422 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 93 



while I was examining the nest my companion volunteered 

 the information that when he found the nest there was an 

 old snake skin hanging from the hole, and that he had pulled 

 it out for fear it would frighten the old birds. On June 29, 

 when I first saw it, the nest contained six eggs. 



On July 1, at 7:30 p. m., I visited the nest and found four 

 eggs hatched and the fifth one pipped. On the second, I 

 erected a blind at the nest and camped near by. From this 

 time until July 13, my wife and I spent as much time as pos- 

 sible watching these birds. 



The flycatchers were very timid and the blind had to be 

 brought slowly toward the nest. For this reason, it was not 

 until July 5 that it was close enough to make profitable a 

 study of the feeding habits. However, some time was spent 

 in watshing on July 2, 3 and 4, and we found that food was 

 usually visible in the beak, although at the distance we were 

 then working we could not accurately determine its nature. 

 On the morning of July 5 the blind was moved to within five 

 feet of the nest and we could readily identify the morsels 

 brought. There were five nestlings, as the sixth egg never 

 hatched. It was removed sometime during July 2. 



Beginning the morning of July 5, 42 hours were spent in 

 the blind and about one-half as much time was spent under 

 the trees near by watching the feeding habits of the parents. 

 Some time was spent in the blind each day, with the excep- 

 tion of the tenth, when we were called back to town. Of the 

 42 hours 12 were on July 7, when we watched from 5 :00 

 a. m. until 7 p. m. The remaining time was scattered through 

 the other six days. No time was spent in the blind on July 

 13, as some one very considerately stole our blind during the 

 previous night and the birds left the nest before we could get 

 another one ready. We watched for about two hours from 

 a distance of from thirty to forty feet with glasses, but found 

 it very unsatisfactory. 



The parent birds looked much alike, but we had one excel- 

 lent field mark. The male (presumably) had every tail 

 feather perfect, while in that of the female the feathers were 



