FLYCATCHERS 259 



forest; the Olive the more remote of the two, 

 for the Great Crest sometimes nests in orchards. 

 The Pewee, too, is sometimes found in woods. 

 The Least, the Acadian, and TrailPs, or the 

 Alder, are closely related, but their call notes and 

 their haunts will distinguish them. Traill's is a 

 bird of the north ; the Least, of the south. 



As a family, the Flycatchers contrast sharply 

 with the Sparrows ; the big heads and shoulders 

 and the broad, flat, bristly bills of the Flycatchers 

 (Fig. 38, p. 92, and Fig. 110, p. 192), being most 

 unlike the small round heads and shoulders and 

 conical bills of the Sparrows (Fig. 119, p. 193). 

 And while the lowly Sparrows pick up seeds from 

 the ground or low weeds, the Flycatchers mount 

 to the high places to look for insects. On dead 

 twigs or treetop perches they lie in wait for their 

 prey, shoot out upon it, capture it with a snap of 

 their hooked beaks, and instantly return to await 

 the next hapless flies. In this habit of lying in 

 ambuscade the Flycatchers differ from many of 

 the other insectivorous birds, such as Swallows, 

 Swifts, and Nighthawks, who fly through the 

 air snapping up insects as they go. Indeed, their 

 feeding habits more nearly resemble those of 

 the Waxwings, the Red-headed Woodpecker, and 

 Kingfisher, all of whom make short sallies and 

 return to their trees. As the Flycatchers live 

 on insects most of them make extended migra- 

 tions, leaving the north early in the fall and 

 returning late in the spring. 



