Notes from the Laurentian Hills 305 



ian Warblers ; White-th-roated, and Chipping- Sparrows, and 

 Olive-backed Thrush ; also, apparently nesting, Olive-sided 

 Flycatcher, Swamp Sparrow, and Golden-crowned Kinglet. 

 The Yellow-bellied Flycatcher is quite common in the district 

 and having found only two nests leads me to suspect that the 

 bird is a very light sitter — a trait highly developed in it^ 

 near relation, the Alder Flycatcherr. 



Other members of the family are well represented in the 

 district, i.e. ; — the Kingbird, Wood Peewee, Olive-sided, and 

 Alder Flycatchers, and less commonly Least, Crested, and 

 Phoebe Flycatcher. Earlier on the same day, in another lo- 

 cality at St. Mairgaret, I found a nest of the Golden-crowned 

 Kinglet (Rcgiilns satrapa satrapa). It was quite by accident 

 that my eyes became focused on a mass of green, slightly 

 brighter than the surrounding Balsam foliage, and I experi- 

 enced a thrill similar to the botanist, who, on finding the 

 Yellow Ladies Slipper, felt as if he had discovered hidden 

 gold. 



At the same time I became aware of the faint, though de- 

 liberate. " dee-dee '" of a Kinglet, differing from the usual call 

 note " ti-ti." This was apparently the alarm note though with 

 little expression of alarm or otherwise ; in fact, so expression- 

 less as to attract attention in time by its very monotony. 

 There was no sign of the wren-like scolding of the " Ruby- 

 crown " and the only indication of ownership was a slightly 

 increased tempo as I approached closely, when the other bird 

 slipped from the nest and joined its mate. The nest was pen- 

 sile, being hung firom ihe heavily-foliaged limb of a Bal- 

 sam Spruce, two feet from its tip, ten from the trunk, and 

 tw^elve from the ground. 



At the point where the nest was built, numerous branch- 

 lets occurred, several of them being caught in the nesting 

 material beneath and securely fastened with knots of spider's 

 silk. The supporting limb, half an inch in diameter at the 

 nest, with the foliage, completely concealed the entrance be- 

 neath. Externally, the nest was almost entirely composed of 

 bright vellowish-green mosses, mainly of the Hypnaceae 



