NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 249 



first of May and begins laying early in June. Messrs. Keyes and 

 Williams record it as a summer resident of Iowa, but not common ; 

 several nests have been taken near Des Moines during the past few 

 years.* In New England the Acadian Flycatcher is of rare occurrence. 

 In Ohio and the bordering States it is an abundant species. Regions 

 timbered with large trees, and overgrown with bushes, Jow trees, vines 

 and weeds are its favorite resorts. The birds love to penetrate the 

 shadowy depths of the forest, and delight to rear their young in the 

 most quiet and gloomy spots. 



Rarely, if ever, is the nest built in isolated trees, but frequently 

 in those along lonely wagon-roads or at the border of woods. In 

 these quiet retreats the observer is often startled by the bird's 

 loud, quick and emphatic note, what-cT-see, what d?-ye-see, coming 

 from an unseen performer, who is perched in the lower branches. 

 The distance of the nest from the ground varies from three to twenty 

 feet, and it is usually suspended in a horizontal fork at the extremity 

 of a low limb. In manner of attachment it resembles the nests of the 

 Vireos, being fastened by the brim, while the bottom is unsupported. 

 Sometimes, as when in vines or bushes, it is suspended between two 

 parallel stems. On the whole, it is a loose, rustic fabric, made of grasses, 

 catkins, weed-fibres and shreds of bark, and when just finished consider- 

 able quantities of grass hangs from the periphery of the nest, giving it 

 a slovenly appearance. 



Two or three eggs are the number deposited by this species. In 

 only two instances, out of the large number which I have collected, 

 have I found nests with four eggs, and in both cases one egg was badly 

 addled. Their color is a light yellowish-buff of varying intensity, with 

 a decided flesh-color tint when fresh. The markings are of a light red- 

 dish or bay or rusty-brown color, and are found either in specks or spots 

 grouped chiefly about the larger end. Ten specimens offer the follow- 

 ing sizes : .70 x .53, .70 x .56, .70 x .53, .72 x .54, .75 x .54, .77 x .58, .77 x 

 .56, .78 x. 57, .77X.56, .78x.57. An average egg measures .74X.54. 

 The eggs are not distinguishable from those of traillii, except that the 

 ground-color and markings in those of acadicus are generally darker. 



466. Empidonax pusillus (SWAINS.) [325.] 



Little Flycatcher. 



Hab. Western North America, from the Great Plains to the Pacific, north to Sitka and Fort Simpson. 



According to Dr. Coues this bird replaces the true trailli from the 

 plains to the Pacific, and " is the usual 'little flycatcher' in Western 



* A Preliminary Annotated Catalogue of the Birds of Iowa: By Charles R. Keyes and H. S. Wil- 

 liams, M. D. Extracted from Proceedings of Davenport Academy Natural Sciences, Vol. V. Davenport, 

 Iowa: 1888, p. 23. 



