The Hom-e of the Great Crest 425 



some of each of these forms taken on the wing" and their 

 manner of hfe makes it probable that the majority of them 

 were taken in this way. Some of these if not captured in 

 the first dash, were not pursued further, but others, notably 

 butterflies and moths, were followed until secured. Once a large 

 bald-faced hornet came into the blind and succeeded in get- 

 ting out just as the female came from the nest and alighted 

 on a branch. She made a dash and captured him before he 

 was fairly started. Flies, dragon flies, and bees were, as 

 far as we observed, caught in very short dashes. The only 

 lady beetle taken under our observation was one which had 

 been crawling about on the bark of the nest-tree and which 

 was captured as it flew away. 



The second method was somewhat different, although the 

 insects were still taken while the flycatchers were on the wing. 

 This method was to hang on rapidly beating wings before a 

 leaf or branch and pick insects from it. They were observed 

 to secure larvcE, daddy-longlegs, long-horned grasshoppers, 

 and some spiders in this way. Some of the spiders were 

 found to be taken by the third method. Excluding spiders, 

 the other forms which were observed to be taken only in this 

 manner, total 103, or about 33% of the identified food. Some 

 of the daddy-longlegs were picked from the outside wall of 

 the blind. 



The third method was a variation of the first. The Great 

 Crests sat on a low branch until they saw an insect in the 

 grass, when they would drop to the ground and secure it. 

 (This does not include those picked from the grass without 

 alighting.) Crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, and spiders were 

 observed to be taken in this way. When they missed the in- 

 sect, they never hopped or ran along the ground, but rose into 

 the air and dove down into the grass again. One watched 

 catching a grasshopper near the foot of the nest tree went 

 through this performance several times before the prey was 

 finally secured. Probably most of the three forms were taken 

 bv this method while spiders were also taken by the second. 



