2)^0 Farley. The Alder Flycatcher in Massachusetts. Toct' 



duces excited fighting notes which resemble the corresponding 

 utterances of the Least Flycatcher. The pips are then louder 

 than usual and somewhat approach in tone the whits of the Least. 



Li its summer home the Alder Flycatcher is one of the quietest 

 of birds. After a long interval of silence, during which it has 

 uttered not a sound of any sort, the bird n-va.y pep freely for a 

 little while, interspersing the whistled pep-whees or the whees 

 {wheeos) alone without the introductory pep. But the intervals 

 are long between such spells of vociferousness. 



The soft pep-w/iee {whiug) must be sharply listened for by the 

 unaccustomed ear. It is a faint little cry that rarely rises above 

 the gentle rustle of the alder and maple leaves as they are 

 stirred by the June zephjTs. 



With reference to its manner of nesting the Alder Flvcatcher, 

 in eastern Massachusetts at least, might well be given the addi- 

 tional name of Bvish Flycatcher. So far as I have observed, it 

 nests invariably in a bush, selecting most often a wild rose, or 

 clump of rose shoots or sprays — usually Rosa carolitm L.^ The 

 nest is often overshadowed by the alders which are scattered 

 here and there in clumps in the bushy meadow. But it is as 

 likely to be placed in unshaded shrubbery in the full glare of 

 the sun. When in the open, it is more or less hid, however, by 

 the mingled mass of wild roses, sweet gale, and other bushes 

 rising breast-high all about it. It is often in the thickest jungle 

 of such growth where tall, waving ferns vie in height with the 

 predominating tangle of rose bushes that the Alder Flycatcher 

 hides away its nest. 



The height of the nest from the ground is from two to four 

 feet. It is placed rather loosely, at times even flimsily, in an 

 upright crotch or rather fork, or else between independent twigs 

 that furnish a similar support. In either case the nest is sus- 

 pended in a characteristic and peculiar way. I have never seen 

 it set snugly down into a crotch after the manner of the Least 

 Flycatcher. It is, instead, supported between twigs or prongs. 

 It gets its chief support, as a rule, from two main shoots which 



' I recall finding a nest once in a small shrub of meadow sweet {Spiraea 

 salicifolia L.). 



