OF NEW ENGLAND. 281 



scribable " dark olive-brown ;" sides (almost meeting across the 

 breast), shaded streakily with the same. Under parts, other- 

 wise white or yellowish. Wings, with more or less obscure 

 white edging. Bill black above only. 



(b). The nest is much less finished and artistic than that of 

 the Wood Pewee, and is, moreover, nearly alwaj^s placed in an 

 evergreen or orchard-tree. It is frequently built in a pine, 

 from fifteen to even fifty feet above the ground, being placed 

 in the fork of a horizontal limb. One before me is shallow, 

 and is composed of twigs, fine strips of bark, stalks of field- 

 weeds, and a little moss. The eggs of each set are usually 

 five, average about -85X'65 of an inch, and are in Massachu- 

 setts laid in the second week of June. They are white, or 

 creamy, spotted with lilac and reddish-brown. 



(c). The Olive-sided Flycatchers may be classed among 

 those birds, who are, at least in Massachusetts, neither rare 

 nor common. They reach this State about the middle of May, 

 and leave it in September. They may more often be found 

 among evergreens than any others of their tribe, and most 

 often occur in orchards or among pines. They are expert fly- 

 catchers, and have the habit of selecting a post, frequently a 

 dead stump or decayed limb, to which they continually return. 

 In common with other members of their family, they have a 

 quarrelsome disposition, in consequence of whicli they often 

 engage in broils, even among themselves. They are, however, 

 no more gregarious than other flycatchers. 



(d). Their notes possess the tone which largely character- 

 izes this family of birds. Sometimes they are merely queru- 

 lous whistles, like pu-pu-pu (often somewhat lengthened), and 

 at other times form a distinct song-note, "eh phebee, or h'phe- 

 bea, almost exactly in the tone of the circular tin whistle or 

 bird call, being loud, shrill, and guttural at the commence- 

 ment." (Nuttall.) These notes are subject to marked varia- 

 tions, which I find it impossible to describe satisfactorily. 



(B) VIRENS. Wood Pewee. 



(In Massachusetts, a common summer-resident.) 



