LITTLE FLYCATCHER 201 



Mrs. Irene G. Wheelock (1904) writes: "Only the mother bird 

 broods in the beautiful nest; the male simply straddling the edge in 

 masculine helplessness when left in charge, looking very wise but 

 really quite useless so far as keeping the eggs warm is concerned. 

 In twelve days queer naked bits of bird life fill the cradle, and now 

 the small brown master is full of importance. They are hungry; 

 away he darts for food, but the demand is ever greater than the 

 supply. To satisfy these four open mouths means a trip every two 

 minutes or oftener. No time has he now for scrapping or bullying 

 his little wife. From early morn he must hustle, snatching time for 

 a hastily swallowed bug en route if he can, going hungry if he 

 must." 



Plumages. — The sexes are alike in all plumages, and the young in 

 Juvenal plumage is essentially like the adult, except that the upper 

 parts are of a browner olive and the wing bands are buff or "cinna- 

 mon-buff." Both young and adult birds migrate southward before 

 molting, and the young birds retain the ju venal remiges and rec- 

 trices through the winter and have a complete prenuptial molt in 

 April, according to Dickey and van Rossem (1938). They say of 

 the adults: "A specimen taken September 3 has just commenced the 

 molt, while one taken on the 29th has nearly completed the body 

 molt and is halfway through the primary molt. One of those taken 

 February 3 is in very fresh plumage, and it is not unlikely that 

 hrewsteri, as in the case of the allied form, sometimes drags along 

 w^ith the wing molt until late in the winter. In the spring there is 

 a complete body molt, which is finished just before the northward 

 migration in April." 



Food. — The food of the little flycatcher is essentially the same as 

 that of the alder flycatcher, due allowance being made for the differ- 

 ence in the ranges of the two forms. This subject is treated more 

 fully under the eastern subspecies, to which the reader is referred. 

 Professor Beal (1912) says: "No special differences in the food habits 

 have been noticed, and as many of the stomachs used in this inves- 

 tigation were collected before the two forms had been clearly dis- 

 tinguished, it is not practicable to separate them now. * * * Jt 

 is evident from the nesting habits of this species that it is not likely 

 to injure any product of industry, and the contents of the stomachs 

 examined corroborate this observation." 



Behavior. — ^Mrs. "VVlieelock (1904) has this to say about the be- 

 havior of the little flycatcher : 



It is restless and energetic, flitting about among the bushes but keeping out 

 of sfght except when a too enthusiastic sally after a passing insect betrays its 

 whereabouts. But for this and a habit it has of calling out in a fretful tone 



