EMPIDONAX TRAILLI : TRAILL S FLYCATCHER. 3/ 



pretty-dear, with accent on the de. The bird appears to 

 be quite rare in some sections, particularly Eastern Mas- 

 sachusetts, where E. miniimts is the chief representative 

 of the genus. According to Mr. Merriam, it is in Con- 

 necticut a common summer resident, arriving early in 

 May and frequenting swampy localities, where it breeds 

 (B. Conn., 1877, p. 58). This may be so; but the diffi- 

 culty of distinguishing the little Flycatchers is well- 

 known, and Mr. Purdie writes me that he thinks there 

 must be some mistake about the bird's breeding in 

 Connecticut. For even though Flycatcher nests " like 

 those of the Indigo-bird" have been found in north- 

 western Massachusetts, the distribution of Traill's Fly- 

 catcher in the breeding season is no less characteristic 

 of the Canadian Fauna than is that of several species 

 which have been used to indicate the difference between 

 that Fauna and the Alleghanian. 



According to Mr. Henshaw (Bull. Nutt. Club, i, 1874, 

 p. 15), the nest of Traill's Flycatcher may be compared 

 fairly with the usual style of the Summer Warbler, so 

 well known to every one, " but lacks something of the 

 compactness and neatness shown by this species in 

 weaving together the materials that make up its home. 

 Hempen fibres compose the exterior, or the bulk of the 

 nest, while internally it is lined in true Flycatcher style 

 with fine grasses, and a slight admixture of down from 

 thistles ; the main point of all, however, is its position with 

 regard to the branches. It is built into an 7iprigJit fork, 

 the small twigs that surround it being made available to 

 secure it more firmly in its place by being encircled with 

 the stringy fibres. In this particular of position correspond 

 all the nests of this bird I have seen, as well as those of 

 pusilhis in the West." As Mr. Widmann has observed, 



