TRAILL'S FLYCATCHER. 



Empidonax traillii alnorum. 



Char. Upper parts olive brown, darker on the head, lighter on the 

 rump ; under parts whitish, the sides tinged with pale olive, which ex- 

 tends nearly across the breast, the belly tinged with yellow; wings dusky, 

 with yellowish white bars. Length 5>^ to 6 inches. 



Nest. On an upright fork in a clump of alders or low deciduous tree, 

 I to 8 feet from the ground ; composed of grass roots or hempen fibre, 

 lined usually with fine grass, sometimes with horse-hair or thistle-down. 



Egg^- 3-4 ; creamy white or buff, boldly spotted with light and dark 

 brown chiefly about the larger end ; 0.70 X 0.53. 



This species, so nearly allied to the last, was first distin- 

 guished by Audubon. Its note resembles the syllable 'wheet, 

 'wheet, articulated clearly while in the act of flying. It was 

 first observed on the wooded skirts of the prairies along the 

 banks of the Arkansas. Mr. Townsend and myself observed it 

 in various places in the skirts of the forests of the Columbia 

 and Wahlamet during the summer, when it was breeding, but 

 we could not discover the nest. Its motions are thus de- 

 scribed by Audubon : " When leaving the top branches of a 

 low tree this bird takes long flights, skimming in zig-zag lines, 

 passing close over the tops of the tall grasses, snapping at and 

 seizing different species of winged insects, and returning to the 

 same trees to alight." 



Traill's Flycatcher is chiefly a spring and autumn migrant 

 through southern New England, though a few pairs breed as far 



