194 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



shady slopes and mountains where the rocks and soil are covered with 

 a dense mat of green mosses and the atmosphere is continually laden with 

 moisture. Here it may be found from early in June to the first of August 

 and here it constructs its nest hidden among the moss on some fallen log 

 or thickly covered rock or steeply sloping bank. Its external dimensions 

 are 4 by 4.5 inches and the internal dimensions 2 by i| inches, composed 

 of mosses, lichens and liverworts, mostly mosses of various kinds. It is 

 almost impossible to discover the nest except when the bird is driven from 

 it. The eggs are from 3 to 5 in number, usually 4, milky white, finely 

 spotted with rusty or cinnamon brown, and average .67 by .51 inches 

 in dimensions. They are laid from the 15th to the 25th of June and fresh 

 ones are occasionally found as late as the middle of July. The Yellow- 

 bellied flycatcher utters a low plaintive " peeh-peeh " or " pee-a," as 

 some write it, or as it sounds at other times, " pee-ivick "; another note 

 might be written " ti- pee-a." After the young are able to care for them- 

 selves they commonly descend from the mountainside and are found more 

 about the streams, swamps and lakesides. 



Empidonax virescens (Vieillot) 

 Acadian Flycatcher 



Plate 68 



Platyrhynchos virescens Vieillot. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. 1818. 



27:22 

 Empidonax virescens A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 215. No. 465 

 virescens, Lat., greenish (lit. becoming green) 



Description. Upper parts olive green, but lighter in shade than that 

 of the Yellow-bellied flycatcher; under parts white washed with pale yellowish 

 and slightly tinged with greenish on the breast, but the throat and the center 

 of the belly tawny white; wing bars and edgings of the secondaries tawny. 



Length 5.75-6.25 inches; extent 9.50; wing 2.6-3.15; tail 2.25-2.75; 

 bill from nostril .35; width at base .30; tarsus .65. 



Distribution. This species inhabits eastern North America from 

 Iowa, southern Ontario, New York and Connecticut south to Texas and 

 northern Florida; winters in northwestern South America. In New York 



