40 



rHE UOI.OGIST. 



generally silent, and when approached 

 are quite shy. 



The Least Flycatcher {Empidonax 

 minimus), or as it is called from its 

 note chebic, is the smallest of all the Hy- 

 catchers that can be found in New Eng- 

 land, either as visitors or stragglers. 

 Its average length is about five inches, 

 but often a little less. 



Its home is in orchards or on the edge 

 of woodland, especially those composed 

 of birch, maple or beeches. Dr. Coues 

 says: "It is not ordinarily found in 

 gloomy woods, nor even in heavy tim- 

 ber of any kind." When it has selected 

 its home for the summer it often con- 

 tines itself with some closeness to a sin- 

 gle group of trees. 



The C/te66C has all the ordinary Fly- 

 catcher habits, such as tlirting the tail, 

 scolding in a harsh, unmusical voice, 

 and dashing into the air to catch a Hy- 

 ing insect. Its song note is a loud, em- 

 phatic but unmusical cry, closely re- 

 sembling the syllables chebic; it is often 

 written as cndit and settnek. 



Mr. Nuttall states, and he is the only 

 one that I ever heard of who did, that 

 the Chebic has a quarrelsome disposi- 

 tion, and he has seen them molest other 

 smaller birds. But I have never seen 

 them molest the Summer Yellowbird 

 {Dendroica cestiva) or Chipping Spar- 

 row even when they nested in the same 

 clump, or even in the same tree, as is 

 often the case. 



A true-born tighter is the Kingbird 

 {Tt/rannus tyrannus); and its special 

 enemy seems to be the Crow. It al- 

 ways rises above its foe, and drops up- 

 on its back, "attacking it with both 

 beak and claws, until the unlucky in- 

 truder makes off with ludicrous conster- 

 nation." Not long ago I owned a very 

 young Crow, and one day I was attract- 

 ed by hearing a loud noise from it. 

 Turning round, I saw my Crow sitting 

 on the ground, with a Kingbird Hying 

 about it, and now and then darting 

 down at it, as if pecking at it with its 



beak. I drove it away two or three 

 times, l)ut as it seemed ill disposed to 

 leave, I tinally had to take the Crow in- 

 doors, for fear of its being hurt 



The Purple Martin is said to be the 

 implacable enemy of the Kingbird, and 

 one of the few birds with which the lat- 

 ter maintains an unequal contest. It& 

 superiority in flight gives the former 

 great advantages, and its equal courage 

 and strength render it more than a. 

 match. Audubon relates an instance 

 in which the Kingbird was killed in one 

 of these struggles. 



Parkhurst notes that in bathing it 

 Hies from its perch directly into the 

 water, generally a small stream, dashes 

 the water over its back and returns to 

 its perch, repeating the performance 

 seTeral times. '"It is perhaps this hab- 

 it," he writes, "which has given rise ta 

 the unfounded idea that it feeds upon 

 small tishes." 



Before closing with the Kingbird, I 

 can do no better than to quote from 

 Mr. C. C. Abbott, in his book, "Bird- 

 Land Echoes." He writes, "Very dif 

 ferent is the Wood Pewee's cousin, the 

 doughty Kingbird. Here we have a 

 Flycatcher that is uot retiring in its dis- 

 position; a bird of the open air; one 

 that feels that it has a right in the 

 world, and has the courage of its con- 

 victions. A lively bird that mostly 

 squeaks, if moved to express itself, 

 though it can sing in a humble way, it 

 is said; but it makes amends for all vo- 

 cal deficiencies by an exhibition of all 

 the excellent qualities of bird-nature. 

 A little too quarrelsome, perhaps; cer- 

 tainly so in the minds of Crows and the 

 larger hawks, but from our standpoint, 

 this is a source of amusement, we not 

 being directly interested. * • * * 

 There is little danger of exaggeration 

 in speaking of the Kingbird. It looks, 

 all that it is, and is all that it looks. It 

 has a fancy for the open fields, and does 

 not forget them when confined to a tree 

 at nesting time. It likes the broad out- 



