2IO 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



LEAST FLYCATCHER 

 Empidonax minimus (IV. M. and iT. F. Baird) 



A. O. U. Number 41,7 See Color Plate 68 



Other Names. — Cliebec ; Sewick. 



General Description. — Length, 5 inches. Upper 

 parts, brownish-olive : under parts, whitish. 



Color. — Above, plain brownish olive, the feathers 

 of crown darker centrally ; tail, grayish-brown, the 

 feathers passing into light brownish-olive on edges ; 

 wings, dusky, the middle and greater coverts broadly 

 tipped with pale grayish-brown, sometimes nearly white 

 on tips of greater coverts, forming two distinct bands; 

 the secondaries edged with the same or with dull 

 yellowish-white ; a broad dull white or ycUowish-ivhite 

 cyc-ring; lores, dull whitish suffused with dusky, 

 especially near front angle of eye ; rest of side of head 

 and sides of neck similar in color to upper parts, 

 gradually fading below into dull white of chin and 

 throat ; rest of under parts, dull white, tinged with 

 pale (primrose) yellow posteriorly, the chest and sides 

 shaded with pale grayish-brown, this deepest on sides 



of chest and sides of breast; under wing-coverts, pale 

 yellowish-white; inner webs of wing-feathers edged 

 with pale dull buffy; bill, dusky brown; iris, brown. 

 VouNLi: More olive. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Placed in fork of sapling, 

 occasionally on horizontal limb ; a compact, neat struc- 

 ture of very fine gray bark, fibers, dandelion down, hair, 

 and feathers, lined with fine narrow grasses and a few 

 feathers. Eggs; 2 to 4, pttre white or with a faint hudy 

 tinge unmarked. 



Distribution. — Breeds from west-central Mackenzie, 

 southern Keewatin, Quebec, and Cape Breton Island 

 south to central Montana, eastern Wyoming, central 

 Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 

 and in the AUeghenies to North Carolina; in migration 

 west to eastern Colorado and central Texas ; winters 

 froin northeastern Mexico and Yucatan to Panama 

 and Peru ; accidental in West Indies. 



As its name indicates, the Least Flycatcher is 

 the smallest of onr common Flycatchers, but it 

 makes tip in energ^v of manner and emphasis of 



Courtesy of Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 

 LEAST FLYCATCHER (nat. size) 

 Its energy compensates for its small size 



utterance what it lacks in size. As one observer 

 remarked, the little fellow announces his name, 

 Chc-bec, with such a fervid jerk of both head 

 and tail that he seems to be in real danger of 

 snapping his head off. And this che-becing 

 sometiines continues at a rate and with a per- 

 sistency which almost make one wish that some- 

 thing of the kind might happen. 



However, the little chap has other character- 

 istics which make one forget this fault. Both 

 sexes, after they alight, have a trick of uttering 

 a series of half-warbled, half-gurgled notes, ac- 

 companied by a cjuivering of the wings and tail, 

 which is characteristic and very pleasing. And 

 the male has a flight song, delivered usually just 

 before dusk as he soars upward from a tree-top, 

 which is interesting, if not highly melodious. 

 Finally the bird makes a decided appeal on ac- 

 count of its obvious friendliness ; for it is fully 

 as confiding in its attitude toward its human 

 neighbors as is the Phoebe, and seems especially 

 fond of an apple orchard near a house as a nest- 

 ing place. 



The Chebec's habits are very like those of the 

 other members of its family. Tt dashes after in- 

 sects much in the manner of the Phcebe, and 

 these sallies often are directed down into the 

 grass, or against the trunks of trees when in- 

 sects are seen in either of those places, whether 

 in motion or at rest. 



In the food of this Flycatcher there is no 

 evidence of direct injury to the farmer or horti- 

 culturist. The bird eats no grain and jiractically 



