^°''i9l6^"^] Movshi^Y, Birds of H alley, Que. 71 



mobbed the young Red-shouldered Hawk had their nest on the top of a 

 small stump in the center of the drowned land, and another curious situa- ' 

 tion selected by a pair of birds was right on the top of a small bush in the 

 centre of a field. About here three and four, more generally three, seem 

 to be the usual number of eggs in a set; five I have never found and only 

 once a set of two. They are fond of hawking over the marsh and I have 

 seen them strike the water like a swallow on one or two occasions. 



43. Myiarchus crinitus (Linnajus). Crested Flycatcher. — Fairly 

 common summer visitant; May 10 to Sept. 9. Average date of arrival 

 (for two years) May 12; of departure (for two years) Sept. 5. Eggs: June 25 

 to July 10. Previous to the spring of 1914, 1 had not observed this handsome 

 flycatcher, but am glad to say that since then it has been fairly plentiful, 

 although I have only been able to locate two nests, the one on the above 

 date in July containing the remarkable small set of two eggs only. The 

 nest was in an old woodpecker's hole and when found the female was on the 

 nest, the eggs being somewhat well incubated. In addition to the usual 

 materials this nest contained a large quantity of human hair combings, 

 but no trace of snake skins could be found, which remark also applies to the 

 other nest, which contained a set of five eggs, and was placed also in an old 

 woodpecker's hole twelve feet up in a birch tree in the centre of a field. 



44. Sayornis phoebe (Latham). Phcebe. — Common summer visi- 

 tant; April 13 to Oct. 13. Average date of arrival (for five years) April 

 14; of departure (for four years) Sept. 28. Eggs: May 14 to June 26. 

 Bridges not being very plentiful in this part of the country, the Phoebe has 

 to content itself with the beams of outbuildings and ledges of verandas for 

 nesting sites, and in the woods the sugar houses are made use of. At one 

 farm house I counted over eight nests in close proximity to one another. 

 This year (1915) a pair built on toy veranda and a set of eggs was laid by 

 May 14. These I took at nightfall and substituted three addled Bluebird's 

 eggs with a view of seeing what the Phoebe .would do when they failed to 

 hatch out at the proper time. On these substitutes she sat steadily for the 

 first fortnight, then began to leave the nest at intervals, but it was not 

 until after June 16 that I noted a change, when both birds appeared to 

 be taking building material again to the nest. Naturally I became very 

 much interested but not wishing to disturb them, did not inspect the nest 

 again until the 26th, when I found what perhaps has never before been 

 described of this species, viz.: that it had raised the outside of the nest and 

 had built over the offending blueliird's eggs, thus forming a two storied nest 

 similar to a Yellow Warbler when she builds over a Cowbird's egg. At 

 the date mentioned the Phoebe had laid a fresh set of four eggs, which 

 hatched out on July 12, and the young birds left the nest on or about the 

 29th. I have two sets in which spotted eggs occur. 



45. Myiochanes virens (Linnceus). Wood Pewee. — Fairly common 

 summer visitant; May 25 to Sept. 16. Average date of arrival (for four 

 years) May 29; of departure (for three years) Sept. 8. — This is one of the 

 few summer visitants whose nest I have not yet succeeded in finding, but 



