rYRANNID^—TYRANXIX.E: TYRANT FLYCATCHERS. 529 



we ignore the earlier name subviridis of Bartram, on the ground that it is unaccompanied by a 

 description, though it certainly belongs to tliis species.) 



E. trail'li alno'rum. (To T. S. Traill, of Edinburgh. Lat. alnorum, gen. pi. of alnus, 

 the alder.) Traill's Flycatchek of the East. Aldeu Flycatcher. " Kewink." 

 Adult ^ 9 : Above, olive-broivn, lighter and duller brownish posteriorly, darker on head, 

 owing to obviously dusky centres of coronal feathers ; below, nearly ae in rirescens, but darker, 

 the olive-gray shading quite across breast; wing-markings grayish-ivliite with slight yellowish 

 or tawny shade ; under mandible pale ; upper mandible and feet black. Averaging smaller 

 Xhaxi virescens ; length 5.50-6.00; extent under 9.50, usually 8.75-9.00; wing 2.66-2.75, more 

 rounded than in rirescens, its tip only reaching about f of an inch beyond secondaries, formed 

 by 2d, 3d, and 4th quills, as before, but 5th not so much shorter (hardly or nf>t ^ of an inch), 

 1st ranging between 5th and 6th ; tail 2.50, not emarginate, but even or slightly rounded ; 

 tarsus 0.66, as in rirescens, but middle toe and claw 0.60, the feet thus diflerently proportioned, 

 owing to length of toes; bill not so broad and flat as in rirescens. Eastern N. Am. to the 

 Plains, common ; an entirely different bird from rirescens, but difficult if not impossible to dis- 

 tinguish from the fidlowing western stock-form ; almost the same in color as minimus, but 

 larger, and otherwise perfectly distinct. The Alder Flycatcher, commonly called "Traill's" 

 (though Audubon distinctly says of his trailUi, "Arkansas to the Columbia"), ranges much 

 farther N. than the foregoing, breeding from the mountains of New York and probably of 

 otlier Middle States, in much of New England, and most of the Canadian Provinces to 63° or 

 farther; its western limits cannot be given with precision, because this form shades into trnilli 

 proper in the Mississippi valley ; S. in winter to Central America ; winters extralimital ; 

 migrates chiefly in May and Sept., and breeds in the last half of June and first half of July. 

 This is a bird of thickets and shrubbery rather than of woodland, especially common in low 

 wet places among the alders, willows, and other bushes in which its nest is placed, as a rule in 

 an upright crotch of two or more twigs. It is thick-walled, deeply cupped, more or less com- 

 pact, sometimes quite slovenly, like an Indigo-bird's, and in any case cpiite different from the 

 frail flat saucer of rirescens ; it measures about 3.00 across outside by 2.50 high, with a cavity 

 nearly as deep as broad ; the materials are miscellaneous, as various grasses, bark strips, weed 

 fibres, plant down, hairs, etc. Eggs 3 or 4, sometimes only 2, indistinguishable from those of 

 rirescens, quite difi'erent from those of minimus ; ground white, whitish, or bufiy-, well speckled 

 and blotched with the usual browns, the markings tending to aggregate at or wreathe about the 

 larger end, and occasional specimens being nearly immaculate; average size 0.73 X 0.53, with 

 extremes of 0.78 X 0.55, and 0.68 X 0.50. " Song" notes a harsh k'wink or kewee' and a soft 

 ke-wing'. {Empidonax traillii Vivt . B. N. A. 1858, p. 193; Coues, Key, orig. ed. 1872, p. 

 175; 2d-4th eds. 1884-90, p. 441, and of most writers, but not the true Muscicapa traillii 

 AuD. 1832, which is the western form. E. traillii alnorum Brewst. Auk, Apr. 1895, p. 161 ; 

 A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 466 a. E. pusillus var. trailli Ridgw. in Bi>. Brew, and 

 RiDGW. Hist. N. A. B. ii, 1874, p. 369. E. pusillns traillii A. 0. U. 1st ed. 1886, No. 466 a ; 

 RioGW. Man. 1887, p. 343; Bendire, Life Hist, ii, dated 1895, pub. Sept. 1896, p. 310.) 

 E. trail'li (proper). Traill's Flycatcher of the West. Little Western Fly- 

 catcher. The stock-form or species of the foregoing particularly described subspecies. May 

 usually be recognized by its duller or more fuscous coloration, the quite lively olivaceous and 

 yellowish shades of nlnorum being subdued or overcast ; wing-bars duller and less cons[»icuous ; 

 bill larger; tarsi longer, the feet being nearly as in rirescens. Rei)laces alnorum in western 

 N. Am. from the Plains to the Pacific; but specimens absolutely Wke alnorum are found in the 

 W^est even to British CVdumbia, and others like trailli proper E. to Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, 

 Ohio, etc., showing that in the Mississippi valley at large no line can be drawn between the 

 two forms. The present species is the usual "Little Flycatcher" of western U. S. and ad- 

 joining British Provinces, S. in winter to Central America; abundant, uiigratory, generally 



34 



