EMPIDONAX ACADICUS : ACADIAN FLYCATCHER. 35 



This account of the decided peculiarity of the nest is 

 endorsed by Dr. Coues, upon examination of specimens 

 sent to him from Missouri. " Two nests of this species 

 are strikingly different from those of trailli in structure, 

 in materials, and in position. They appear to have been 

 taken from long, slender horizontal branchlets, in the 

 horizontal forks of which they rest. They are shallow 

 nests, — in fact, rather saucer-like than cupped-shape, 

 some three and a half inches across outside by less than 

 two inches in depth, the cavity over two inches across 

 the brim, by scarcely one inch in depth. They are very 

 light, ' open-work ' structures, so thinly floored that the 

 eggs may have been visible to one looking up from 

 below ; and the walls, though more compact, still let 

 daylight through on all sides. These nests, in short, 

 may be compared to light hammocks swung between 

 forks. Each is composed almost entirely of long walnut 

 aments, which, drooping in slender sprays from all sides, 

 give a tasteful, airy effect to these pretty structures. 

 There is a slight lining in each case of slender grass- 

 stems and still finer rootlets, loosely interlaid in every 

 direction on the bottom, rather circularly disposed around 

 the brim. These specimens were taken June 13 and 18, 

 1879, in hickory woods, at altitudes of ten and fifteen 

 feet." (Bull. Nutt. Club, v, 1880, p. 23.) 



According to the same authority the eggs of acadicns 

 are so similar to those of trailli that no one should pre- 

 sume to tell them apart with any show of confidence. 

 They are said to be only three in number. Dr. Coues 

 also gives the following rules for distinguishing the four 

 eastern species of the genus, when site and structure of 

 nests and character of eggs are together taken into con- 

 sideration: — 



