TRAILL'S FLYCATCHER. 187 



Not but what a certain number pass us every year, but that it is quite difficult to tell just 

 when they will pass and just where to find one for, like the other members of the genus, 

 this Flycatcher migrates very rapidly and is withal somewhat eccentric in choice of local- 

 ities in which to feed. I have found them on the upland among deciduous trees, in thick 

 pines, and in swampy thickets. This was, however, when they were on the way to their 

 summer homes, but when once settled in the woods of Northern New England, they almost 

 always prefer the alder thickets which border the countless streams of that well watered 

 region. 



It would be quite difficult to detect the presence of this small Flycatcher when the 

 leaves arc on the trees, were it not for its notes which are quite peculiar, sounding like the 

 syllables ke-wick, rather slowly given when compared with the che-beck of the Least Fly- 

 catcher and are somewhat harsher. This lay is repeated about twice a minute during the 

 earlier portion of the day, after which the bird becomes silent. While singing it is almost 

 always perched upon some elevation but not so high as to render it observable as it is con- 

 cealed by foliage. 



It is only in its chosen home in the mountain valley where the rushing sound of rap- 

 idly flowing water fills the cool air, that the peculiar notes of this Flycatcher are heard. 

 During the migration they are silent; consequently they are, as already intimated, not easy 

 to find. Yet as they are seldom found in other than thick woods, it is well to examine 

 carefully any small Flycatcher seen there for it will quite likely be this species. The 

 Least Flycatcher does occasionally venture into the wooded districts but it is by far a more 

 nervous and active bird than Traill's which although it has a similar habit of jerking the 

 tail, so noticeable in the common species, yet this is done less frequently. Besides this, 

 Traill's Flycatcher is apt to perch lower, often being found in thickets only a few feet high, 

 and I have shot them when they were sitting within a foot of the ground. As related, 

 they are not constant to any particular kind of woodland during the spring migration, but 

 in autumn I have nearly always found them in the wooded lowland and in the vicinity 

 of water. 



In spring, Traill's Flycatcher appears in Pennsylvania about the middle of May, 

 reaching .Massachusetts some two weeks later and arriving in its summer resort about the 

 first week of June. They soon commence the duties of nest building, placing the domi- 

 cile in an upright fork of an alder not far from the ground, according to Mr. Brewster who 

 has obtained several. The eggs are laid about the last of June. When the young appear, 

 the adults exhibit considerable solicitude, flying about the intruder and reiterating their 

 cries quite.' rapidly. The fledgelings leave the nest in August and accompany their parents 

 lor a time, but scatter when migrating and I have obtained solitary individuals in Massa- 

 chusetts as late as the eleventh of September. But the southward march is even more 

 hurried than the spring migration and by the first of October, they have all departed, at 

 least from the Northern and Middle sections of the United States. I do not think that 

 this Flycatcher ever appears in Florida; in fact all of the members of the present genus are 

 rarely found in the latter named section, as in migrating they pursue a westerly course, 

 keeping along the Mississippi Valley, and so on through Texas, into Mexico. 



