BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 255 
EMPIDONAX PUSILLUS TRAILLIL (Aupuzon). (4662). 
TRAILL’S FLYCATCHER. 
Traill’s Flycatcher usually arrives in the latitude of Minne- 
apolis not far from the 20th of May, and is abundantly repre- 
sented for its species for ten or fifteen days, when the princi- 
pal part move on further north to breed. Individuals are 
occasionally met with so much later that if no nests had been 
obtained I should feel assured of their breeding in this section 
to some extent, but a few nests have been obtained by col 
lectors, which upon examination I have pronounced those of 
this interesting bird. Mr. Lewis who is familiar with the 
habits of this species reports them common along the St. 
Louis and Rainy Lake rivers in the northern sections of the 
State during the months of June and July, from which 
although he collected no nests he naturally inferred they bred 
there. The nests I have seen were obtained under conditions 
corresponding to those described as characteristic of this bird, 
viz:—About swamps and lowlands and along streams, and were 
without exception found in the forks of bushes and saplings, 
and about seven to ten feet from the ground. They were com 
posed externally of various fibrous materials mixed with 
grasses, giving them a bleached gray appearance, the inside of 
fine grass neatly adjusted, while there is a downy substance 
distributed throughout the entire structure. The eggs were 
creamy-white with the larger end somewhat spotted with 
reddish-brown. The autumnal migration takes place from the 
first to the tenth of September. 
I am not a little surprised that Mr. Washburn did not meet 
this species in his earlier explorations of a portion of the Red 
river valley, as he made a careful observation of others of the 
~ 
same genus. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Third quill longest, second scarcely shorter than fourth, first 
shorter than fifth, about thirty-five hundredths of an inch 
shorter than the longest; primaries about seventy-five hun- 
dredths of an inch longer than secondaries; tail even; upper 
parts dark olive green, lighter under the wings, and duller and 
more tinged with ash on nape and sides of neck; center of the 
crown feathers brown; a pale yellowish-white ring (in some 
specimens altogether white) around the eye; loral feathers mixed 
with white; chin and throat white; the breast and sides of 
taroat light ash tinged with olive, its intensity varying with 
individuals, the former sometimes faintly tinged with olive; 
sides of the breast much like the back; middle of the belly 
