208 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



feathers matted into the walls, lined with very jBne stiff plant stems 

 and one large, soft feather, and slightly contracted at the rim. In 

 exterior appearance, it resembles a yellow warbler's nest." 



Several other observers have called attention to the resemblance 

 of western nests of the alder flycatcher to the nests of this warbler 

 or those of the goldfinch, whereas eastern nests have often been 

 referred to as resembling nests of the indigo bunting or bush nests 

 of the song sparrow; thus two very different types of nests are 

 indicated. Three nests, found by Mr. Campbell (1936) in the upland 

 colony in Lucas County, Ohio, were all placed on nearly horizontal 

 branches of cockspur hawthorns, 3^2 to 4^2 feet from the ground; 

 another nest was on a slanting branch of a small elm tree, 7 feet 

 from the ground. The photogi-aphs shown in his paper indicate 

 that these nests are quite unlike eastern nests. Many years 

 ago Otto Widmann sent to Dr. Elliott Coues (1880) three Missouri 

 nests of this flycatcher which he considered "identical with those of 

 E. minimus^ One was taken "from an oak-tree, at an elevation of 

 10 feet; another, with three eggs, June 21, from an elm, at a height 

 of 18 feet; the third, with a single ^gg, June 17, from an ailanthus, 

 only 6 feet from the ground." The above data seem to indicate that 

 the nests and the nesting sites of the alder flycatchers (or perhaps 

 more properly Traill's flycatchers) breeding w^est of the Alleghenies 

 are both quite different from those of the species breeding east of 

 that range and in Canada. 



Eggs. — The three or four eggs laid by the alder flycatcher are prac- 

 tically indistinguishable from those of its western relative. Mr. 

 Farley (1901a) gives some detailed descriptions of individual eggs, 

 one of which, he says, is "of a creamy ground color and is beautifully 

 marked after the typical style with a fairly complete ring of pale 

 brown blotches having darker centres, and with dark brown (almost 

 black) round dots interspersed among the blotches, a rich effect being 

 thus secured." The measurements of 50 eggs average 18.5 by 13.5 

 millimeters; the eggs, showing the four extremes measure 19.8 by 

 14.0, 19.3 by 14.5, 17.0 by 12.7, and 19.8 by 12.6 millimeters. 



Plumages. — Dr. D wight (1900) says that the natal down is "pale 

 olive-brown." Subsequent plumages and molts follow the same se- 

 quence as in the western race, the changes taking place while the birds 

 are in the their winter home, though some young birds begin the 

 postjuvenal molt before they leave in September. Young birds in 

 Juvenal plumage are somewhat yellower on the under parts than 

 are adults. 



Food. — Professor Beal (1912) examined the stomach contents of 

 135 specimens of the two races of Emjyidonax trailli, taken in various 



