394 



THE OOLOGIST 



serted that section and now occurs 

 only as a migrant. The few birds that 

 I have met with were wild and would 

 not allow a near approach. They were 

 usually silent, but a bird seen in a 

 swamp in Plymouth County screamed 

 continually, — a loud shrill note like 

 the call of a Great Crest. 



Of the five species of Flycatchers 

 that summer common with us, the 

 Wood Pewee is the last to arrive — 

 usually about May 20. As their name 

 implies they are birds of the woods, 

 but at times one will visit the orchard; 

 and during June, 1900, a pair built 

 a nest in an orchard near where I was 

 staying at the time. 



The Wood Pewee builds the daint- 

 iest and most artistic nest of any of 

 our eastern Flycatchers. Compact 

 and symmetrical, it is made only of 

 fine materials. It is saddled onto a 

 limb or firmly attached to two parallel 

 twigs and the exterior decorated with 

 bits of lichens. When complete it 

 matches its surroundings perfectly, 

 and is then difficult to find unless by 

 accident, or by watching the birds. 

 The eggs, three or four in number, are 

 white, with a creamy tint, and are 

 marked with spots of brown and faint 

 lilac, mostly about the larger end. 

 Some eggs are exact miniatures of 

 eggs of the Kingbird. Late in August 

 or early in September as you walk 

 through the pine woods you see a 

 bird said quietly down from a dead 

 branch near the top of a pine, catch 

 an insect and fly to another tree some 

 thirty feet away. In a minute or 

 two he repeats the performance, re- 

 turning to his first perch. Soon you 

 see another, then another do the same 

 until you discover that there are a 

 dozen or more Wood Pewees in the 

 trees about you, when you probably 

 thought they were well along on their 

 journey to their winter home. Al- 

 though the last to arrive in the spring, 



the Wood Pewee is not among the 

 first early migrants to leave in autumn, 

 but tarries until close to the 20th of 

 September, only the hardy Phoebe re- 

 maining longer. 



At this season, they are usually si- 

 lent save for a faint "quip" given as 

 they return to their perch after chas- 

 ing a passing insect. 



The Yellow-bellied and Alder Fly- 

 catchers are rare birds in this locality 

 and I have never positively identified 

 either of them here. They both pass 

 through duirng the last few days of 

 the spring migration and might be 

 easily overlooked. The Alder Fly- 

 catcher summers in one or two re- 

 stricted localities in the state. 



During the last few days of April or 

 early in May the Least Flycatcher ar- 

 rives. You know of his presence long 

 before you see him; his brusque 

 "chebec, chebec," greets you alike from, 

 the orchard, lawn, the shade trees of 

 our streets, and in woods of not too 

 thick second growth. In about two 

 weeks after his arrival he selects a 

 mate, then he leaves the woods and 

 takes up his home about our houses, 

 selecting a branch of an apple or pear 

 tree as a site for his nest. This is 

 made of soft plant fibres, fine grasses, 

 the buff colored down from the fronds 

 of opening ferns and long horsehair. 

 The eggs are usually four unmarked 

 and of a cream white. Fresh eggs 

 are to be found by June 1st. 



On the 9th of June, 1901, I found 

 a nest containing three eggs. The 

 fourth egg was laid the next day, but 

 the bird did not start to incubate until 

 the 11th. On June 25th three young 

 hatched and the fourth egg proved to 

 be infertile— the period of incubation 

 being 14 days. The young remained 

 in the nest, thirteen days. 



After the young are out of the nest 

 we see but little of these birds and 

 they doubtless leave for the south 



