OF NEW ENGLAND. 273 



The three genera of smaller flycatchers may be distinguished 

 as follows : 



Sayornis (III). Tail forked, frequently flirted ; tarsus longer 

 than the middle toe. Contopus (IV). Tail slightly forked, 

 never (?) flirted ; tarsus shorter than the middle toe. Empi- 

 donax (V). Tail even or rounded, and depressed upon the 

 utterance of the very abrupt energetic, som^-note, when the 

 head is thrown back also. 



I. TYRANNUS 



(A) CAROLINENSIS. (Tyrant Flycatcher.) King-bird. Bee 

 "Martin." Field "Martin." 



(A common summer-resident in New England.) 



(a). About eight inches long. Above, very dark gray, 

 slightly brownish on the wings. Crown and tail, black ; the 

 latter broadly white-tipped, the former with erectile crown- 

 feathers touched with orange or vermilion. (Many wing- 

 feathers, and the outermost tail-feathers, white-edged.) 



[The Gray King-bird (T. Dominicensis) is about nine inches 

 long, and is rather grayer, with the "tail conspicuously forked," 

 and not broadly white-tipped. "An immature specimen was 

 taken by Mr. Charles Goodall, at Lynn, on October 23, 1868 ;" 

 "its usual habitat being Florida and the West Indies."] 



(b). The nest of our King-bird is commonly placed, from 

 five to fifteen feet above the ground, in a horizontal fork, or on 

 the limb, of an orchard-tree. Sometimes it is built, even 

 nearer to the ground, in the crotch of a low sapling or stout 

 bush, in some field or pasture. It is composed of the fine 

 stalks of various weeds and grasses, intermixed with plant- 

 down, to which are often attached bits of "sweet fern," dead 

 leaves, or moss, and it is frequently lined with horse-hairs. It 

 is, in this State, finished about the first of June. The eggs of 

 each set are four or five, and average 1*00 X '75 of an inch. 

 They are creamy-white, with a few large spots of lilac, and 

 umber, or occasionally reddish-brown. These spots are some- 

 times replaced by blotches, and, in two specimens before me, 

 by large splashes of several shades of brown. 

 10 



