EMPIDONAX ACADICUS, ACADIAN FLYCATCHER. 251 



"Early in May, in our Middle Districts, the small- Green -crested Fly- 

 catcher constructs its nest. * * * * It is placed in the darkest 

 shade of tlie woods, in the upright forks of sorae middle-sized tree, from 

 eight to twenty feet above the ground, sometimes so low as to allow a 

 man to look into it. Ithsome instances I have found it on the large hori- 

 zontal branches of an oaJc, when it looked like a knot. It is always neat 

 and well finished, the inside measuring about two inches in diameter, 

 with a depth of an inch and a half. The exterior is composed of strips 

 of the inner bark of various trees, vine-fibres, and grasses, matted to- 

 gether with the down of plants, wool, and soft moss. The lining con-^ 

 sists of fine grass, a few feathers, and horse-hair. The whole is light,' 

 elastic, and firmly coherent, and is glued to the twigs or saddled on the 

 branch with great care. The eggs are from four to six, small, and pure 

 white." 



I have italicized the passages of this account that appear to be more 

 or less completely at variance with the facts. The next notice I will 

 call attention to is Mr. Giraud's. He says, in his 'f Birds of Long 

 Island," of this species, that "in habits it is solitary; generally seen 

 on the lower branches of the larger trees; utters a quick, sharp note; 

 arrives among us in the latter part of May, and retires southward early 

 in September." Mr. E. A. Samuels gives the bird as a rare summer in- 

 habitant of any of the Xew England States, seldom coming so far 

 north." He states his lack of personal experience, and even this sen- 

 tence is probably grounded on Allen, whom I believe to have been 

 mistaken in this case. Mr. Samuels, however, describes the eggs accu- 

 rately, and for the first time, upon five specimens furnished him by J. 

 P. Norris, Esq., of Philadelphia, and presumably from that locality. 

 They " are of a pale, creamy-white color, with a few thin spots of red- 

 dish-brown scattered over tbeir larger end. They vary in size from 0.78 

 inch in length by about 0.56 in breadth, to 0.72 inch in length by 0.55 

 in breadth. The form is like that of traillii, but the spots are larger 

 and more numerous." 



In the American Naturalist, as above quoted, Dr. Brewer gives to 

 several writers one of the overhaulings he can admnister eifectively on 

 occasion, and, among other things, takes an opportunity of showing up 

 the misunderstanding and confusion that have prevailed respecting the 

 Acadian Flycatcher. On my applying to him for information he did 

 not give at this time, he writes me as follows : " I do not think the bird 

 occurs in New England, even in the Connecticut Valley, and believe 

 that Mr. Allen has mixed it up with traillii. I have myself no evidence 

 of its breeding northeast of Philadelphia; but it is shy and retiring in 

 its habits, and would readily escape notice, so that its presence in New 

 Jersey, New York, and New England, may not be uncommon and yet 

 we not know of it." He also kindly inclosed a passage from his then 

 forthcoming work ; it runs as follows : 



"The nest is generally placed on a drooping limb of a beech or a dog- 

 wood-tree, at the height of from six to ten feet from the ground. It is 

 never saddled on a limb, like that of a Wood Pewee, neither is it pen- 

 sile, like those of the Vireos, but is built in the fork of a small limb, and 

 securely fastened tbereto by a strip of bark. TLie nest itself is mostly 

 made of fine strips of bark or weed-stalks, woven together without 

 much care as to neatness or strength, and so very slight is the structure 

 that you may often count the eggs in the nest from below. 



"The eggs are generally three ii: number, and are of a rich cream- 

 color, thinly spotted near the greater end. 



"A beautiful nest of this species was found by Mr. George O. Welch 



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