PARROTS, KINGFISHERS, AND FLYCATCHERS 



823 



As this species remains in the tops of the 

 trees, it would be noticed seldom except for 

 its notes. 



The friend whose camp I was visiting 

 pointed out the nest of the flycatcher in a 

 hollow limb. For days I spent much time 

 watching this interesting bird. 



For a nest it lines a small cavity in a tree 

 trunk with leaves and other soft materials, 

 on which it places three or four cream-col- 

 ored eggs, handsomely marked with brown 

 and purple. 



The sulphur-bellied flycatcher nests in 

 the mountains of southern Arizona. It 

 migrates through Central America, prob- 

 ably to South America. 



Derby Flycatcher 



{Pitangus sulphiiratus derbianus) 



Though the Derby flycatcher comes 

 into the lower Rio Grande Valley, it is 

 essentially a bird of Latin America. There, 

 in a variety of races differing only slightly 

 in color and size, it has wide distribution. 

 Among travelers in the American Tropics, it 

 is one of the best known of the small birds 

 (Color Plate VI). 



My first view of this species was in the 

 hills above Rio de Janeiro where I saw it 

 against a soul-satisfying background of 

 mountain, harbor, and city. It was one of 

 the first of the many birds I have come 

 to know in South America. 



A few days later I heard its querulous 

 calls from the eucalyptus trees in a public 

 park in Montevideo, and still later found 

 it common on the pampas near Buenos 

 Aires and northward into Paraguay. 



Its notes give it its local names, rendered 

 as bemteveo in Portuguese, bienteveo in 

 Spanish, and pit-o-gue in Guarani, an In- 

 dian tongue spoken widely among country 

 people of diverse languages in Paraguay and 

 Argentina. Elsewhere it is called the kis- 

 kadee. 



In mating display I saw these birds stand 

 erect and bend the bill down to expose the 

 flaring, colored crest, while the partly ex- 

 tended wings fluttered rapidly and loud 

 cracking sounds were made by snapping 

 the bill. The nests are large structures of 

 twigs, with domed top and an entrance in 

 one side. The eggs are cream-colored, 

 spotted with brown. 



These flycatchers eat not only insects, 

 but also small lizards, little frogs, and on 

 occasion fish or minnows. 



The true Derby flycatcher occurs from 

 the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas to 



Panama. Allied races are widely distrib- 

 uted in Central and South America. 



Least Flycatcher 



[Empidonax minimus) 



The smaller flycatchers are the despair 

 of bird lovers, as the various species seem 

 almost exactly alike. It is a relief to en- 

 counter among them the least flycatcher, 

 which, in summer, calls che-bcc steadily and 

 by this homely note may be told with ease 

 from afl its fellows (Plate VII). 



In many localities the characteristic call 

 gives this bird its common name of 

 "chebec." 



The least flycatcher is found in orchards, 

 at the edges of woodlands, and in thickets, 

 where it sits quietly, jerking its tail at inter- 

 vals and occasionally uttering its explosive 

 call. It often comes to dooryards where 

 there is proper cover for it. 



The nest is a compact cup of shredded 

 bark, plant fibers, down, and spiderweb 

 placed in a fork of a bush or tree from 

 eight to thirty feet from the ground. From 

 three to six eggs are laid, pale creamy white 

 without spots. 



Least flycatchers nest from Mackenzie 

 and Quebec to Oklahoma and the moun- 

 tains of North Carolina, and winter from 

 northeastern ^Mexico to Panama. 



The Acadian flycatcher (Empidonax 

 viresccns) , found in summer from Mas- 

 sachusetts and Nebraska to the Gulf States, 

 is larger and broader billed. 



Alder Flycatcher 



{Empidonax trailli) 



The alder flycatcher comes late in spring 

 when leaves are grown and summer is at 

 hand. Ordinarily it is observed merely as 

 an elusive gray form that darts up out of 

 low, dense cover to seize an insect in the 

 air and then disappears behind the leaves 

 (Color Plate VII). 



Usually the compact nest is placed from 

 two to four feet from the ground in a 

 thicket. It contains two to four creamy or 

 pinkish eggs spotted with brown. 



These flycatchers are found from Alaska 

 and Newfoundland southward. In Au- 

 gust, as soon as the young are grown, they 

 head for the South again. 



Buff-breasted Flycatcher 



{Empidonax fulvifrons pygmaeiis) 



Among pines and oaks of the south- 

 western mountains this little flycatcher is 



