Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0008/00086.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 11KB | 179 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00086}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{The Pipiry Flycatcher}
$Subject{Muscicapinae; Muscicapa; Tyrannus; dominicensis; Pipiry Flycatcher;
Gray Kingbird}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume I}
$Volume{Vol. 1:201-204}
$Family{Muscicapinae}
$Genus{Muscicapa; Tyrannus}
$Species{dominicensis}
$Common_Name{Pipiry Flycatcher; Gray Kingbird}
$Log{
Plate LV*00086p1.scf
Family*00080.txt
Genus*00084.txt
}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                    VOL. I.
                        --------------------------------


                             THE PIPIRY FLYCATCHER.
                                [Gray Kingbird.]


                         MUSCICAPA DOMINICENSIS, Briss.
                            [Tyrannus dominicensis.]


                                PLATE LV.--MALE.


     Having landed on one of the Florida Keys, I scarcely had time to cast a
glance over the diversified vegetation which presented itself, when I observed a
pair of birds mounting perpendicularly in the air, twittering with a shrill
continued note new to me.  The country itself was new:  it was what my mind had
a thousand times before conceived a tropical scene to be.  As I walked over many
plants, curious and highly interesting to me, my sensations were joyous in the
highest degree, for I saw that in a few moments I should possess a new subject,
on which I could look with delight, as one of the great Creator's marvellous
works.
     I was on one of those yet unknown islets, which the foot of man has seldom
pressed.  A Flycatcher unknown to me had already presented itself, and the
cooing of a Dove never before heard came on my ear.  I felt some of that pride,
which doubtless pervades the breast of the discoverer of some hitherto unknown
land.  Although desirous of obtaining the birds before me, I had no wish to
shoot them at that moment.  My gun lay loosely on my arms, my eyes were rivetted
on the Flycatcher, my ears open to the soft notes of the Dove.  Reader, such are
the moments, amid days of toil and discomfort, that compensate for every
privation.  It is on such occasions that the traveller feels most convinced,
that the farther he proceeds, the better will be his opportunities of observing
the results of the Divine conception.  What else, I would ask of you, can be
more gratifying to the human intellect!
     Delighted and amused, I stood for awhile contemplating the beautiful world
that surrounded me, and from which man would scarcely retire with willingness,
had not the Almighty ordained it otherwise.  But action had now to succeed, and
I quickly procured some of the Flycatchers.  Their habits too, I subsequently
studied for weeks in succession, and the result of my observations I now lay
before you.
     About the 1st of April, this species reaches the Florida Keys, and spreads
over the whole of them, as far as Cape Florida, or perhaps somewhat farther
along the eastern coast of the Peninsula.  It comes from Cuba, where the species
is said to be rather abundant, as well as in the other West India Islands.  Its
whole demeanour so much resembles that of the Tyrant Flycatcher, that were it
not for its greater size, and the difference of its notes, it might be mistaken
for that bird, as I think it has been on former occasions by travellers less
intent than I on distinguishing species.  At the season when I visited the
Floridas, there was not a Key ever so small without at least a pair of them.
     Their flight is performed by a constant flutter of the wings, unless when
the bird is in chase, or has been rendered shy, when it exhibits a power and
speed equal to those of any other species of the genus.  During the love season,
the male and female are seen rising from a dry twig together, either
perpendicularly, or in a spiral manner, crossing each other as they ascend,
twittering loudly, and conducting themselves in a manner much resembling that of
the Tyrant Flycatcher.  When in pursuit of insects, they dart at them with great
velocity.  Should any lase bird pass near their stand, they immediately pursue
it, sometimes to a considerable distance.  I have seen them, after teasing a
Heron or Fish Crow, follow them nearly half a mile, and return exulting to the
tree on which they had previously been perched.  Yet I frequently observed that
the approach of a White-headed Pigeon or Zenaida Dove, never ruffled their
temper.  To the Grakles they were particularly hostile, and on all occasions
drove them away from their stand, or the vicinity of their nest, with
unremitting perseverance.  The reason in this case, and in that of the Fish
Crow, was obvious, for these birds sucked their eggs or destroyed their young
whenever an opportunity occurred.  This was also the case with the Mangrove
Cuckoo.
     This species is careless of the approach of man, probably because it is
seldom disturbed by him.  I have been so near some of them as to see distinctly
the colour of their eyes.  No sooner, however, had it begun to build its nest,
than it flew about me or my companions, as if much exasperated at our being
near, frequently snapping its beak with force, and in various ways loudly
intimating its disapprobation of our conduct.  Then, as if we retired from the
neighbourhood of its nest, it flew upwards, chattering notes of joy.
     They fix their nest somewhat in the manner of the King-bird, that is, on
horizontal branches, or in the large fork of a mangrove, or bush of any other
species, without paying much attention to its position, with respect to the
water, but with very singular care to place it on the western side of the tree,
or of the islet.  I found it sometimes not more than two feet above high water,
and at other times twenty.  It is composed externally of light dry sticks,
internally of a thin layer of slender grasses or fibrous roots, and has some
resemblance to that of the Carolina Pigeon in this respect that, from beneath, I
could easily see the eggs through it.  These were regularly four in all the
nests that I saw, of a white colour, with many dots towards the larger end.  The
young I have never seen, my visit to those Keys having been in some measure
abridged through lack of provisions.
     On one of the Keys to which I went, although of small size, I saw several
nests, and at least a dozen of these birds all peaceably enjoying themselves.
The sexes present no external difference.  According to report, they retire from
these islands about the beginning of November, after which few land birds of any
kind are seen on them.
     After I had arrived at Charleston in South Carolina, on returning from my
expedition to the Floridas, a son of PAUL LEE, Esq., a friend of the Rev. JOHN
BACHMAN, called upon us, asserting that he had observed a pair of Flycatchers in
the College yard, differing from all others with which he was acquainted.  We
listened, but paid little regard to the information, and deferred our visit to
the trees in the College yard.  A week after, young LEE returned to the charge,
urging us to go to the place, and see both the birds and their nest.  To please
this amiable youth, Mr. BACHMAN and I soon reached the spot; but before we
arrived the nest had been destroyed by some boys.  The birds were not to be
seen, but a Common King-bird happening to fly over us, we jeered our young
observer, and returned home.  Soon after the Flycatchers formed another nest, in
which they reared a brood, when young LEE gave intimation to Mr. BACHMAN, who,
on visiting the place, recognised them as of the species described in this
article.  Of this I was apprised by letter after I had left Charleston, for the
purpose of visiting the northern parts of the Union.  The circumstance enforced
upon me the propriety of never suffering an opportunity of acquiring knowledge
to pass, and of never imagining for a momen