FLYCATCHERS 



207 



paler; a broad eye-ring of pale bufFy-yellow, narrower 

 but scarcely interrupted on middle of upper eyelid; 

 lores, pale yellowish intermixed or sulTuscd with dusky ; 

 rest of sides of head and sides of neck similar in color 

 to upper parts, gradually fading below into the pale 

 straw-yellow of chin and throat; chest and sides, pale 

 buffy -olive, fading toward flanks; rest of under parts 

 l>aie (strati.') _vi'//('ii'; under wing-coverts pale (prim- 

 rose) yellow becoming more buffy on edge of wing; 

 inner webs of wing-feathers edged with pale bulT ; bill, 

 bripunish-bhuk, wholly yellowish below; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Xest: In alders, bushes, stumps, 

 root cavities, under banks, rocky ledges, and even in 



deserted Woodpecker holes ; usually near water ; con- 

 structed of root stems, vegetable fibers, bark, cobwebs, 

 and grass and often coaled with fresh green moss and 

 lined with horse-hair and feathers. Ecus: 3 or 4, 

 creamy white, spotted or ringed with chestnut and 

 brownish-pink. 



Distribution. — Western North /Xmerica, from east- 

 ern base of Rocky Mountains and western Manitoba to 

 I'acilic coast; north to coast district of Alaska; breed- 

 ing southward to Santa Barbara Islands, California, 

 northern Lower California, Arizona, southern New 

 Mexico and southwestern Texas; winters in Mexico 

 south to Cape San Lucas, and Trcs Marias Islands. 



This is one of the group of small olivaceous 

 Flycatchers the accurate identification of which 

 requires sharp eyes and the faculty for noticing 

 comparatively slight differences of color and 

 contour. It is a very common bird in California, 

 especially west of the Sierra Nevadas, and there- 

 fore there is no lack of opportunity to studv it 

 carefully. 



One of the bird's peculiarities will be found to 

 be the wide latitude of choice it displays in select- 

 ing a nesting site ; for it may make its home high 

 up in a tree, or on a ledge, or in a deserted 

 Flicker's excavation, or a hollow tree, or in an 

 unoccupied shanty, or on the ground in a tangle 

 of the roots of trees, or even on a stranded 

 stump in the middle of a river. Moreover it may 

 build in low country on or near the bank of a 

 stream, or in mountain forests at a considerable 

 altitude. The only kind of country which it 

 seems consistently to shtin is the open plain. 



The bird's call has the general character of 

 that of luost of the wood Flycatchers, the notes 

 resembling the syllables pect and weet, to which 

 is added a mournful little plaint uttered when the 

 nest is discovered. When that happens, the bird 



is likely to flutter about tlie intruder, snapping 

 its bill with considerable energy. The ordinary 

 call note is usually accompanied by a sharp flirt 

 of the tail. The bird's manner of hunting is very 

 similar to that of the other Flycatchers. 



In the laboratory investigation of the food of 

 the Western Flycatcher it was proved that he 

 eats less than three-fourths of i per cent, of 

 vegetable matter. Only one other Flycatcher, 

 the \\ estern Wood Pewee, eats so little vegetable 

 food. Beetles amount to about 8 per cent, and 

 are nearly all harmful, the exception being a 

 few ground beetles. Bees, wasps, and ants form 

 the largest constituent of the food of this as of 

 tuost other Flycatchers ; they amount to over 38 

 per cent. Bugs amount to nearly 9 per cent, of 

 the food: flies to a little more than 31 per cent, 

 and include the crane flies, the soldier flies, and 

 the house flies. Moths and caterpillars amount 

 to about 7 per cent. Neither the farmer nor the 

 fruit grower has anything to fear from the 

 Western Flycatcher. Practically it eats no vege- 

 table food, and its animal diet contains less than 

 the normal proportion of useful elements. It 

 shou'.d be rigidly protected at all seasons. 



ACADIAN FLYCATCHER 



Empidonax virescens ( Vieillot) 



A. O. V. Number 465 See Color I'latc 68 



Other Names. — Green-crested Flycatcher ; Small 

 Green-crested Flycatcher ; Green Flycatcher ; Small 

 Pewee. 



General Description. — Length. 6 inches. Color 

 above, grayish olive-green ; under parts, yellowish- 

 white. 



Color. — .'\bove. plain grayish olive-green, slightly 

 darker and duller on crown ; tail, grayish-brown, the 

 outer webs of the feathers passing into grayish olive- 

 green on edges ; wings, darker grayish-brown or dusky, 

 the middle and greater coverts broadly tipped with 

 pale bufif (formitig tzi'o conspicuous hands), the second- 

 aries edged with the same; a rather broad eye ring of 



dull yellowish-white, narrower but scarcely interrupted 

 on upper eyelid ; lores, dull whitish, suffused with 

 dusky, especially near front of eyes; sides of head 

 otherwise and sides of neck similar in color to back, 

 fading gradually below into the dull yellowish-white 

 of chin and throat ; under parts, dull yellowish-white, 

 passing into primrose-yellow behind (whole under parts 

 usually tinged with this color, especially laterally), the 

 chest and sides shaded with pale grayish-olive : under 

 wing-coverts, rose-yellow : inner webs of wing-feathers, 

 edged with pale grayish-huffy; bill, dark horn-brown; 

 iris, brown. 

 Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Semi-pensile, in forks of 



