210 Birds of Xorth Cakolina 



washed with dusky grayish on the l)ioast and sides, and generally with a shght tinge of yellow- 

 ish on tlie bellv; lower mandibles usually horn-color. Im. — Underparts sUghtly more yellow; 

 wing-bars more'bulTy. L., 5.41; W., 2.ol; T., 2.21; B. from N., .31. 



Remarks. — -This is the smallest of our flycatchers. Its size, the comparative absence of 

 yellow on the imderparts, and the generally horn-colored or brown lower mandibles are its 

 chief di.slinguishing cliaracters. (Chap., liird.t of E. N. A.) 



lianye in United .S'to<cs. — E;istern States, breeding northward. Winters, like the rest of the 

 genus, wholly south of the United States. 



Range in North Carolina. — The moinitain region in summer l>etween 2,()t)0 and 4.000 feet 

 elevation, breeding at least sparingly. 



Pia. 165. Least Flycatcher. 



The Least Flj-catchcr, the smallest species of the family occurring \nth us, is a 

 regular summer visitor in portions of the mountains. In late ^lay, 1885, Brewster 

 found it of sparse but general distrilnition in parts of Buncombe, Haj^wood, Macon, 

 and Jackson coimties. Cairns regarded it as a rare summer visitor in Buncombe 

 County, but in all his years of observation found only one nest. Bhoads discovered 

 it breeding on Roan Mountain. C. S. Brimley took one near Highlands, Macon 

 County, on May 9, 1908, but, judging from the size of the ovaries, it was probably 

 a migrant. 



We have only one record of the arrival of this species in the State from its winter 

 home in the south, namely, at Highlands, where it was observed by C. L. Boynton 

 on April 24, in 1886. 



This species is said to be less of a forest-loving i)irtl tlian the others of the genus, 

 preferring open country. The nest is a compact, cup-shaped structure, placed in 

 the upright fork of a small tree. The only nest found by Cairns was in a jier- 

 simmon tree at a height of twenty feet from the ground. The eggs are pure white, 

 usually unspotted, averaging .O.t x .50. 



42. FAMILY ALAUDID/C:. LARKS 



A family of Uld World birds, represented in America Ijy one genus and a single 

 species. A number of slightly differing geogra])hical races or subspecies are recog- 

 nized by ornithologists. The birds most commonly called "larks" in this State, 

 namely, the Mcadowlark r-r "Field Lark" (Slurnella magna), and the Pipit or 

 "Skylark" {Antlms rubescens), belong to other families, and are not true larks. 



