FLYCATCHERS 75 



season with as much complacency as though 

 they were owners of the premises. 



The Crested Flycatcher has the curious habit 

 of hanging a snake skin or something resembling 

 it outside the nest, probably to scare away all 

 intruders. This habit has led to much specu- 

 lating among ornithologists as to its origin and 

 purpose. Mr. Burroughs says he has found 

 onion peel and shad scales in the nest, perhaps 

 the best substitute for the snake skin they did 

 not find. They range from Florida to Canada 

 in summer, and winter south of Florida. They 

 arrive about New York in the early part of 

 May. 



Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. A little Fly- 

 catcher I often see in Forest Park, New York 

 City, during the migration in mid-May, is the 

 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, a name by which 

 you will quickly know him, for he is more dis- 

 tinctly yellow underneath than any other small 

 variety of this family. He stays for a short time 

 only, then moves along to his summer home 

 in the evergreen forests of northern Maine and 

 Canada. When seen in migration they are 

 silent but in their nesting haunts they sing a 

 song that has been compared to the House 

 Wren's deeper notes. It also has a softly 

 whistled, plaintive call note, '' chu-e-e-p^^ with 

 a rising inflection. It builds on the ground in 

 deep forests a nest of moss lined with fine root- 

 lets. The four or five eggs are creamy white, 

 spotted with brown. It is a trifle longer than 

 Chebec. The color above is the regulation 

 olive-green, with wings and tail brownish. The 



