256 NOTES ON THE 



nearly white; sides of the belly, abdomen and the lower tail cov- 

 erts sulphur yellow; the quills and tail feathers dark brown — as 

 dark, if not more so, as these parts in Contopus virens; two 

 olivaceous yellow^ white bands on the wing, formed by the 

 tips of the first and second coverts, succeeded by a brown one; 

 the edge of the first primary, and of secondaries and tertials a 

 little lighter shade of the same; the outer edge of the tail 

 feathers like the back, that of the lateral rather lighter; 

 bill above dark brown, dull brownish beneath. 



Length, 6 inches; wing, 2.90; tail, 2.(50. 



Habitat, eastern North America, breeding from the middle 

 states northward; in winter south to Central America. 



EMPIDONAX MINIMIS Baird. (467.) 

 LEAST FLYCATCHER. 



The Least Flycatcher is the bravest of his genus, arriving in 

 spring, in one year, as early as the fifth of May, but as a gen- 

 eral thing it has been later by about five to ten days. It soon 

 becomes common along the Mississippi, and the borders of 

 swamps and low lands generally. During June, July and 

 part of August it may be seen at almost any time of the day 

 perching on the lower limb of a tall tree, peeping its charac- 

 teristic note, variously expressed by different observers as 

 ''chebec," ''sewick," ''shebick/' etc., etc. It must be heard to be 

 understood. It is uttered rather sharper and more quickly 

 than any notes of the other Flycatchers. From its perch it 

 makes frequent dashes into the air. where it seizes an insect 

 and returns to the same place, repeating at brief intervals its 

 short, sharp, unmelodious ''chebeck:'' There is a general distri- 

 bution of this species over the entire State, from Duluth. where 

 I found it exceedingly common, to the Red river, and south to 

 the borders where it is no less common. Dr. Hvoslef records 

 it in Root river valley, and Mr. Lewis found it common along 

 the Rainy Lake river to the Lake of the Woods, where it was 

 "abundant on the islands." 



Mr. Washburn found it still represented on the Red river as 

 late as about the first of September, but rare. Dr. Coues 

 gives it as more numerous along that stream during the breed- 

 ing season than he had found it any where else. (Birds of the 

 northwest pp. 254-5). I have known them to begin to build 

 their nests as early as the 18th of May, but that is about a 

 week sooner than tlie average. It is almost uniformly placed 

 in the forks of a sapling, — rarely in a bush, except when 

 found along the shores of streams running through marshy dis- 



