466 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



According to Forbush ('13, p. 369) : "The well-known Blue Jay 

 (Cyanocitta cristata) is destructive to the eggs of the smaller birds, 

 whose nests it robs systematically, and it has frequently been seen 

 to kill the young. The Robin and other larger birds will drive the 

 Jay away from their nests, but it often succeeds in robbing them by 

 stealth. Vireos, warblers, and sparrows it regards very little, and 

 plunders their nests without noticing their agonized cries. Jays 

 and Crows together sometimes make it very difficult for other birds 

 to raise any young." 



Prairie Horned Lark. Otocoris alpestris practicola Hensh. 



Length y.y. Above brownish, streaked ; throat and sides of head yellow ; 

 broad stripe from bill down sides of throat and the breast black; black 

 feathers over each eye prolonged into little " horns " ; lower surface white. 



The Prairie Horned Lark was seen at Cranberry Lake by me in 

 [916, on only one occasion, when a pair visited the bare tennis court 

 of the open campus on the morning of July 25, and pecked over the 

 sandy area. When disturbed, they arose in the well-known mount- 

 ing flight peculiar to the larks, rising by stages until above the trees 

 near by and thence flying across the lake toward the north. Prof. 

 L. H. Pennington includes this variety of the Horned Lark in his 

 manuscript list of birds of Cranberry Lake. 



Least Flycatcher. Empidonax minimus (W. M. & S. F. 

 Baird) 



Length 5.4. Above brownish green; wing-bars light buff; below white, 

 grayish on breast, sides tinged with yellow; tail slightly forked. 



The Least Flycatcher inhabits the clearings and avoids the real 

 woods. It likes the sapling growth, especially of maple and birch, 

 in the Burn, where it sets its nest in an upright crotch and whence 

 it can dash out over the shrubbery and snap up hovering insects. 

 This Flycatcher goes by the name of "Chebec" in many books, copied 

 from its call, which is represented as accented on the second syllable. 

 To my ear the call seems always accented on the first syllable, 

 sounding somewhat like see-vick; and I cannot write it otherwise. 

 G. M. Allen ('03, p. 122) remarks that " it seems to follow civiliza- 

 tion almost as closely as the Alder Flycatcher does the alder swamps, 

 and extends its range up the valleys with the settlements ;" and 

 adds, concerning the Chipping Sparrow : " Like the Least Fly- 

 catcher, it follows closely the path of civilization, and has doubtless 

 greatly extended its range within historic times as the forests have 

 disappeared before the advance of the white man." In another 

 paper Allen makes a broad generalization as follows: "The effect 

 of clearing off the heavy primeval forest by man in his progress up 

 these same valleys has doubtless been to extend in great measure the 

 transition area." 



Alder Flycatcher. Empidonax trailli alnorum Brewst. 



Length 6.1. Like Least Flycatcher, but larger, and no forking tail. 

 The Alder Flycatcher is associated with well-lighted deciduous 

 woods with a fair undergrowth of saplings and shrubbery. It 



