Birds of Indiana. 863 



1895, October 12, 1896, and October 19, 1894; which is the latest for 

 !he State. The well known severe weather in the south in the spring 

 of 1895 must have destroyed many Phoebes. Their decrease was noted; 

 in some localities, it was decided, that summer. By far the greater 

 part of the Phoebe's food is insects. Few, if any, birds are of more 

 benefit. Its work is often about the house and garden, where every 

 effort counts in favor of man. In 80 stomachs examined, over 93 per 

 cent, of the food was insects and spiders. The remainder was wild 

 fruit. The insects were mainly injurious kinds, including click bee- 

 tles, weevils. May beetles, grasshoppers and flies. Major Bendire says 

 cut- worm moths is one of their favorite foods. 



105. Uknus CONTOPUS Cakanis. 



11^. Wing 3.90 or over; sides of rump with a conspicuous tuft of white cottony 

 feathers. Subgenus Nuttallornis Kidgway. C. borealis (SwAixs.). 175 



(I". Wing 8.60 or less; no tuft of white feathers on sides of rump. 



Subgenus Contopis. C. virens (Linn.). 176 



Subgenus Nuttallornis Ridgw. 



175. (459). Contopus borealis (Swains.). 



Olive-sided Flycatcher. 



Adult. — Upper parts, between fuscous and dark olive; wings and 

 tail, fuscous; throat, middle of the bell}^, and generally a narrow line 

 (m the center of the breast, white or yellowish-white; rest of the under 

 parts of nearly the sttne color as the back; under tail coverts, marked 

 with dusky; a tuft of fiuffy, yellowish-white feathers, on either flank; 

 upper mandible, black; lower mandible, yellowish or pale grayish- 

 brown, the tip darker. Immature. — Similar, but with rather more 

 olive above, more yellow below, and with the wing coverts edged with 

 ( )chraceous-bufl:. 



Remarks. — This species may always be known from other Fly- 

 catchers by the comparatively little white on the under parts, and by 

 the tuft of yellowish-white feathers on the flanks. Like the Wood 

 Pewee, it has the wing .50 or more longer than the tail (Chapman, 

 Birds E. N. A., pp. 246, 247). 



Length, 7.10-7.90; wing, 3.90-4.50; tail, 2.80-3.50. 



Eange. — America, from Peru to mouth of St. Lawrence River, 

 Oreat Slave Lake and Alaska. Breeds from Massachusetts, N^ew York 

 and Minnesota, north and south along Eocky Mountains to New 

 Mexico and Arizona. Winters south of United States. 



