscola, the most familiar and abundant European species, six inches long, of a brownish tint above, with a few dark spots on the head, and dull white beneath; it is common during the summer in England, France, and generally over Europe. In England its nest is usually placed in a hole in a wall, in a faggot stack, or an out-building, but the branches of trees trained against a wall are sometimes selected for its reception. A pair have also been known to build on the head of a garden-rake, which had been accidentally left standing near a cottage; another pair built in a bird-cage; but the most curious instances of caprice in this matter are those of two pairs of these birds which selected street lamp-posts for the purpose of nidification.

Among other foreign species are the PIED FLY-CATCHER, M. atricapilla, common in the south of Europe: called Bec-figue or Fig-Pecker by the French, because it catches insects on the fig-trees, and, it is said, eats the figs when ripe; the COLLARED FLY-CATCHER, M. albicollis, subject to very great changes of plumage; and the M. scita, an extremely small species of Southern Africa. The Crested Gobe Mouche of Buffon-M. coronata of Latham-is a handsome South American species, which is noted for catching butterflies which flutter around the cotton-plants.