THE YELLOW-BELLIED ELYCATCUER. 297 



of the nest and of the moss bed m which it rested, and his investigation disclosed 

 the fact that the mosses which abounded iminodiatelv about the nest had not 

 been utilized as building- material. As determined by Professor Eaton, the 

 species of moss composing- the bed were Hi/jmum umhratum, Ili/jnmm splendens, 

 Hiipnnin schrcheri, Ilypnuin. crista-castrensis. Those appearing- in the nest were 

 JL/jiintiii 'nniUcriamuH, Iliipmim muhhiihrcMi (!), IHcranuiii lovf/ifollmn, Dicranum 

 f<i(/rlliirc, I'oh/tri(hu))i, commniic, and I'oli/trirJn(informosMni. With these occurred 

 the following- Hepatic*: Mastifiohi-ijum frilohafinn, S'aipiniid (ilJiicans, and Ccpha- 

 loziahicusindata. In addition there were found among- the materials of construc- 

 tion catkin scales of the birch, leaves of the balsam, and fra-gments of the dried 

 pinnae of ferns; l)ut, as suggested by Professor Eaton, the presence of some 

 of these was probably accidental. Springing from the verdant moss beds 

 immediately about the nest were scattered plants of Oxalifi acetosclla, TrienUdis 

 (iiiicricana, Soliddt/o tliyrsoidca, and Clintonia horealis."^ 



I am indel)ted to Dr. William L. Ralph for the opportunity f)f studying the 

 nesting habits of this interesting Flycatcher. Wliile on a, tour of observation 

 in the southwestern portions of the Adirondack mountains in Herkimer Count}', 

 New York, while passing through a swampy piece of mixed woods which was 

 free from undergrowth in this particular si)ot, but mostly covered with dense 

 alder thickets in the immediate vicinity, a nest and four eggs of this species was 

 found on June 17, 1892. The nest was placed among the upturned roots of a 

 medium-sized spruce tree, to Avhich considerable soil, which was entirely covered 

 with a luxuriajit growth of spagnum moss, was still attached. This perpendic- 

 ular moss and fern covered surface measured about 6 by 8 feet. The nest was 

 sunk into the moss and soil behind, about 14 inches above the ground; the 

 entrance was partly hidden by some ferns and the growing- moss aroinid it, and, 

 taken all in all, it was one of the neatest and most cunningly hidden pieces of bird 

 architecture I have ever seen. I might have walked ]iast a dozen times without 

 noticing it. It contained four eggs, hi which incubation was about one-third 

 advanced. The entrance was nearly circular, and measured about 1^ inches 

 in diameter. The inner cup of the nest itself measured about 2 inches in 

 diameter and IJ inches in depth. It was composed of fine grasses and a few 

 black, liair-like rootlets and flower stems of mosses. A couple of days after 

 finding this nest a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was seen flitting- about the upturned 

 roots of a tree about 150 yards from where the first was taken, but a most 

 careful search failed to reveal the location of the nest, if a second pair bred 

 there. 



On a subsequent visit to the same locality, on June 8, 1803, a second nest 

 was found, containing two eggs; these were left until June 10, when there were 

 four. This nest was placed not over 100 feet from the former, and was probably 

 Iniilt by the same pair of birds which nested there the previous year. The 

 nesting- site was in a swnuipy wood, composed mostly of spruce and tamarack 

 trees, in a slight hollow in the side of au<l at the foot of a small mound al)out one 



' Transactions Linnasau Society, Vol. I, 1882, pp. IGl, 162. 



