380 BIRDS TYRANNIDiE. 



Empidonax flavivbntkis Baird. 



"STellow-bellied £f lycatcher. 



Empidonax flaviventris, Kirkpatrick. Ohio Farmer, ix, 1860, 139. — Wheaton, Ohio Agric. 

 Rep. for 1860, 362, 373; Reprint, 1861, 4, 15; Pood of Birds, etc., Ohio Agrio. Rep. 

 for 1874, 568 ; Reprint, 1875, 8.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Gin,, 1877, 10 ; Revised List, 

 Journ. Cin. Soo. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 177 ; Reprint, 11. 



Tyrannula flaviventris, W. M. and S. F. Baird, Proo. Phila. Acad., i, 1843, 283. 

 Empidonax flavivmtris, Baird, Birds N. A., 1858, 198. 



Above olive-green, clear continuous and uniform as in aoadicua, or even brighter ; below 

 not merely yellowish, as in the foregoing, but emphatically yellow, bright and pure 

 on the belly, shaded on the sides and anteriorly with a paler tint of the color of the back j 

 eye-ring and wing-markings yellow ; under mandible yellow ; feet black. In respect of 

 color, this species differs materially from all the rest; none of them even in their 

 autumnal yellowest quite match it. Size of Trailli or rather less ; feet proportioned as 

 in aoadicus ; bill nearly as in minimus, but rather larger ; Ist quill usually equal to 6th. 



Habitat, North America at large. South through Mexico and Central America to New 

 Grenada. 



Common spring and fall migrant in May, August and September. Fre- 

 quents thickets in woodland and gardens of the city. The Yellow-bellied 

 Flycatcher, though rather shy and retiring in its habits presents several 

 points of interest not shared by other members of the genus. It is seldom 

 found perched near the extremity of limbs watching for or. capturing 

 flying insects, but is generally seen in the midst of a low thicket or fence 

 row, and at the first intimation that it is an object of observation, seeks 

 further concealment by hiding near the ground and remaining motion- 

 less. None of the family are such adepts at concealment, its habits in 

 this respect resembling those of the Connecticut and Mourning Warblers. 



On one occasion while walking in the woods, I discovered a pair of 

 birds busily engaged in feeding on some elm saplings. Alighting near 

 the bottom of the trunk they hopped from one to another of the alternate 

 twigs, ascending spirally. Meantime they gathered their food, which I 

 soon discovered to be small black ants. I watched this procedure for half 

 an hour, unable to identify the birds. Hoping they might prove an 

 extralimital species with which I was not acquainted, I returned in 

 the afternoon with a gun. The birds were not feeding, but in the trees 

 near by I detected what appeared to be the same species. Great was 

 my surprise when securing them to find they were Yellow-bellied Fly- 

 catchers. An examination of their stomach revealed large quantities of 

 the black ants, and I have no doubt they were the birds which I had 

 seen feeding, in that heterodox way for flycatchers, in the morning. 

 I am inclined to think these actions are not unusual to the birds, and 



