40 



rHE OOLOGIST. 



generally silent, and when approached 

 are quite shy. 



The Least Flycatcher (Empido7iax 

 minimus), or as it is called from its 

 note chebic. is the smallest of all the ily- 

 catchers that can be found in New Eng- 

 land, either as visitors or stragglers. 

 Its average length is about live inches, 

 but often a little less. 



Its home is in orchards or on the edge 

 of woodland, (^specially those composed 

 of birch, maple or beeches. Dr. Coues 

 says: "It is not ordinarily found in 

 gloomy woods, nor even in heavy tim- 

 ber of any "kind." When it has selected 

 its home for the summer it often con- 

 fines itself with some closeness to a sin- 

 gle group of trees. 



The Chebec has aU the ordinary Fly- 

 catcher habits, such as flirting the tail, 

 scolding in a harsh, unmusical voice, 

 and dashing into the air to catch a fly- 

 ing insect. Its song note is a loud, em- 

 phatic but unmusical cry, closely re- 

 sembling the syllables chebic; it U often 

 written as cadit and sewick. 



Mr. Nuttall states, and he is the only 

 one that I ever heard of vvho did, that 

 the Chebic has a quarrelsome disposi- 

 tion, and he has seen them molest other 

 smaller birds. But I have never seen 

 them molest tiie jSummer Yellowbird 

 [Dendroica cestioa) or Chippiog Spar- 

 row even when they nested in the same 

 clump, or even in the s-ime tree, as is 

 ofteu the case. 



A true-born tighter is the Kingbird 

 {Tyrannus tyrannus); acid its special 

 enemy seems to be the Crow. It al- 

 ways rises above its foe, and drops up- 

 on its back, "attacking it with both 

 beak and claws, until the unlucky in- 

 truder makes off with ludicrous conster- 

 nation." Not long ago I owned a very 

 young Crow, and one day I was attract- 

 ed by hearing a lou<l noise from it. 

 Turning round, I saw mv Crow sitting 

 on the ground, with a Kiagljird flying 

 about it, and now and then darting 

 down at it, as if pecking at it with its 



beak. I drove it away two or three 

 times, liut as it seemed ill disposed to 

 leave, I finally had to take the Crow in- 

 dooi's, for fear of its being hurt 



The Purple Martin is said to be the 

 implacal)le enemy of the Kingbird, and 

 one of the few birds with which the lat- 

 ter maintains an unequal contest. Its 

 superiority in flight gives the former 

 great advantages, and its equal courage 

 and strength render it more than a 

 match. Audubon relates an instance 

 in which the Kingbird was killed in one 

 of these struggles. 



Parkhurst notes that in bathing it 

 flies from its perch directly into the 

 water, generally a small stream, dashes 

 the water over its back and returns to 

 its perch, repeating the performance 

 sereral times. "It is perhaps this hab- 

 it," he writes, "which has given rise to 

 the unfounded id(-a that it feeds upon 

 small fishes." 



Before closing with the Kingbird, I 

 can do no better than to quote from 

 Mr. C. C. Abbott, in his book, "Bird- 

 Land Echoes." He writes, "Very dif 

 ferent is the Wood Pewee's cousin, the 

 doughty Kingbiid. , Here we have a 

 Flycatcher that is not retiring in its dis- 

 position; a bird ot the open air; one 

 that feels that it has a right in the 

 world, and bas the courage of its con- 

 victions A lively bird that mostly 

 squeaks if moved to express itself, 

 though it can sing in a humble way, it 

 is said; but it makes amends for all vo- 

 cal deflcieucles by an exhibition of all 

 the excellent qualities of bird-nature. 

 A little too quarrelsome, perhaps; cer- 

 tainly so in the minds of Crows and the 

 larger hawks, but fi'DUi our standpoint 

 this is a source of aiuuseaient, vve not 

 being directly interested. * * * * 

 There is little danger of exaggeration 

 in speaking of the Kingbird. It looks 

 all that it is, and is all that it looks. It 

 has a fancy for the open fields, and does 

 not forget tbem when conflned to a tree 

 at nesting time. It likes the broad out- 



