THE CRESTED FLYCATCHER 

 Flycatcher Family — Tyrannidoe 



Length: About 9 inches. 



Male and Female: Olive-gray above; throat and breast light 

 gray; belly, bright yellow; head conspicuously 

 crested; bill, long, dark, slightly hooked, with bris- 

 tles at its base; wings brown, margined with white, 

 pale yellow, and reddbh-brown ; middle tail-feathers, 

 dull brown; inner web of other tail-feathers reddish- 

 brown. 



Notes: A whistle that attracts attention. Major Bendire des- 

 cribes the "Great Crest's" notes as follows: 



"It utters a variety of sounds; the most common 

 is a clear whistle like e-whuit-huit, or wit-ivhit, wit- 

 whit, repeated five or six times in a somewhat lower 

 key, and varied to whuir, ivhuree, or puree, accom- 

 panied by various turnings and twistings of the 

 head. Its alarm-note is a penetrating and far-reach- 

 ing wheek, wheek." 



Nest: The nest of the crested flycatcher is unique. Major 

 Bendire says that it "is usually placed in a natural 

 cavity of some tree or dead stump; possibly in an 

 abandoned woodpecker excavation, though a nat- 

 ural one is preferred." He says also that "nests 

 vary in bulk; are begun with a base of coarse trash 

 and finished with fine twigs, bunches of cattle hair, 

 pine needles, dry leaves and grasses, the tail of a 

 rabbit, pieces of catbirds' eggshells, exuviae of 

 snakes, owl and hawk feathers, tufts of woodchucks' 

 hair and fine grass roots." 



Snake-skins "seem to be present in the majority of 



[239] 



