BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 245 



the ends of the quills; the greater coverts and quills edged 

 with white, most so on the tertials; the lesser coverts edged 

 with paler; upper tail coverts and upper surface of the tail 

 glossy black, the latter very dark brown beneath; all the 

 feathers tipped and the exterior margined externally with 

 white, forming a conspicuous terminable band about twenty- 

 five hundredths of an inch broad. 



Length. 8.50; wing, 4.65; tail, 3.70; tarsus, 0.75. 



Habitat, eastern North America from the British provinces 

 south to Central and South America; rare west of the Rocky 

 mountains. 



MYIIRCHUS CRINITUS (L ). (452). 



CRESTED FLYCATCHER. 



The Great Crested Flycatcher is a regular summer resident, 

 arriving about the 10th of May. Although less abundant than 

 the Kingbird it is very widely distributed where there is tim- 

 ber. I hear of their presence in nearly every section of the 

 timbered regions which I have not been able to personally 

 visit, and I have visited none where I could spend a day or 

 two that I did not find him. and always under much the same 

 circumstances. 



The perching places, which have uniformly been in the near 

 proximity to the nest, have been along the borders of rather 

 tall timber adjoining a clearing more or less removed from 

 thoroughfares and in the vicinity of lakes or streams. 



The nests are almost uniformly in a hollow trunk or limb of 

 a tall tree, about sixty feet from the ground. For some reason 

 they seem to prefer the elm. but occasionally another species 

 is selected. During the period of incubation, indeed I may say 

 during the remainder of their local history, their habits have 

 little to make them differ from the Kingbird. Their food is 

 essentially the same and they retire in small parties about the 

 first to the tenth of September. They show the same charac- 

 teristic fighting qualities of the smaller cousin, but they do 

 not seem to work quite as hard to get a set-to as he does. 



Mr. Lewis found them as far north as Red lake and Mr. 

 Washburn secured specimens at Thief river near Otter Tail 

 lake. But they are perhaps a little more fully represented in 

 the timbered sections bordering the streams and lakes of the 

 southern counties of the State. 



