MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 83 



cially true about the rock outcrop along the river. On August 16 a number 

 of these birds were seen at this place catching flies (see cedar waxwing). A 

 specimen taken here was found to have been feeding on the same flies as 

 those captured by the waxwings. On August 23, a flock of some hundreds 

 of swifts suddenly appeared over Brown Lake, drank with a wild flutter 

 and much chittering, and then rose high in the air and disappeared to the 

 southward. It was undoubtedly a migrating flock, but as we immediate^ 

 left the region, it is impossible to determine if the local birds left at the same 

 time. No nests were found, but it seems certain that they bred in the 

 immediate region, and as there were numbers of huge hollow trees, good 

 nesting sites were plentiful. 



32. Archilochus colubris. Ruby-throated Hummingbird. — This species 

 was seen not rarely during the entire summer. In numbers it neither de- 

 decreased nor increased. It was found most commonly in the burned lands 

 where large areas of fire weed were in full bloom. Here the bird found food 

 in abundance, but probably few nesting sites. Later, as the fireweed died 

 down, the birds haunted the Canada thistles. No breeding records were 

 obtained, but both males and females were noted and a bird taken on Aug- 

 ust 20 was a male of the year. 



33. Tyrannus tyrannus. Kingbird. — During July and the first two weeks 

 of August this species was common along the water courses. Particularly 

 after August 15, the species rapidly decreased in number, but at the time 

 of our departure, on the twenty-fourth, a few individuals remained. Nests 

 were frequently found. The first, discovered on July 2, contained three 

 j^oung just ready to fly. This nest was situated in the concave top of a dead 

 stub eight feet above the water level in a ponded part of the river. Three 

 days later, another nest was found in which there were three newly hatched 

 birds, and on July 24 a nest with an incomplete set of two fresh eggs was 

 recorded. 



34. Sayornis phoebe. Phoebe. But two individuals of this species were 

 seen in July, the first an adult male taken on the nineteenth near an old dam 

 on the river. On the thirtieth another bird was seen in the burned lands 

 near Jackson Lake. In August the species became more abundant, especially 

 in the alder and willow thickets along the river but also far out in the burned 

 lands. On August 17, eight phoebes were seen in a grove of unl)urned pines 

 in the burned lands. This was the largest number ever seen in a day. 



35. Nuttallornis borealis. Olive-sided Flycatcher. — This species was first 

 noted on July 29, when two males were taken at the edge of the hardwood 

 forest. From that date, birds were seen and heard frequently until August 

 7, but after that date but two were seen — on the eleventh and fourteenth. 

 The males have a very loud note, plainly recognizable for several hundred 

 yards, and this, with their habit of choosing the most conspicuous perches, 

 quickly attracts the attention. Whenever a bird was heard calling, a 

 scrutiny of the surrounding trees always revealed it at the very top of the 

 tallest tree in the vicinity. Dead trees were preferred, or at least trees with 

 most of the top dead, and those along the margin of the hardwood forest 

 were most frequented, altho the species was not uncommon far out in the burn, 

 where a tree or two still stood. As a whole the species was very shy and 

 difficult to approach. 



36. Myiochanes virens. Wood Pewee. — Until the tenth of July this spe- 

 cies was rarely ol)served, l)ut after that date it was common along the river. 

 In August it was more plentiful in the hardwood forest than along the water, 

 and as a species was becoming more abundant when we left the field on the 



