ALDER FLYCATCHER 209 



parts of the country. Animal food made up 96.05 percent and 

 vegetable food 3.95 percent. 



Beetles of 65 species, all harmful species, except for a few ladybird 

 l)eetles that eat plant lice and scale, amount to 17.89 percent. "Hy- 

 menoptera are the largest item of animal food, not only in the 

 aggregate but in every month." They are mostly in the form of 

 wasps and bees, but there are a few of the parasitic species and some 

 ants. They amount to 41.37 percent of the food, a record exceeded 

 by but two other flycatchers. Hj^menoptera of all kinds were found 

 in 93 stomachs and were the sole contents of one. 



"Diptera, such as crane flies, robber flies, house flies, and dung 

 flies, were found in 47 stomachs and were the entire contents of 4. 

 They amount to 14.20 per cent of the food." Hemiptera were found 

 in 44 stomachs and amount to 7.24 per cent. In one individual 12 

 chinch bugs were identified and the fragments of many more were 

 found in the same stomach. "Lepidoptera, that is moths and cater- 

 pillars, were found in 41 stomachs, of which 18 contained moths and 

 25 held caterpillars, 2 containing both. The aggregate of both is 

 7.73 per cent." Orthoptera, made up mostly of small grasshoppers, 

 amount to 3.91 percent and were contained in 16 stomachs. "A few 

 odd insects, such as dragon flies and some ephemerids, were occa- 

 sionally taken, and altogether amount to 2.77 per cent of the diet. 

 A cattle tick was found in one stomach and a snail in another, both 

 identifiable. Spiders and millepeds were eaten to the extent of 0.94 

 per cent and complete the animal food." 



Of the vegetable food, he says: "Elderberries were found in 6 

 stomachs, blackberries or raspberries in 2, dogwood berries in 1, 

 juniper berries in 1, fruit not further identified in 3, seeds unknown 

 in 2, and rubbish in 1." 



Behxwior. — The alder flycatcher does not differ materially in its 

 behavior from the western subspecies. It has been said to be a very 

 shy bird, but it is really no more so than many of our small birds; 

 it is more retiring than shy. During the nesting season, it spends 

 most of its time in the dense thickets, where it nests and where it 

 secures most of its food; in such places it keeps out of sight and 

 is not easy to approach, as it hears the necessarily noisy movements 

 of the observer and retires ahead of him by short flights from one 

 low perch to another, hidden among the leafage. It comes out occa- 

 sionally in pursuit of some passing insect or perches for a moment 

 on some topmost twig to give its emphatic little song. On its arrival 

 in spring it is much more in evidence, flying about from treetop to 

 treetop in the open, prior to the selection of a nesting site and a mate. 

 About its nest it is shier, or more nervous, than at other times; it is 

 not a close sitter and can seldom be surprised on its nest, for it slips 



