FLYCATCHERS 313 



the tail and wings and bobbing of the head. They are more 

 rarely in Maine found about barns and out buildings. The 

 nests are placed against beams and stone walls of culverts, on 

 beams and in similar situations under bridges and in culverts 

 or in out buildings, the same place being reoccupied year after 

 year. 



A typical nest, found attached to a granite block under a 

 railroad culvert and about six feet above running water, was 

 composed of moss, cemented together and attached to the foun- 

 dation by mud, and lined with grasses of the finest nature and a 

 little hair. The mossy outside of the nest was fresh and green. 



The nest was two and a quarter inches high outside, and 

 one inch deep inside, the external diameter was five and the 

 internal diameter two inches. There were several old nests, 

 the relics of previous years, all remaining attached to the 

 walls of the culvert and seemingly in good condition. The 

 five fresh eggs this nest contained. May 13, 1896, measure 

 0.74 X 0.58, 0.73 x 0.56, 0.76 x 0.57, 0.75 x 0.57, 74 x 0-56. 



Nest building requires about thirteen days, though I have 

 known exceptionally of a nest being built in seven days. The 

 nest is started within a very few days after the birds appear at 

 their old homes in the spring. An egg is laid each day until 

 the set is complete. Three to eight, usually five pure white 

 eggs are laid, generally unspotted but sometimes with a very 

 few small dots of reddish brown about the larger end. 



The male does some of the incubating, and is generally to 

 be found guarding the vicinity when the female is on the nest. 

 The male also helps in bringing the nesting material. The eggs 

 hatch in thirteen days and the young leave the nest in fifteen 

 days more. A second brood may be looked for later on, the 

 eggs for this brood being laid about the 20th of June. The 

 food consists of moths, beetles, mosquitoes, flies and almost any 

 other winged insects, though in late summer I have known of 

 at least one instance where both red cherries and raspberries 

 were eaten in late summer. 



