326 



THE ACADIAN FLYCATCHER. 



queep or chier-queer; whoty, whoty (Bendire) ; What-d'ye-see (Wheaton) ; 

 tshee-kee, tshee-kee i Blanchan). Seven other authorities consulted wisely re- 

 frained from the attempt. 



It is not altogether unusual to find the Acadian Flycatcher frequenting 

 second growth clearings, and the woodsy borders which face damp brush lots, 

 but he is more commonly found along the umbrageous vista of some unfre- 

 quented wood-road, or in the gloomy heart of the forest. Here he waits im- 

 patiently for mosquitoes and midges, darting at them suddenly from his perch, 

 making a quick turn at the goal, and bringing his mandibles together sharply 

 with a click which for one poor insect is the veritable crack of doom. Here, 

 too, in some dim aisle of the forest, from the feathery tip of a horizontal or 



Photo by J. B. Parke 



U/Al.IAX FLYCATCHER AND YOUNG. 



descending branch, a frail cradle is swung. It is a shallow saucer of fine 

 twigs, leaf-stems, or the stalks of some slender vine made fast by the edges 

 to forking twigs or half supported by them. Usually the materials are loosely 

 interwoven and bound together by cobwebs, but the latter are often absent. 

 Catkins and dried blossoms also generally enter into the construction. Occa- 

 sionally the whole affair is so careless that it merits Dr. Wheaton's comparison, 

 "a tuft of hay caught by the limb from a load driven under it." Beech trees 

 are not the only hosts of this little gnat-king. Dr. Jones says, "I have taken 

 nests from the maple, dogwood, oak, hickory, black-haw, thorn, Indian-arrow, 

 beech, elm, papaw, willow, hazel, and wild grape-vine."' To this list must be 

 added the hemlock, a favorite tree wherever it is to be found. 



