320 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



flits about with twitching wings and jerking tail, uttering a 

 "cek" of concern and alarm. 



The nest is always placed in low bushes in thickets at 

 heights of usually two or three feet, and the eggs are laid from 

 the middle to the last of June. The eggs are three or four in 

 number, creamy white to pinkish buff colored with dots, spots 

 and blotches of cinnamon brown, umber and lilac about the 

 larger end where they sometimes form an open, interrupted 

 wreath. A nest taken at Bangor, June 21, 1895, was com- 

 posed of fine weed fibres and fine grasses, lined with finer 

 material of the same nature, and was situated in the fork of 

 an alder bush, two and a half feet from the ground in a 

 thicket. This nest was similar to many I have seen and 

 measured two and a half in depth outside by one and a 

 quarter inches inside, the exterior diameter was three and a 

 half and the interior diameter two inches. The eggs measure 

 0.72x0.55, 0.70x0.53, 0.75x0.57, 0.73x0.55. 



The nest is usually finished within ten days from its begin- 

 ning, an egg is laid each day, and incubation begins at once. 

 The incubation period is twelve days and the young leave the 

 nest about thirteen days after they are hatched. The female 

 does all the nest building and incubating, but the male encour- 

 ages her by remaining in the vicinity and frequently feeds 

 her, and also when the young are hatched helps to feed them. 

 Their food is almost entirely insects of the various species 

 found in the vicinity, but they occasionally at least in late 

 summer eat the small red " bird cherries," Prumis Pennsyl- 

 vanica, a habit shared by the Kingbird and possibly by other 

 Flycatchers. 



467. Empidonax minimus 'QsavA. Least Fly catcher ; Chebec. 



Plumage: above olive brownish ; wings and tail fuscous; greater and lesser 

 coverts tinged with ashy white, forming bands ; below white, tinged with 

 grayish on breast and sides and sometimes slightly yellowish on the belly. 

 Wing 2.48 ; culmen 0.55 ; tarsus 0.55. Immature birds are a little more 

 yellowish on belly below. 



