FAMILY Tyrannidx. 



The trunk of an old apple tree behind my summer cot- 

 tage is fairly riddled with holes which are the work of thi.-- 

 Sapsucker. As a rule he is "on the job " early in th 

 Hampshire spring before I am on the ground, but I was 

 once early enough to catch him as we say, red-handed! 

 His voice was cracked and he greeted me with a few maud- 

 lin clacks expressive of sappy sentimentality alas, when 

 birds and men drink too much! I wondered whether he 

 would be able to find his way home if he had any. Hut 

 he flew off on balanced wings so it was presumable that 

 the fermented "stuff" had not completely befuddled his 

 head! Occasionally a Sapsucker will so gorge himself 

 with sap that one may pick him up in the hand. 



Family Tyrannidce. 



Alder This is one of the northern Flycatchers 



Flycatcher belonging to the Canadian zone, a rather 



Empidonax , ' 



trailli alnorum rare migrant, therefore, south of central 

 L. 5.75 inches New Hampshire excepting locally in moun- 

 May xoth tain regions. The Alder Flycatcher is some- 



what common in swampy tracts through and north of the 

 White, Franconia, and Adirondack Mountains, in the valley 

 of the Pemigewasset River as far south at least as Wood- 

 stock, and in the valley of the Connect icut as far as Hanover. 

 The upper parts of this species are tinged with an olive tone 

 not present in the Chebec or the Phoebe; the wing-bars 

 and edges of the wing pale brownish gray, under parts pale 

 gray tinged with yellowish cream on the belly, the wings 

 and tail sepia; lower mandible light flesh-colored. Nest, 

 usually in a low alder, or in a swamp rose bush about three 

 feet from the ground, or less, built of coarse grasses, plant 

 down, and fibres, lined with softer materials, pine needles, 

 etc. Egg cream white flecked with cinnamon brown rather 

 more plentifully about the larger end. This is a sub- 

 species of Traill's Flycatcher (a western species), and its 

 breeding ground is from central Alaska, central Quebec, 

 and Newfoundland, south to Montana, southern Ontario, 

 northern New Jersey, southern New York (at Nyack), 

 northwestern Connecticut, eastern Massachusetts, central 

 New Hampshire, and Maine. It frequents moist clearings 



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