404 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



The species has been reported from many points in the northern part 

 of the state, and even from the Upper Peninsula, but we have seen no 

 specimens collected north of 43^°, and believe that most, if not all, the 

 reports from farther north are based on mistaken identification. Accord- 

 ing to Kumlien and Hollister (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 132), this species 

 is not known to occur at all in Wisconsin. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult: Upper parts uniform olive or olive green, the precise shade variable, but the head 

 not darker than the back; wings olive, with two conspicuous buffy or yellowish bands, 

 and secondaries edged with same shade; throat and middle of belly usually pure white, 

 rarely tinged with yellow; breast and sides shaded with olive gray, the sides of the belly 

 usually tinged with yellowish; tail plain olive; upper mandible dark brown, loAver pale yellow 

 or flesh-color; iris brown. 



Length 5.50 to 5.90 inches; wing of male 2.75 to 3.10; tail 2..30 to 2.70. 



Female: Wing 2.55 to 2.70 inches; tail 2.25 to 2.35. 



185. Alder Flycatcher. Empidonax trailli alnorum {Brewst.) (466a) 



Synonyms: Traill's Flycatcher (part). — E. trailli alnorum, Brewster, 1895, A. O. U. 

 Check-list, 1895, and most recent authors. 



Not separable from Traill's* or the Acadian Flycatcher except by the 

 expert. 



Distribution.^ — Eastern North America from the Maritime Provinces 

 and New England westward at least to northern Michigan, etc., breeding 

 from the southern edge of the Canadian Fauna northward; in winter south 

 to Central America. 



In Michigan the Alder Flycatcher appears to be generally distributed, 

 although there is a possibility that some of the records from the southern 

 part of the state may refer to the closely related Traill's Flycatcher.* It 

 has been reported as more or less common in the following counties: 

 Monroe, Kalamazoo, Wayne, Washtenaw, St. Clair, Ingham, Kent, Saginaw, 

 Emmet, Mackinac, Marquette, Keweenaw and Ontonagon. It has not, 

 been found breeding in all these places, but has been taken during the 

 breeding season in almost all of them, and there can be little doubt that it 

 nests wherever found between the middle of June and the middle of July. 

 In addition to the places just mentioned specimens were killed on Spectacle 

 Reef Light, in northern Lake Huron, and the writer found it on Beaver 

 Island, Charlevoix county. Lake Michigan. 



In Monroe couiity Mr. Trombley found it nesting abundantly and states 

 that in 1879 he found at least twenty nests in one restricted locality, all 

 in alders, willows or similar low growth in wet ground. No other writer 

 api)ears to have found the species nesting so abundantly, yet according 

 to Swales it is by no means uncommon in Wayne and St. Clair counties. 

 Purdy states that it is abundant and nests along the margins of streams 

 near Plymouth, Wa3^ne county, and it has l)een found nesting commonly 

 in Kalamazoo and Ingham counties. 



In its nesting habits it differs markedly from all the other small flycatchers 

 (except Traill's) in building a somewhat bulky, very compact, deeply 

 hollowed nest, seldom at a height of more than six feet from the ground, 

 often within two feet. These nests are almost invariably placed in upright 



*ror notes on Traill'.s Flycatcher .sco Appendix. 



