THE SMALL GREEN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER. 143 



was off the nest, he was very pugnacious ; attacking every 

 bird that came near, and even forcing a robin to retreat, so 

 fierce was the onslaught he made on it. He always, in 

 attacking other birds, uttered his shrill cry, chehec^ cliebec, 

 and snapped his bill loudly and fiercely. When perching, 

 he often flirted his tail in the manner of the Phebe ; and, 

 every few seconds, he emitted his note, — chebec, chebec, 

 eJiebec; varied sometimes into chebec-trree-treo, chebe c-treee- 

 cheu. 



The young were all hatched by the fourteenth day, and 

 left the nest within a month from their birth. They were fed 

 abundantly, while on the nest, by the parents, with insects, 

 which they caught and crushed between their bills : they 

 were fed a few days after they left the nest, and then turned 

 adrift ; the parents having begun another nest on the same 

 tree. 



The Least Flycatcher has often been called the Small 

 Green-crested or Acadican Flycatcher. I would caution 

 those who are interested in the history of these birds to 

 observe great care, and be certain of their identity before 

 naming them. 



By the second week in September, it leaves on its south- 

 ern migration. 



EMPIDONAX ACADICUS. — Baird. 



The Small Green-crested Flycatcher. 



f Muscicapa acadica, Gmelin. Syst. Nat, I. (1788) 947. Aud. Orn. Biog., 11. 

 (1834) 256; V. (1839) 429. Nutt. Man., L (1832) 208. 

 Muscicapa querula, Wilson. Am. Orn., II. (1810) 77. 

 Tyrannus acadica, Nuttall. Man. I. (2d ed., 1840) 320. 



Description. 

 The second and third quills are longest, and about equal; the fourth a little 

 shorter, the first about equal to the fifth, and about thirty-five one-hundredths less 

 than the longest; tail even; the upper parts, with sides of the head and neck, olive- 

 green, the crown very little if any darker; a yellowish-white ring round the eye; 

 the sides of the body under the wings like the back, but fainter olive, a tinge of the 

 same across the breast; the chin, throat, and middle of the belly white; the abdo- 

 men, lower tail and wing coverts, and sides of the body not covered by the wings, 

 pale greenish-yellow ; edges of the first primary, secondaries, and tertials margined 



