268 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



The (lilliculty in identifyiiii;- these small Fl\x-atchei-s is owing to 

 the close resemWaiice they bear to one another. In coloring the 

 present species is almost identical with the Least Flycatcher, but it 

 measures half an inch longer. It also i-eseinl)les the Acadian Fly 

 catcher, but the present species measures a (juarter of an inch less in 

 length, and is olive brown, while anulicas is olive green. This slight 

 difference in the shade of color, or in the size of a specimen, makes it 

 often difficult to say to which uroup it l)elongs. 



EMPIDONAX MINTMUS r.AiiiD. 

 U*-"!. Least Flycatcher. (4G7) 



Colors almost exactly as in traillii ; usually, however, olive-gray rather 

 than olive-brown ; the wing markings, eye-iing and loral feathers, plain 

 grayish-white ; the whole anterior parts often with a slight ashy oast ; under 

 mandible, ordinarily chisky ; feet, black. It is a smaller bird than traillii, and 

 not so stoutly built ; tlie wing-tip project.s only about A an inch beyond the 

 secondaries ; tlie fifth fjuill if?" but a little shorter than tlie fourth, the tiist apt 

 to be nearer tlie sixtii tlian fifth ; the feet aie differentl}' proportioned, l)eing 

 much as in acadirus : the J)ill is o1)vionsly uiidei- h iiu-li long. Length, fi-.^.iiii ; 

 wing, 2.fi0 or fevs ; tail, about 2.25. 



H.\K. — Eastern North Aniei'ica, south in winter to Central Auieiica ; bi'eeds 

 from the Northern States northward. 



Nest, in the fork of a sapling or tiee, composed of vegetable Kbre and 

 wilted weeds, with a compact lining of plant down, hoi'se-hair and line grass. 



Kggs, three or four, usually i)ui'e white, occasionally a set oi' ])arl of a set are 

 found dotted with dusky. 



The Least Flycatchei- is very common throughout Ontario, and is 

 mentioned among the birds found by Prof. Macoun in the North- 

 West Territory. In the " Birds of Manitoba " it is mentioned as a 

 common summer resident, and many instances given of its capture 

 at different points. It arrives near Hamilton about the end of the 

 first week in May, soon after which its short, sharp call, " Chehec" 

 is ^eard by the outer edge of the woods, and even in the city 

 orchards it takes its location anfl i-aises its family. As soon as the 

 young ones are able to fl}*, the birds flis))eise moie generally over the 

 country, and are in no haste to retire, but linger till the cold weather 

 cuts off their supply of food. 



As the correct identification of the small flycatchers is often a 

 puzzle to the amateur, and as the build of the nest and the markings 



