422 empjdonax ACAD If us. 



TiiP Ac.'uliiin Flycatchers are not shy hir;l3 smd will permit one ti> come within ten or 

 fifteen yards without evincing any nneasin.ess; \/hon a. m.^arer approach is attem})te(l, how- 

 ever, they will ntt; r a low Imt •<\!o\'Vi\)i pe-wit of alarm a-nd flit to a more distant perch. In 

 addition to tliis note which is given by both sexes, though that of the females is nunjh less 

 distinctly rendered, the males have a loud sc~wink, emphatically emitted, followed by an 

 attempt at a song which consists of a scries of chuclding notes like those of a Flicker when 

 heard in the distance. Wlien thus performing, the birds flutter t'.ieir wings after the man- 

 ner of the other Flycatchers, and occasiouidly they will make this motion without the ac- 

 companying notes. These are the only sounds that I ever heard them produce andi, although 

 fpiite similar to those given by the other members of the genus, are characteristic enough 

 to rcMider their authors recognizable at once, When I first entered the place of which I 

 spea,k, I wa.s confident that the Flycatchers were breeding for I noticed that the females, 

 like many other birds when incubating, appeared sluggish, but to make certain of this I 

 sliot one, Avhen a look at the denuded abdomen confirmed my suspicions. I then set about 

 searching for the nests s_ystematically; or perhaps I should have said, I let the birils de tlie 

 searching while I watched them. Whenever I saw a Flycatcher, usually a male iis most of 

 the females were setting, I ([uietly sat down and oljscrved his movements, t;iking vtivc, 

 however, not to alann him. After uttering a few^se-winks and mtiking the accompanying 

 nuisical attempts, he would sna]) up a passing insect or two, then fly leisurely along the 

 valley, occa-sionally pausing a moment, thus I C(_)uld keep him in sight. In this v/ay I 

 woul 1 f'dknv, until he would finally stop near a witch-hazel and utter his notes quite raj»- 

 idly. Then I would feel sure that the nest was in the immediate vicinity and cautiously 

 drawing near, would almost invariably detect the low, a,nswering twitter of his mate as she 

 sat on the eggs. Generally their home would be concealed by the lai'ge leaves of the hazel 

 but sometimes I coull sec it for some distance. The nests wdiich I found there were among 

 the most artistic specimens of bird architecture that I ever beheld, for they were partly con- 

 structed of living lichens the cmls of which were allowed to tra.il downward, and the deli- 

 cate colors contrasted finely with the green of the foliage. The drawing which I give was- 

 taken from a nest that I oljtained at the time of which I am writing and is representeil 

 as being on a, l)ra.nch of the witcli-lnizel. 



The witch-hazel appears to be a, favorite with them for all but one of the fifteen nests 

 which I discovered wore placed in this shrub, the exception to the rule being built on a. 

 low limb of a, hemlock. The flat domiciles were always phiced near the extremity of the 

 limb, supported by a horizontal fork, and from five to ten feet from the ground. The lia- 

 zels usually grev/ from the valley bottom but occasionally one would be found, a few yards 

 up the mountain side. The birds exhibited very little solicitude upon lieing disturbed, the 

 female often alighted on a branch only a few yards away and quietly arranged her leath- 

 ers while I was transferring her nest and eggs to ray collecting baskt't. 



The Acailian Flycatc'.iers, as h.ive been shown, arrive late, the hist week in May, 

 and soon after breed, nesting, as far as I could judge, a.bout the fifth or sixth of June, ibr 

 cm the fifteenth of the month the eggs all contained embryos and smue few were quite f;u- 

 Hilvunced. Their stay in the ncn-th is limited as they migrate early, probably shorlly alter 



