372 NORTH AMERICAN BI-RD8. 



Empidonax minimus, P>aird. 



LEAST FLTCATCHEB. 



Tyrannufa minima, Wm. M. ami S. F. Baiud, Pr. A. N. Sc. I, July, 1843, 284. — I b. 

 Sillim. Am. Jour. Sc. July, 1844. — Ari). IJiids Am. VII, l.s44, ;54;!, jJ. oceexoi. 

 Hiiipidomix miiiimm, Baiud, liiids N. Am. 1858, 195. — Sclateu, Cutal. 18t)2, 22U. 

 — Samuels, 141. 



Sp. CiiAU. Second quill lonpost ; tliird and fourth but little shorter ; fifth a little leas; 

 first intermediate between liftli and sixth. Tail even. Above olive-brown, darker on 

 the head, becoming paler on the rumii and ujipcr tail-coverts. Tiio middle of the bai.'k 

 most strongly olivaceous. The nape (in .some individuals) and sides of the head tinged 

 with ash. A '•ing round the eye and some of the loral feathers white ; the chin and 

 throat white. The sides of the throat and across the breast dull ash, the color on the 

 latter sometimes nearly obsolete ; sides of the breast similar to the back, but of a lighter 

 tint; middle of the belly very pale yellowish-while, turning to pale sulphur-yellow on 

 th(! sides of the belly, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts. \Vings brown ; two narrow white 

 bands on the wing, formed by the tips of the first and .second coverts, succeeded by one of 

 brown. The edge of the first primary, and of the secondaries and tertials, white. Tail 

 rather lighter brown, edged externally like the back. Feathers narrow, not acnminate, 

 with the ends rather blunt. In autunni the white parts are strongly tinged with yellow. 

 Length, about 5.00 ; wing, 2.65; tail, 2.50. Young with ocliraceous, instead of grayish- 

 white wing-bands. 



II AH. Eastern United States to Missouri Plains ; Mirador; Orizaba; Belize. Locali- 

 ties : Oaxaca (Scl. 1859, 384) ; Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 122) ; Orizaba (Sci.. Ibis, I, 

 441, and Mus. S. I.); Coban, E.scuintla, Dueuas (Scl. Catal. 18C2, 229); San Antonio, 

 Texas (Dkesser, Ibis, 1865, 474, common, summer). 



Habits. Tlie distinctness of this species from the acadica, with which it 

 had been previously confused, was first pointed out by the Messrs. Baird in 

 1843, hut it was some time before the complete diH'erences between the two 

 species and their distinctive habits and distribution were iuUy appreciated 

 and known. This species, one of the commonest birds in the State of 

 Massachusetts, where the E. acadica is nearly or (piite unknown, was sup- 

 posed by ^Ii-. Xuttall to be the latter species, and under that name is treated 

 and its history given. Wilson contriljuted to cause this error. For although 

 his account of tlie acadica is in part correct, it is not wh'.'lly free from error, 

 and probably tlie nest and eggs described as belonging to the latter were 

 those of the minima. The discovery, by Professor Baird, of the nest and 

 eggs of the acadica, and their marked difl'erence in all respects from those of 

 the mhiimu, which had hitiierto been attributed to it, at once pointed out 

 the errors tliat had prevailed, and permitted the real facts to be appreciated. 



Tliis bird is an abundant species throughout Eastern North America, occur- 

 ring as a migrant in all tlie States between the Atlantic and the Greao Plains, 

 and breeding from the 40th ])arallel nctrtliward over an extent not fully defined, 

 l)ut probably to within the Arctic Circle. It occura in great numbers from 

 Maine to Nebraska, and, unlike all the other species of this genus, is not shy 



