298 LAND-BIRDS. 



birds, will almost invariably from year to year discover 

 species whicb they have never before observed^ though they 

 may often have seen them, and will find many species com- 

 mon which they before considered rare. And this is not 

 merely because beginners set too high a value on all com- 

 mon objects, but because their observation, on being culti- 

 vated, is greatly increased. It has, however, been said, some- 

 what sarcastically, that inexperienced students see more rare 

 birds and nests than an experienced naturalist can ever find. 



C. FLAViVENTRis. Yelloio-hellied Flycatcher. Not com- 

 mon in New England.* 



a. About b^ inches long. Above, olive green; sides, 

 shaded with the same; otherwise, beneath^ decided yellow. 

 Lower mandible, eye-ring, wing-bars, etc., yellowish (or even 

 yellow). TaiU even or rounded. 



b. Dr. Brewer found a nest of this species which closely 

 resembled that of the Indigo Bird, at Grand Manan, near 

 the shore, "about two feet from the ground, placed in the 

 fork of a bush." The eggs were white. " Those procured 

 by Mr. Boardman were sprinkled with minute dots of red- 

 dish brown. Their measurement is .68 X -52 of an inch." 

 Two eggs which I got in the White Mountains measure about 

 .75 X .55 of an inch, and are pure white, unmarked. f 



c. The Yellow-bellied Flycatchers are the rarest members 

 of their family in New England, and, though their distri- 

 bution is probably similar to that of Traill's Flycatcher, 

 yet apparently they are in no district very common. I 

 have rarely found them near Boston, and generally have 



* A common, but somewhat local the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher are now 

 summer resident of northern New Eng- known to have a decided creamy- 

 land, not known to breed anywhere in ground color and to be always (at least 

 southern New England, but of regular normally) distinctly spotted. The 

 occurrence there during the migi*ations, nest, moreover, is not placed in a bush 

 when it is sometimes fairly numerous, but either in the side of a moss-cov- 

 — W. B. ered bank or among the earth-laden 



t There can be little doubt that the roots of a fallen tree. As a rule this 



eggs taken by Mr. Minot, as well as Flycatcher lays four eggs, but there is 



those found by Dr. Brewer, belonged one record of a set of five. — W. B. 

 to some other species, for the eggs of 



