106 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



trimmed hedges of two to four seasons' growth appear to 

 be its favorite places of resort in the dry prairie regions, 

 as well as bushes bordering water-courses, and standing 

 in meadows and low situations. Places frequented by 

 Bell's vireo and the white-eyed vireo are usually ten- 

 anted by this flycatcher. It has do distaste for proximity 

 to towns and villages, and hedges are likely to harbor 

 it, provided they furnish the horizontal and drooping 

 branches on which it ordinarily places its upright nest. 

 ' The first two or three weeks of their summer residence 

 are spent by these flycatchers among the bushes or 

 along the hedges, sporting with their companions, and de- 

 voting their days to quiet courtship and the delights of 

 love, enjoying a period corresponding to the honeymoon 

 of more rational beings. Strolling along the hedges at 

 this season, we hear them playing with their mates, ut- 

 tering a gentle "queet," or"grea' deal," perhaps followed 

 by a low, squeaky monologue or dialogue. Presently one 

 darts into view, followed by a companion, both uttering 

 the soft but emphatic note above given, and then both dis- 

 appear in the foliage as quickly as they appeared. When 

 over the hedge, out of our sight, they talk in a low, lisp- 

 ing chatter, which is readily suggestive of the first efforts 

 of a child to blow his tin whistle. This is their nearest 

 approach to singing, as the flycatchers are ranked by 

 naturalists among the Clamatores — the group of passerine 

 birds which lack the complicated singing apparatus, and 

 whose vocal performances are limited to short cries. Oc- 

 casionally one of the birds flies over the hedge, and 

 perches momentarily on a bare limb, after the manner of 

 the pewee. Almost immediately it is away after a passing 

 , insect, which it takes by a short outward and upward 

 flight, and returns to its perch, to dart over the hedge and 

 out of sight before fairly settling to rest. 



These flycatchers seldom go far from their homes, 

 and soon after their arrival they attach themselves to a 

 particular piece of hedge, along which they play, and in 

 which they will establish their households. When the 

 home is in process of erection, and after the eggs are de- 

 posited, their gallantries occur near the nest; and when 



