530 SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES— CLAMA TORES. 



distributed in suitable places ; habits, appearance in life, and eggs the counterparts of those of 

 alnorum as above described. (The original Tyrannula pusilla Swains. F. B. A. ii, 1831, p. 144, 

 pi. 46 ; AuD. B. Am. 8vo ed. ii, 1840, p. 236, pi. 66, is uncertain, and just as likely to have been 

 minimus as trailli ; and the case is further complicated by Platyrhijnchus pusillus Swains. 

 Phil. Mag. i, 1827, p. 366, described from Mexico. I therefore continue to pass over the name, 

 which, if belonging here, antedates trailli; and I also now drop pusillus Baird, 1858, as 

 untenable by our rules, though it certainly belongs here; taking trailli for the western stock- 

 form, and alnorum Brewst. for the eastern subspecies. Muscicapa traillii Aud. Orn. Biogr. 

 i, 1832, p. 236, Arkansas River. Empldonax traillii Brewst. Auk, Apr. 1895, p. 159, not 

 of Bd. 1858, nor of authors referring to the eastern bird ; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 466. 

 ? E. pusillus Cab. J. f. 0. 1855, p. 480, uncertain, same as jiifsillns Swains. jE". pusillus 

 Baird, B. N. A. 1858, p. 194; Coues, Key, 2d-4th eds. 1884-90, p. 442; Ridgw. Man. 1887, 

 p. 343. E. traillii var. pusillus Coues, Key, orig. ed. 1872, p. 175. E. pusillus var. pusillus 

 Ridgw. in Bd. Brew, and Ridgw. Hist. N. A. B. ii, 1874, p. 365.) 



E. min'iinus. (Lat. wwmmMS, smallest) Least Flycatcher. " Chebec." Adult <? 9 = 

 Colors almost exactly as in trailli; usually, however, olive-<7ra?/ rather than olive -brown ; 

 wing-markings, eye-ring, and loral feathers plain grayish- white, and rather more conspicuous 

 than in trailli, especially the wing-bars ; w^hole anterior parts often with a slight ashy cast ; 

 under mandible ordinarily dusky; feet perfectly black. It is a smaller bird than trailli, and 

 not so stoutly built ; the wing-tip projects only about 0.50 beyond secondaries ; 5th quill but 

 very little shorter than 4th, 1st apt to be nearer 6th than 5th ; tail slightly emarginate, not 

 even or slightly rounded ; feet diflerently proportioned, being much as in virescens ; bill obvi- 

 ously under 0.50. Length 5.00-5.50 ; extent about 8.00; wing 2.60 or Zess ; tail about 2.25. 

 A series of ^ ^, measured fresh, runs 5.20-5.50 long, by 7.60-8.30 in extent ; several 9 9 ^re 

 4.80-5.10 long, by 7.40-7.90 in extent. Although a large ^ may grade up to 9 trailli in size, 

 and there is no obviously different coloration, it is a totally different bird. Eastern N. Am. to 

 the Plains, less commonly to the Rocky Mts., casually to Idaho ; very abundant in the U. S. 

 during the migrations in April, May, and again in Sept., in orchards, coppices, hedgerows, and 

 the skirts of woods rather than in heavy forests ; ranges N. to about lat. 63°, in the region of 

 Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River, but farther East goes little N. of the U. S. ; win- 

 ters wholly extralimital, as far S. as Panama. This is the commonest breeder of its genus in 

 New England, especially Massachusetts, and common thence to the Red River of the North ; 

 it also breeds freely in our Middle districts, and sparingly in the Alleghanies, even S. to North 

 Carolina; mostly in June. The nidification resembles that oi trailli most nearly, in that the 

 nest is as a rule placed in an upright crotch. It is small, neat, compact-walled, deeply-cupped, 

 in size about 3.00 X 2..50 outside, and 2.00 X 1-50 inside, thus somewhat like the Goldfinch's 

 structure ; it is built of the most miscellaneous materials, exceptionally varies in position to a 

 horizontal bough (like that of E. virescens or Contopus virens), and is placed in a tree or sap- 

 ling, 10-20 feet from the ground. Eggs 3-4, oftenest 4, rarely 5 or 6, tohite, normally un- 

 marked, rarely speckled, 0.60-0.67 long, averaging 0.65 X 0.50. Note a sharp che-bec', or 

 se-wick', quickly uttered. 



E. flaviven'tris. (Lat. flavus, yellow ; rentris, of the belly.) Yellow-bellied Fly- 

 catcher. Adult (J 9 '• Above, oVixe-green, clear, continuous and uniform as in virescens, or 

 even brighter; below, not merely yellowt's/j, as in the foregoing, but emphatically yellow, 

 bright and pure on belly, shaded on sides and anteriorly with a paler tint of color of back ; 

 eye-ring and wing-markings yellow; under mandible yellow; feet black. In respect of color, 

 this species differs materially from all the foregoing; none of them, even at their autumnal yel- 

 lowest, quite match it. Size of trailli, or rather less ; feet proportioned as in virescens ; bill 

 nearly as in minimus, but rather larger ; 1st quill usually equal to 6th. Eastern U. S. and 

 British Provinces, N. regularly to Labrador and Hudson's Bay, casually to Greenland, W. only 



