240 General Notes. 



strongly blended materials, stems of grasses, hempen fibres of plants, bark, 

 down-feathers, etc. The Avails of the nest are 2 inches thick, and the 

 inner nest is warm and soft. 



The eggs of the capitalis before me dilfer from those of the canaden.tis, 

 but not more than we often find the eggs of the same species differing 

 one from the other. The average size of the canadensis is 1.20 X .82, the 

 ground is a light gray, and the entire egg is finely marked with points and 

 spottings of slate and brown, with faint cloudings of an obscure lilac. 

 These markings are but little more numerous and larger about the rounded 

 end. The measurements of those before me are 1.19 X .86, 1.16 X .86, 

 and 1.10 X ,86. Their ground color is a grayish-white. In two the mark- 

 ings are all grouped around the larger end, the residue of the surface 

 being nearly unmarked. In one the markings are well distributed over 

 the entire egg, but larger and confluent at the rounded end. The mark- 

 ings are larger, more confluent, and not so distinct and separate as in the 

 eggs of the canadensis, and are of a distinct shade of brown. While there 

 is an absence of slate and lilac, and while the markings are all of one 

 color, there is a tinge of purple shading them all, and the blotches vary 

 greatly in the depth and intensity of the shading, from very light to a very 

 deep color. The parent accompanying the nest and eggs is a female, 

 whose measurements are as follows : Length, 11.60; extent, 17.65; wing, 

 5.95; tail, 5.95; tarsus, 1.45; middle toe and claw, 1.15 ; culmen, .80. — 

 T. M. Brewer, Boston, Mass. 



Another Nest of the Yellovv^-bellied Flycatcher (Empido- 

 nax Jlaviventris), — In view of the seeming inconsistencies in the nesting 

 habits of E. Jlaviventris, the record of the finding of another nest may be 

 of interest. The locality was the Richardson Lakes, Oxford Co., Me.; the 

 date, June 18, 1879; and the discovery was very similar to that of the 

 nest which I secured last year at Grand Menan, and which is described in 

 Vol. Ill, No. 4, of this Bulletin. Mr. Pearsall and myself were collecting in 

 a tract of low swampy woods bordering on a stream, when a Yellow-bellied 

 Flycatcher flew up from under my feet. An instant's search revealed the 

 nest, when the parent bird was immediately shot. The nest was built in 

 the side of a hummock of moss under the roots of a small tree, and was only 

 about half covered over, the eggs being clearly visible from the outside. The 

 construction, or rather the almost total lack of construction, was similar to 

 that of the Grand Menan specimen, as were also the eggs, which were four 

 in number and pretty well advanced in incubation. Does not this seem to 

 argue something for uniformity in the breeding habits of this bird ? Here 

 we have three nests, one taken by Messrs. Purdie and Deane, and two by 

 Mr. Pearsall and myself. The locations are quite far apart, viz. Houlton, 

 Me., Grand Menan, N. B., and Richardson Lakes, Me. ; and yet the situation 

 and make of the nests, as well as the color and markino;s of the eggs, agree 

 perfectly. In both cases which I have recorded the identity was beyond 



