THE TRAILL'S FLYCATCHER. 



(Emfiidonax trailing) 



"A few species loiter and dally among country, where the other is apparently 

 the foliage in the first weeks of spring, never found. One of their common call 

 as though loath to assume the respon- notes sounds like queet-queet, and the 

 sibility of rearing a family; they flit in alarm note uttered when the nest is ap- 

 ancl out among the leaves, uttering soft proached is something like that of Traill's 

 notes of love and quiet content, seeming- Flycatcher, whuish-whuish." 

 ly with no cares and no thought of home- Traill's Flycatcher is partial to the wil- 

 building. In this list we find Traill's low and alder thickets bordering streams 

 Flycatcher — a small bird with bright or swampy places, yet it may also be 

 olive back and whitish under parts, with found in the vicinity of gardens, orch- 

 dusky wings, crossed by two grayish ards, pastures and parks. Exhibiting 

 bars." These words of Mr. Silloway great nervous energy, they seldom re- 

 express some of the traits in the charac- main in one place for any length of time 

 ter of this lively, retiring and quiet little and are constantly flying from one perch 

 bird. Indeed, so quiet is it that it may to another, catching insects on the way. 

 be abundant without attracting the at- In the more eastern portions of the 

 tention of any one excepting a close ob- range, Traill's Flycatcher is usually a 

 server. very shy bird and frequents only alder 



Students of bird life have recognized swamps and deep meadows. There it can 



two varieties of Traill's Flycatcher, one easily hide among the foliage where it is, 



an Eastern form and the other a West- perhaps, more often heard than seen. A 



ern form, each passing into the territory note that it frequently utters during the 



of the other. So similar are their char- breeding season, as it rests upon a twig, 



acteristics and so nearly alike are their sounds like pree-pe-deer, and another has 



habits that the differences seem much to been likened to the syllables wit-tip-che, 



slight to warrant their separation and wit-ti-go. "The alarm note is something 



many Ornithologists place both under the like whuish, whuish, uttered quickly and 



name Empidonax traillii. Considering emphatically." In fact it is a pugnacious 



the two birds, and the intermediate forms and somewhat quarrelsome bird, "mak- 



between them, as simply variations of one ing up in courage and determination 



species, we may give its habitat as fol- what it lacks in size." Writing of the 



lows : North America in general, breed- Western form, Major Bendire says : "I 



ing from Arizona, Missouri, Illinois, have seen one drive a red-shouldered 



Northern New York and New England blackbird away from the vicinity of its 



to Alaska and New Brunswick, and visit- nest, pitching down on it angrily and 



ing Mexico and Central America during pecking at its head and neck in the man- 



the winter. ner of its larger relatives when chasing 



Major Charles Bendire, writing of the crows and hawks." 

 Western form of this Flycatcher, which The home of this trim little Fly- 

 is called the Little Flycatcher, says that catcher is well constructed, and is usuallv 

 according to his observations in the West placed in the crotch of a bush or a small 

 it "is not nearly as shy a bird as its East- tree and not very far from the ground, 

 ern representative, and while on the whole Sometimes the nest is placed on a hori- 

 it also probably prefers moist situations, zontal branch, provided there are several 

 like Traill's Flycatcher, it seems to be smaller branches arising from it. The 

 equally as well satisfied in rather dry materials vary according to the locality. 



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