218 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



evening, this one dropped from the nest and balanced itself on a 

 bouncing twig. Here it was fed and then led away by the parents." 



Observations by Aretas A. Saunders (1938) and his students on a 

 nest in Allegany State Park, N. Y., "show that the parent fed the 

 young 24 times an hour, as an average, in 13% hours of observation. 

 The times varied, however, with the age of the bird and the time of 

 day, the least number being seven feedings an hour and the greatest 

 37. Apparently the greatest amount of feeding in an hour was in 

 the morning between 9 and 11 o'clock." 



Plumages. — The natal down is said by Dr. Dickey to be light gray 

 (MS.). Dr. Dwiglit (1900) describes the juvenal plumage of the 

 least flycatcher as follows: "Above, including sides of head, olive- 

 brown, greener on the back, a faint ashy gray collar. Wings and tail 

 deep olive-brown, median and greater coverts edged with pale buff 

 forming two wing bands, secondaries and tertiaries with dull white. 

 Below, grayish white, a smoky gi^ay pectoral band; pale primrose- 

 yellow on abdomen and crissum. Orbital ring dull white. * * * 

 The species in this plumage is not so green above as E. virescens, 

 but browner and very like E. t. alnorum from which it may be differ- 

 entiated by its grayer lower parts, somewhat paler wing bands and 

 smaller bill." 



The postjuvenal molt is mainly accomplished after the young 

 birds migrate southward, but some birds "become greener above and 

 yellower below before they leave for the south late in August." 

 What first winter birds I have seen are much greener above and yel- 

 lower below than the adults. There is a first prenuptial molt during 

 the winter, or early spring, which is apparently complete and pro- 

 duces a plumage like that of the adult. 



Adults evidently follow the same sequence of molts and plumages 

 as in flavwentris and frailli, having a postnuptial body molt in fall, 

 after arriving in the south, a wing molt during winter, and a pre- 

 nuptial body molt during the early spring, before coming north. 



Food. — Professor Beal (1912) says of the least flycatcher : "It is a 

 typical flycatcher in food habits, but like most others of the family 

 it does not take all of its food upon the wing. The writer has seen 

 one scrambling about on the trunk of a tree and catching insects 

 from the bark like a creeper." In his study of the food, 177 stomachs 

 were examined taken within the months from April to September. 

 "The food consisted of 97.83 per cent of animal matter and 2.17 of 

 vegetable. * * * Hymenoptera are the largest item, * * * 41.10 

 per cent. * * * Three stomachs were entirely filled with ants 

 and four with other Hymenoptera. Parasitic species were eaten to 

 the average extent of 11.66 per month. * * * This percentage 

 is higher than is desirable." 



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