FLYCATCHERS 77 



a very good field mark. The upper mandible of 

 the bill is black, the lower yellow. This bird is 

 about seven and one-half inches in length. 



When in the West Branch country this year, 

 one day I heard the loud '' pu-pip, pu-pip^' of 

 this Flycatcher from the stump lot just behind 

 my cabin. On going out, I saw a parent bird 

 with four full-grown young in the top of a dead 

 tree, evidently on the lookout for food. Very 

 soon the old bird disappeared from the field of 

 my glasses, but quickly returned with an enor- 

 mous dragon-fly which was passed over without 

 ceremony to the gaping bill of a hungry young- 

 ster. For a moment he seemed not to know 

 what to do, but soon rapped its head sharply 

 on the limb, gradually gathered in the stiff 

 wings and, quicker than I can tell, swallowed it 

 with a gulp. It seemed that this would be 

 rather a bristly morsel, but, no doubt, they well 

 know their capabilities in that direction. I find 

 this the most numerous Flycatcher in the 

 deeper w^oods of Maine. 



Alder Flycatcher. (Also known as Traill's 

 Flycatcher.) This little bird has its summer 

 home in the ricks and tangles of alders that 

 grow along the brooks and small rivers, and in 

 pasture swamps in New England and New 

 Brunswick. It also ranges over the West, even 

 to Alaska. 



After the end of May you will find him perched 

 on the top of a low alder bush where he keeps a 

 close watch for his day's rations, which he 

 gathers up with all the vigor characteristic of 

 his family. The notes oftenest heard are a rasp- 



