The species represented in our present plate is an inhabitant of Texas, but it has as yet been only observed in a very limited district. It was discovered by S. W. Woodhouse, M. D., of Philadelphia, while attached to Capt. Sitgreave’s Surveying party. It is the handsomest bird of this group.
The following notice of this bird by Dr. Woodhouse, we take the liberty of extracting from Sitgreave’s report of an expedition down the Zuñi and Colorado rivers:
“On the twenty-sixth of May, 1851, while encamped on the Rio San Pedro, within about ten miles of its source, I was out in pursuit of specimens. Wandering about the hills among some cedars (Juniperus), my attention was first attracted by a singular note, which I am unable to describe; on looking, I discovered this beautiful little bird, which I at first took to belong to that interesting family of fly-catching warblers, Sylvania, it being constantly in motion. It was with the greatest difficulty that I could procure specimens; two, however, I secured, both of which, on dissection, proved to be males.”
Mr. John H. Clark, zoologist attached to the Mexican boundary commission, who observed this species in Texas, and near the same locality at which it was found by Dr. Woodhouse, has very obligingly made for us the following note from his journal:
“My attention was drawn to this bird by a shrill, discontented chirp which accompanied its incessant motion in pursuit of insects. Three specimens only were seen, and all of them at one locality, near the head of the Rio San Pedro, or Devil’s River, to the valley of which it appeared to be confined, for, being aware of its novelty to the fauna of the United States, I kept a strict look-out, but did not meet with it elsewhere.
“It was not at all shy, showing no concern when approached within a few rods. The procuring of a specimen was, however, a matter of some difficulty, as its constantly hopping or flying from branch to branch rendered an unobstructed shot the next thing to an impossibility. It was found in June, and the specimen obtained by me, now in the collection of the commission, is that of a male.”
Our figure is of the natural size.
DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.
Genus Vireo. Vieillot, Ois d’Am., Sept. I, p. 83. (1807.)
Size small; bill rather short, strong, wide at base, compressed towards the point, which is curved downwards, and sharp; upper mandible with distinct notches near the point; nostrils basal, large; wing moderate or rather short, with the third and fourth quills usually longest; tail rather short; legs long, rather slender. An American genus, containing six species. The Red-eyed Flycatcher (V. olivaceus), and others of the long-billed species, are not included, but have properly been embraced in a new group, Vireosylvia, Bonaparte.