TYRANNID^ — THE FLYCATCHERS. 371 



in August, 1869, and in the township of Newry, Me., in June, 1871. Their 

 favorite haunts were the dense alder thickets along the runs and small 

 streams, over these dark retreats, perched on some tall dead branch, full in 

 the rays of the noonday sun. The male sang vigorously, occasionally 

 darting out after some insect, and returning to the same perch. His song 

 consisted of a single dissyllabic refrain, kc'wing, uttered in a harsh peevish 

 tone at an interval of about thirty seconds, varied occasionally to Mvniik, 

 or Id-ivinch. At each utterance his head is thrown upwards with a sudden 

 jerk. They were retiring, but not shy, were easily approached, and were 

 apparently not so restless as most Flycatchers. 



Near Washington, Dr. Coues found Traill's Flycatcher a rare spring and 

 fall visitant, a few possibly remaining to breed. They came about the last 

 of April, and passed south the last of September. Professor Baird frequently 

 met with them about Carlisle, Pa. 



In Southern Illinois, Mr. Ridgway has found this species a rather common 

 summer resident, chiefly met with in tiie open woods. It was found nesting 

 in Northwestern Massachusetts by Mr. A. Hopkins, in Illinois by Mr. Tolman, 

 in New Brunswick by Mr. Barns tow, and at Fort Ptesolution by Messrs. 

 Kennicott, Ross, and Lockhart. 



I have myself found this species on the banks of the Androscoggin 

 and Peabody Rivers in Gorham, and met with several of their nests. 

 They were all in similar situations, and it was quite impossible to obtain 

 a glimpse of the bird after she had left her nest. The nests were all made 

 like those of the Indigo-Bird, externally of dry grasses and fine strips of 

 bark, and lined with finer stems of grasses. The eggs were five in number, 

 and incubation commenced about the first of June. I have discovered their 

 nests at the same time among the foot-hills at the base of Mount Washington, 

 its wooded sides being, at the time, covered with snow to the depth of 

 several feet. 



Among the memoranda of Mr. Kennicott I find one dated Fort Resolution, 

 July 9, mentioning the procuring of the parent nest and egg of this species. 

 The nest was three feet from the ground, in a small spruce among thick low 

 bushes. The female was shot on the nest, which contained two young and 

 two eggs. Eggs of this species from Gorham, N. H., and Coventry and 

 Randolph, Vt., do not essentially vary in size or shape. They measure 

 .63 of an inch in length, by .56 in breadth. Their ground-color is white, 

 with a distinctly roseate tinge. They are oval in shape, a little less obtuse 

 at one end, and marked almost entirely about the larger end with large and 

 well-defined spots and blotches of purplish-brown. 



