TYHANNID.K-TIIl'; FLYCATCHKIW, 355 



till) State, hut not very cnmiiKni, and mh undoiilttiMlly hrooiUnjj; tluro. It was 

 never olisorved tliero beloie llu; 2l)tli of May. It is aaid to bo more uljun- 

 dnnt 1 1 [,alv('. Uniba^^oj,'. 



In NV^'stein MasHacliusetts Mr. \\hi\ re<?ards tlii.s bird as a not very mre 

 Hunnnor visitant. It arrives altoiiL May 12, Ijreeds in iiijfli open woods, and 

 is .seldom seen at any distance I'rom tlieni. It leaves about the niiildle of 

 Se|)t('nd)er. 



Mr. William IJrewster, who resides in ( "ambrid<,'e, in the neij^hborhood in 

 which this species was lirst observed by Mr. Nuttall, infornis me that these 

 l)irds still continue to bo found in that locality, lie has himself met with 

 five or si.v of tlmir ncssts, all of which were placed lunir the extremity of 

 some lonj,' hm'i/ontal branch, usually that of a i)itch-i»ine, but on one occa- 

 sion in that of an a])i)le-tree. The ejjiys were laid al>out the loth of -Tune, 

 in only one instance earlier. The femulcs were very restless, and left tiieir 

 nest lonj,' before he had reached it, and, sittinj,' on some dead l)ranch con- 

 tinually uttered, in a complainiui,' tone, notes re.seml)lin<^ the syllal)les ^)///- 

 2vll-}>UI, occasionally varyinj,' to pn-jiii-]m. The males were fierce and (piar- 

 relsome, and attacked indiscriminately everything that came near their 

 domain, sometimes seeming even to fall out with their mates, fighting sav- 

 agely with them for several seconds. When incubation was at all far 

 advanced, the l)irds evinced considerable courage, diu'ting down to within a 

 few inches of his head, if he approached their nest, at the same time loudly 

 snajjping tiieir liills. 



A nest of this Flycatcher was found in Lynn, Mass., by Mr. George O. 

 Welch, in June, IH'tH. [t was Iniilt on tiie top of a dead cedar, and con- 

 tained three eggs. It was a flat, shallow structure, five inches in its external 

 diameter, and with a very imi)erfectly diitiued cavity. The greatest dei)th 

 was less than half an inch. It was coarsely and loosely V)uilt of strips of 

 the bark and fine twigs of the red cedar, roots, mosses, dry grasses, etc. 

 The nest was so shallow, that, in climbing to it, two of the eggs were rolled 

 out and broken. 



Mr. Charles S. Paine has found this bird breeding in Randolph, Vt. On 

 one occasion he found its nest on the top of a tnU hemlock-tree, but was not 

 able to get to it. 



In riiiladelphia, Mr. Trumbull found this species very rare. It passed 

 north early in May, and south in September. Near Hamilton, Canada, it is 

 very rare, none having been seen ; and two specimens obtained near Toronto 

 are all that Mr. Mcllwraith is aware of having been taken in Canada West. 



Dr. Hoy informs me that this species used to be (piite common near 

 Kacine, frecpienting the edges of thick woods, where they nested. They have 

 now become (piite scarce. Some years since, he found one of their nests, 

 just abandoned by the young birds, which their parents were engaged in 

 feeding. It was on the horizontal branch of a maple, and was composed 

 wholly of iisnca: 



