This  beautiful  little  species  passes  the  summer  and
breeding  season  in  the  colder  parts  of  the  North-Ameri-
can continent,  penetrating  even  to  the  dreary  coasts  of
Greenland,  where,  as  well  as  around  Hudson's  Bay,
they  probably  rear  their  young  in  solitude,  and  obtain
abundance  of  the  diminutive  flying  insects,  gnats,  and
cynips,  on  which,  with  small  caterpillars,  they  and  their
young  delight  to  feed.  In  the  months  of  October  and
November,  the  approach  of  winter  in  their  natal  regions
stimulates  them  to  migrate  towards  the  South,  when
they  arrive  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  and  fre-
quent in  a  familiar  and  unsuspicious  manner  the  gardens
and  orchards  :  how  far  they  proceed  to  the  south  is  un-
certain. On  the  12th  of  January  I  observed  them  near
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  with  companies  of  Sylvias,
busily  darting  through  the  evergreens  in  swampy  situa-
tions, in  quest  of  food,  probably  minute  larvae.  About
the  first  week  in  March  I  again  observed  them  in  West
Florida  in  great  numbers,  busily  employed  for  hours  to-
gether in  the  tallest  trees,  some  of  which  were  already
unfolding  their  blossoms,  such  as  the  maples  and  oaks.
About  the  beginning  of  April  they  are  seen  in  Pennsyl-
vania on  their  way  to  the  dreary  limits  of  the  continent,
where  they  probably  only  arrive  towards  the  close  of
May,  so  that  in  the  extremity  of  their  range  they  do  not
stay  more  than  three  months.  Wilson,  it  would  appear,
sometimes  met  with  them  in  Pennsylvania  even  in  sum-
mer ;  but,  as  far   as  I  can  learn,  they   are  never  observ-


416  INSECTIVOROUS    BIRDS.
