C. H. Merriam Birds of Connecticut. 51 



inhabit the country immediately about Orange, for, although in the 

 woods nearly every week for years, I never saw it until, after I had 

 almost despaired of ever finding it, I did succeed in shooting a single 



specimen. This was in the fall ; the next spring I saw a pair , 



and, after an absence of two years, returning to Orange, I strolled 

 through the woods } my old hunting grounds, and, to my surprise, 

 almost the first bird I saw was the Great-crested Flycatcher. Sub- 

 sequently I scarcely ever took a walk through the woods without 

 seeing or hearing it." A precisely parallel case occurred in the 

 vicinity of my home in Lewis County, northern New York. There, 

 prior to the year 1870, they were unknown, at least so far as I can 

 ascertain, and it is safe to say that they were extremely rare. In 

 1870 my cousin, Mr. C. L. Bagg, shot one specimen, the first we had 

 ever seen. During the next season I shot a pair. I was away from 

 home in 1872, but Mr. Bagg informs me that he took several Great- 

 crested Flycatchers that year, and that they were quite common. 

 In August, 1873, I shot eight in about an hour's time, and since then 

 they have been one of our commonest species, breeding abundantly 

 in the tall maple and birch forests, where their characteristic, but 

 rather harsh cry, may be heard at any hour of the day throughout 

 the entire season. 



Regarding its former scarcity in Connecticut, Linsley said " a 

 specimen of the Great-crested Fly-catcher was shot by me in the 

 spring of 1838, in my front yard, the only living individual of this 

 bird I have ever seen in this State,"* and Nuttall observed that it 

 was " nearly unknown in New England."f That it is now really a 

 common bird in southern Connecticut, at least, is certain. However, 

 we must take into consideration the fact that these gentlemen (Nutt- 

 all and Linsley) were probably not familiar with its characteristic I 

 may even say diagnostic note, and my experience with the bird has 

 been that it is rarely seen, unless, guided by its note, it is persist- 

 ently followed up, and even then one is often at his wits end to get 

 a shot, so well does the bird keep concealed amongst the foliage. 

 And surely it is not particularly conducive to tranquillity of mind to 

 stand, up to one's knees in water, amidst myriads of mosquitoes, in a 

 hot day in summer, gazing intently up into a tall tree, where, directly 

 overhead, the cry of the Great - crested Flycatcher is constantly 

 heard, and yet the most careful search fails to reveal the exact where- 



* Am. Jour. Sci. and Arts, vol. xliv, No. 2, p. 259, April, 1873. 

 f Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada. By Thomas 

 Nuttall. Vol. i, Land Birds, p. 271, 1832. 



