_Sewy-sewy._
_Vireo Noveboracensis._
_Musicapa Noveboracensis_, +Gm.+—Aud. pl. 63.
_Musicapa cantatrix_, +Wils.+
_Vireo Noveboracensis_, +Bonap.+
[54] Length 4¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 6⁵⁄₈, flexure 2⁸⁄₁₀, tail 2,
rictus ⁵⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁶⁄₁₀, middle toe ⁶⁄₁₀. Intestine 4 inches, two
minute, rudimentary cæca.
This modest little bird is not uncommon throughout the year. It
manifests little fear of approach, allowing one to come within a few
feet, as it peeps about among the twigs of low trees and shrubs. It
rather seems to have a good deal of curiosity, for it will peep at a
person approaching, and if he move slowly and avoid anything to provoke
alarm, will hop gradually down from twig to twig, stretching out its
neck, until it is almost within touch. Three or four will sometimes
chase each other among the branches, and from bush to bush, uttering at
intervals a monotonous chirruping. Its notes are very varied; sometimes
a loud _chewurr_, or _sweet-will_, uttered with deliberation and much
mellowness of tone. I have heard it in March uttering with surprising
loudness a single clear and shrill whistle, slightly modulated:
after a while it changed this to a double note, _to-whit, to-whit_,
equally loud and piercing. About the same season I have listened to
_che-che-che-churrrr_; and in May, _sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, tŏ-too_.
I have never found anything but seeds in the stomach of this bird;
though I do not doubt that it eats insects also.
The White-eyed Flycatcher is one of those species that are only
partially migratory; during the summer it spreads over the United
States. It is found throughout the year in our sultry island, though
with diminished numbers in the summer.