THE OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER. 



319 



tering" of a Phoebe, which hovered over a brush pile. A little brown streak 

 flashed out of this pile and into another, and the Phoebe closed in hot pursuit. 

 Round and round a half-raised log they flew — a Winter Wren in terror for 

 his life, and the flycatcher breathing direst vengeance. After a spirited chase, 

 the Wren reached unassailable depths in a large brush heap, and his pursuer 

 made off snapping his beak and panting with rage. Ten rods away we found 

 the Phoebe's eggs in a mossy bracket on the wall of a sand-stone grotto. 

 Would a dear little Winter Wren be mean enough to harm them, or were 

 Phoebe's suspicions unfounded? 



No. 139. 



OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER. 



A. O. U. No. 459. Nuttallornis borealis (Swains.). 



Description. — Adult : Upper parts brownish slate with a just perceptible 

 tinge of olivaceous on back ; top of head a deeper shade, and without olivaceous ; 

 wings and tail dusky-blackish, the former with some brownish gray edging only 

 on tertials ; flank-tufts of fluffy, yellowish or white feathers, sometimes spreading 

 across rump and in marked contrast to it, hut usually concealed by wings ; throat, 

 belly and crissum, and sometimes middle line of breast, white or yellowish white ; 

 heavily shaded on sides and sometimes across breast with brownish gray or olive- 

 brown, — the feathers with darker shafts-streaks; bill black above, pale yellow be- 

 low ;feet black. Immature: Similar to adult, but coloration a little brighter; 

 wing-coverts fulvous or buffy. Length 7.00-8.00 (177.8-203.2); wing 4.16 

 (105.7) I tail 2.64 (67.1 ) ; bill from nostril .53 ( 13.5). 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow to Chewink size ; heavy shaded sides ; bill yel- 

 low below ; tew-tew note ; keeps high in trees during migrations. 



Nesting. — Not known to breed in Ohio. Nest, a shallow cup of twigs, bark- 

 strips, etc., lined with grass and moss : saddled upon horizontal limb of coniferous 

 trees, often at great heights. Eggs, 3-5, creamy-white or pale buff, spotted dis- 

 tinctly with chestnut ami rufous, and obscurely with purplish and lavender, chiefly 

 in ring about larger end. Average size, .85 x .63 (21.6 x 16.). 



General Range. — North America, breeding from the northern and the higher 

 mountainous parts of the United States northward to British Columbia, and the 

 Saskatchewan River. Accidental on the Lower Yukon and in Greenland. In 

 winter south to Central America, Columbia and northern Peru. 



Range, in Ohio. — A rare migrant. Only a dozen or so records known. 



A familiar resident in the mountains of the West and not uncommon in 

 New England, this large Flycatcher is known to us only as a rare migrant pass- 

 ing to and from its home in the Laurentian highlands. It is not a sociable 

 bird, but migrates in solitary fashion, and roosts high in some scantily clad 

 or dead tree, wherever night may chance to overtake it. At such times it 



