224 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



found. Concerning them, Mr. Davie says: "The eggs are 

 remarkable in their coloration, having a ground of bufFy- 

 brown, streaked longitudinally by lines sharp and scratchy 

 in style, and markings of purple and darker brown; 

 four to six in. number; average size, .82 by .62. The 

 smallest Qgg selected from one hundred specimens meas- 

 ures .76 by .62; the largest, .93 by .70. The Qggi^ are so 

 peculiar in their style of markings that they may be easily 

 identitied, and all the eggs of the North. American species 

 of the genus Myiarchus are alike in character." 



The noisiest periods in the summer life of the crested 

 flycatchers are when they are mating, and when the young 

 are learning to provide for themselves and to procure 

 their living. The first lessons of the youngsters in catch- 

 ing insects are conducted by the anxious parents with 

 vociferous and repeated illustrations, and the novices 

 receive much shrill advice as to how the thing should be 

 done. As the broods are late in leaving their nests, the 

 shrill calls and cries are heard until late in July, and their 

 activity does much to enliven the dull woods at a time 

 when most other species are skulking and silent during 

 the moulting period. Usually a second brood or late 

 family of wood pewees can be heard and seen in the 

 vicinity, and the likenesses and differences of the two 

 related species can be observed to advantage. The crested 

 flycatchers leave us some time in the first two weeks of 

 September, their loud, shrill, but not disagreeable whistles, 

 and their animated, restless movements having filled a 

 place in their forest home which must remain vacant until 

 their return with the leaves of the hardwood trees in the 

 following season. 



The crested flycatcher makes its summer home in east- 

 ern United States to theConnecticut Valley inclusive, and 

 to the edge of the great plains, ranging northward to 

 Manitoba. It retires to pass the winter in eastern Mexico, 

 Guatamala, and adjacent regions. It commonly makes its 

 appearance in central Illinois in the third week of April, 

 arriving as a rule a few days later than the kingbird. Its 

 vociferous cries immediately inform the interested observer 

 of its advent, and its restless movements make it conspic- 

 uous among the wood birds. As has been stated, however, 

 it is somehow overlooked by indifferent persons. 



