C. H. Merriani — Birds of Connecticut. 51 



inhabit tlie country innncdiatcly about Orange, for, althougli in the 

 woods nearly every week for years, I never saw it until, after 1 had 

 almost despaired of ever finding it, I did succeed in shooting a single 



specimen. This was in the i'all ; the next spring I saw a paii' , 



and, aftei- au absence of two years, returning to Orange, I strolled 

 through the woods, my old hunting grounds, and, to my'suri)rise, 

 almost the first bird I saw was the Gi'eat-crested Flycatcher. Sub- 

 sequently I scarcely ever took a walk through the woods without 

 seeing or hearing it." A precisely i)arallel case occuri'ed in the 

 vicinity of my home in Lewis County, northern New York. There, 

 prior to tlie year 1870, they were unknown, at least so far as I can 

 ascertain, and it is safe to say that they were extremely rare. In 

 1S70 my cousin, Mr. C. L. Bagg, shot one specimen, the first we had 

 ever seen. During the next season I shot a pair. I was away from 

 home in ISV'i, but Mr, I>agg informs me that he took several Great- 

 crested P^'lycatchers that year, and that they were quite common. 

 In August, 1873, I shot eight in about an hour's time, and since then 

 they have been one of our commonest species, breeding abundantly 

 in tlie tall maple and birch forests, where their characteristic, but 

 rather harsh cry, may be heard at any hour of the day throughout 

 the entire season. 



IJegarding its former scarcity in Connecticut, Linsley said "a 

 specimen of the Great-crested Fly-catcher was shot by me in the 

 spring of 1838, in my front yurd, the only living individual of this 

 bird I have ever seen in this State,"* and Nuttall observed that it 

 was " nearly unknown in New England. "f That it is now really a 

 conunon l)ird in southern Connecticut, at least, is certain. However, 

 we must take into consideration the fact that these gentlemen (Nutt- 

 all and Linsley) were probably not familiar with its characteristic — I 

 may even say diagnostic — note, and my experience with the bird has 

 ])een that it is rarely seen, unless, guided by its note, it is persist- 

 ejitly followed np, and even then one is often at his wits end to get 

 a shot, so well does tlie bird keep concealed amongst the foliage. 

 And surely it is not particularly conducive to tranquillity of mind to 

 stand, up to one's knees in water, amidst myriads of mosquitoes, in a 

 hot day in summer, gazing intently up into a tall tree, where, directly 

 overhead, the cry of the Great -crested Flycatcher is constantly 

 heard, and yet the most careful search fails to reveal the exact where- 



* Am. Jour. Sci. and Arts, vol. xliv, No. 2, p. 259, April, 1873. 

 f Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada. By Thomas 

 Nuttall. Vol. i, Land Birds, p. 271, 1832. 



