406 MICIIKJAN 15IIII) LIFE. 



but nowhere very abundant. It is an inhabitant of the open woods 



orchards and groves, and is not infrequently 



found in city parks and gardens. It is one of 



the later migrants in spring, rarely reaching us 



before the first of May, although Trombley 



recorded it at Petersburg on April 23, 1885, 



and April 29, 1892; in 1890, however, it did not 



appear until May 12, and in 1898 was first 



seen May 14. In the northern part of the 



state it is a week or ten days later. 



It nests usually in deciduous trees and at all 

 heights from ten to sixty feet from the ground, 

 the nest being sometimes saddled on a branch 

 of about its own diameter and at other times 

 placed in an upright fork. It is small, compact, 

 deeply hollowed, and very neatly built of soft 

 fibrous materials, with a lining of cottony 

 fibres and occasionally a few_ feathers. _ The 

 eggs are white, usually with a distinct 

 creamy or buffy tint, and almost always un- 

 spotted; occasionally eggs are seen with a few ^^^ ^^^ ^^ catcher 

 faint brown dots. They are commonly four, rrom^originai^'drawing^by r a. 

 but may be three or five, and average .64 by Taverner. 

 .49 inches. The period of incubation is said to be twelve days. 



The food is mainly insects, though a few berries are eaten in the late 

 summer. The bird is strongly beneficial to the farmer and fruit grower 

 and should be rigidly protected. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Very similar to the Alder Flycatcher, but besides being decidedly smaller the upper 

 I)arts are olive-grey rather than olive-green or olive-brown, the two wing bars are decidedly 

 whitish, or at most grayish-white, not yellowish, and there is a conspicuous whitish eye- 

 ring; chin, throat and belly whitish, the throat sometimes nearly white, the belly usually 

 faintly tinged with yellowish; breast and sides washed with ashy gray; upper mandible 

 dark brown, the lower much lighter but not yellowish except perhaps at very base, in this 

 resembling the Alder Flycatcher; iris brown. 



Male: Length 4.90 to 5.50 inches; wing 2.30 to 2.60; tail 2.10 to 2.40. 



Female: Wing 2.20 to 2.40 inches; tail 2.10 to 2.25. 



Suborder OSCINES. Song Birds. 

 Family 52. ALAUDID.E. Larks. 



This family is represented in Michigan only by the Horned Larks or 

 Shore Larks, two or three species of which occur with more or less regularity 

 in migration, but only one, the Prairie Horned Lark, nests. The old world 

 Skylark {Alauda arvensis), famous for its beautiful song and lofty flight, 

 is a member of this family, but has never been recorded from this state, 

 though it was introduced in the vicinity of New York city fifty years ago 

 and has become sparingly naturalized on Long Island. 



