TYRANNIDvE — THE FLYCATCHERS. 345 



resident in the State during the summer months, but believes the great 

 niajority go farther north to breed. 



In Western Maine it is a common summer visitant, breedin;^ there in con- 

 siderable numbers. Professor Verrill states that it is freiiueiitly seen there 

 the first of March, becoming (^uite common by the first of April. It is also 

 a summer visitant about Calais, where it breeds, but is rather rare. At 

 Hamilton, Canachi, Mr. Mcllwiaith reports it as a common summer resident, 

 arriving about April 15. 



In I'ennsylvania this species arrives among the earliest spring visitants, 

 sometimes as early as the first week in March, and continues in tliat region 

 until late in October. Wilson has seen specimens as late as tlie 12th of 

 Xoveml)er. He states that in tlie month of February he met with tliem 

 feeding on the smihix berries in the low, swampy woods of North and South 

 CaroHna. Tliey were already chanting their simple, plaintive notes. In 

 Massachusetts tliey usually arrive from the ir)th to the 2oth of March. 

 In the warm spring of 1870 they were already abundant by the 10th. 

 They were nesting early in April, and their first brood was ready to fly by 

 the middle of May. They have two broods in a season, and occasionally 

 perhaps tliree, as I have known fresh eggs in the middle of August. They 

 leave late in October, unless the season be unusually open, when a few linger 

 into November. 



Their \vell-knovrn and monotonous, tliough not unpleasing, note of jye-ivee, 

 or, as some hear it, 2^h<e-hee, is uttered witli more force and frecjuency in 

 early spring tlian later in the season, though they repeat the note throughout 

 their residence north. It usuallv has some fav(>rite situation, in which it 

 remains all the morning, watching for insects and continually repeating its 

 simple song. As he sits, he occasionally flirts his tail and darts out " ^ 

 each passing insect, always returning to the same twig. 



This species is attracted both to the vicinity of water and to tV^ .gh *'^' - 

 hood of dwellings, probably for the same reason, — the abunda' . inscLts in 

 either situation. They are a familiar, confiding, and ger oird, attached 

 to localities, and returning to them year after year. The aild in sheltered 

 situations, as under a bridge, under a projecting rocb ^n the porches of 

 houses, and in similar situations. I have known tl m to build on a small 

 shelf in the porch of a dwelling ; against the wail of ;i ^ailroad-station, with- 

 in reach of the passengers ; and under a projecting win(.ow-sill, in full view 

 of the family, entirely unmoved by the presence of the latter at meal- 

 time. 



Their nests are constnicted of small pellets of mud, placed in layers one 

 above the other, in semicircular form, covered with mosses, and warmly lined 

 with fine straw and feathers. When the nest is placed on a flat surface, — 

 a shelf or a projecting rock, — it is circular in form, and mud is not made 

 use of. A nest of this description, taken by Mr. Vickary in Lynn, and con- 

 taining five eggs, was constructed on a ledge, protected by an overhanging 



\o\.. li. 44 



