DELAWABE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 13 



here! " The first note is rather weak, the last one is somewhat 

 prolonged. It is thought that this call can be heard for a good 

 half-mile. Another note resembles ' ' Quip, quip. ' ' Careful 

 search has not yet revealed the nest. 



The Alder Flycatcher was one of the surprises when I first 

 visited Pocono Lake. Although a meek and humble member 

 of the avian community it has taken a large part of the time of 

 the bird-hunters. It is by no means uncommon along bushy 

 lake-shores and water-courses. It keeps pretty well out of 

 sight for the most part, but sometimes mounts an exposed 

 perch after the usual manner of flycatchers. Its notes are a 

 "prep," and an unmusical production suggesting: "Sque sque 

 erp." This is in the same class with the notes of the Acadian 

 and Least Flycatchers, but is less abrupt than either. 



The search for the nest was continued unsuccessfully for so 

 many seasons that we were tempted to think that the Alder 

 Flycatcher never had any nest at all, but carried its eggs about 

 under its wings. Finally a little bunch of stufif was found, 

 hidden away in a leafy bush about a foot from the ground. 

 No birds appeared to have any interest in it, but it grew from 

 day to day. At last, by watching it soon after sunrise, the 

 Flycatcher was seen to claim it as her own. This nest met with 

 disaster in some unknown way, after egg-laying had begun. 

 Another was found nearbj?^, several days later. This was prob- 

 ably a second attempt by the same pair of birds. A third nest 

 was found in 1916. This one was not well hidden, being placed 

 in an open spirea bush about four feet above the ground, over 

 shallow water in a birch thicket. The nests were rather 

 roughly built of dry grasses. The eggs resembled those of the 

 Acadian Flycatcher. 



The Least Flycatcher inhabits the more open, cultivated dis= 

 tricts. It has received much less attention than its two near 

 cousins. 



Hidden away from ordinary observation by rhododendron 

 thicket and a swamp, there are two small tracts which have 

 yielded rich returns. There many of the spruces are rather 

 small, but thick-leaved and dense. Nearby are well-grown 

 forests of spruce and white pine. The ground is covered with 



