140 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Tarsus Itagthened, considerably longer than the middle toe, which is decidedly 

 longer than the hind toe; bill variable; tail very slightly forked, even, or rounded, 

 a little shorter only than the wings, which are considerably rounded, the first pri- 

 mar}' much shorter than the fourth; head moderately crested; color olivaceous 

 above, yellowish beneath ; throat generally gray. 



EMPIDONAX TRAILLIL — Baird. 



The Traill's Flycatcher. 



Muscicapa trailUi, Audubon. Orn. Biog., L (1832) 236; V. (1839) 426. 

 Tyrannus traiUii, Nuttall. Man., I. (2d ed., 1840) 323. 



Descriptiox. 



Third quill longest, second scarcely shorter than fourth, first shorter than fifth, 

 about thirty-five one-hundredths shorter than the longest ; primaries about seventy- 

 five one-hundredths of an inch longer than secondaries; tail even; upper parts dark 

 olive-green, lighter under the wings, and duller and more tinged with ash on nape 

 and sides of the neck; centre of the crown feathers brown; a pale yellowish-white 

 ring (in some specimens altogether white) round the eye; loral feathers mixed 

 with white; chin and throat white; the breast and sides of throat light-ash tinged 

 with olive, its intensity varying in individuals, the former sometimes faintly 

 tinged with olive; sides of the breast much like the back; middle of the bell}'' nearly 

 white; sides of the belly, abdomen, and the lower tail coverts sulphur-yellow; the 

 quills and tail feathers dark-brown, as dark (if not more so) as these parts in 

 C. virtns; two olivaceous yellow-white bands on the wing, formed by the tips of the 

 first and second coverts, succeeded by a brown one, the edge of the first primary 

 and of secondaries and tertials a little lighter shade of the same ; the outer edge of 

 the tail feathers like the back, that of the lateral one rather lighter ; bill above dark- 

 brown, dull-brownish beneath. 



Length, nearly six inches; wing, two and ninety one-hundredths; tail, two and 

 sixty one-hundredths. 



Hab. — Eastern United States, and south to Mexico. 



This bird is occasionally found as a spring and autumn 

 visitor in New England, arriving about the 15th or 20tli of 

 May. In its habits, it resembles the Least Flycatcher (^E. 

 minimus)^ as it does also in its plumage: in fact, these two 

 birds and the Green-crested Flycatcher have been so much 

 mistaken for each other by different naturalists, the confu- 

 sion in whose descriptions is so great, that it requires a very 

 careful examination to identify either of these birds per- 

 fectly and accurately. I have had no opportunities for 

 observing the habits of the bird now before us, and can add 

 nothing to its history. Thompson, in his " Vermont Birds," 



