220 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



some passing insect so close to our head that we can plainly hear the 

 snapping of his bill. He is a restless, active little fellow, far less 

 sedate than our wood pewee, preferring to dart about among the 

 foliage, or from one perch to another, in quest of his prey, rather 

 than sit on one favorite perch and watch for it. 



He is a sociable and friendly little fellow toward human beings. 

 Manly Hardy wrote to Major Bendire (1895) : "A pair of these birds 

 or their descendants have nested regularly in or near my garden, 

 usually building in a maple. These birds know me, and, what is 

 more, I believe remember me from one year to another. They often 

 sat on a dry twig, or on a bean pole near by, and watched me hoe, and 

 suddenly one would dart down and catch a moth or other insect 

 which I had disturbed, flying so close to me that I could distinctly 

 hear the sharp snap of its bill. Then it almost invariably returned 

 to the place it darted from to eat its prey. Both birds often came 

 close to the window and watched my family inside." 



But during the nesting season it is not so friendly toward other 

 birds ; it then becomes pugnacious and drives away from the vicinity 

 of its nest, with vicious attacks, almost any small bird that ventures 

 too near. Even the gentle migrating warblers that are i)eacefully 

 hunting for food among the foliage are quickly put to rout. Mr. 

 DuBois tells me that "a least flycatcher drove an English sparrow out 

 of a tree in the orchard by flying at the sparrow while fiercely 

 snapping its bill." But he also mentions a nest of this flycatcher 

 that was only about 5 feet from a wood pew^ee's nest in the same 

 tree. "The pewee was sitting in her nest wliile the least flycatcher 

 was building." 



Mr. Forbush (1927) quotes the following notes from F. H. Mosher: 



A pair of Least Flycatchers had just begun their nest in an apple tree by 

 placing some bunches of cottony material and a few strings and straws. A 

 female Oriole, happening along, appropriated the string for her own use, and 

 carried it away. The Flycatchers came soon after, and were very much dis- 

 turbed on finding the nest materials scattered, and had quite a talk over it. 

 In a few moments the Oriole came back for more string, when both Flycatchers 

 flew at her and snapped their bills savagely in her face. The Oriole did not 

 seem to mind them much, and kept on going toward the nest. When the Fly- 

 catchers found they could not scare her in this way, they both attacked her 

 fiercely, and pulled out quite a number of feathers, keeping up quite a steady 

 scold. The Oriole attempted to retaliate, but when she attacked one of the 

 Flycatchers the other struck her from the other side, and several times she 

 was knocked completely off the branch. Finally she beat a precipitate retreat, 

 one of the Flycatchers chasing her out of sight. 



After the nesting season is over it becomes much less quaiTelsome 

 and less noisy; then, according to Dr. Thomas S. Roberts (1932), "it 

 wanders away from the woodlands and may then be found with the 

 Sparrows and fall Warblers in dense growths of tall weeds and 



