266 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



description of flaviventrix, but is veiy like an Acadian shot yester- 

 day. Evidently the species is breeding here." 



Mr. Thompson's identification appears to be correct, for I find that 

 the bird gave utterance to the same note when found near its nest in 

 Maine. 



EMPIDONAX ACADTCUS (Gmel.). 

 191. Acadian Flycatcher. (465) 



Al)u\e, olive-green, clear, continuous ;uul uniform (though the crown may 

 show rather darker, owing to dusky centres of the slightly lengthened, erectile 

 feathers) ; below, whitish, olive-shaded on sides and nearly across breast, 

 yellow-washed on belly, flanks, crissum and axillars ; wings, dusky ; inner 

 (luills, edged, and coverts tipped with tawny yellow ; all the cjuills whitish-edged 

 internally ; tail, dusky olive-glossed, unniaiked ; a yellowish eye-ring ; feet 

 and upper mandible, brown ; lower mandible, pale ; in midsummer, rather 

 darker ; in early fall, brighter and more yellowish l)elf)w ; when very young, 

 the wing markings more fulvous, the genei-al plumage slightly bufty -suffused. 

 Length, i)%-^^ ; wing, 2:^-3 (rarely 3J) ; tail, 2^-2^ ; bill, neaily or ipiite ^, about 

 \ wide at the nostrils ; tarsus, f ; middle toe and claw, h ; point of wing 

 I'eaching nearly an inch beyond the secondaries ; second, third and fourth quills 

 nearly eqiuil and nnirh (\ inch or moi'e) longer than tiist and lifth, whicli about 

 equal each other. 



Fir,'<t plutiiaye : Above, nearly pui-e olive, with indistinct narrow transverse 

 bands of darker ; wing bands, pale reddish-bi'owu ; under parts, soiled yellowish 

 wliite, with an olivaceous cast on the sides and breast. 



Hab. — Eastern United States, chiefly southwaid. west to the Plains, south 

 to Cuba and Costa Rica. 



Nest, composed of catkins, grasses, weed tibies, shreds of baik, rather 

 slovenly in appearance, from three to twenty feet from the ground, in a 

 horizontal fork, fastened by the bi-im, bottom Without support. 



Eggs, two to four, yellowish-l)uff, spotted round the larger end witli lusty 

 brown. 



I mention this little bird more as one to be looked for than as one 

 known to occur here, for I have no positive record of its having been 

 found in Ontario. T have always thought it would be discovered on 

 the north shore of Lake Erie, and the neai'est approach I have to it 

 is in the description of a pair of small Flycatchers which nested in 

 Dr. Macallum's orchard near Dunnville. In this case the nest and 

 eggs were taken, but the birds were allowed to escape, and, unfortu- 

 nately for identification, the eggs of this species are indistinguishable 

 from those of Traill's Flycatcher. 



