PROFESSIONAL FLY-CATCHING 



and some of them are hard to tell apart. Those already 

 spoken of can be distinguished by differences in size 

 or build, but there are several little fellows which are 

 so much alike that it takes a sharp eye and careful 

 study of the Handbook, to identify them. Those which 

 may cause confusion are the Alder, Acadian, and Least 

 Flycatchers. The Yellow-bellied Flycatcher may be 

 recognized by what its name implies. The Acadian 

 Flycatcher, a greenish-hued little bird, is seldom seen 

 north of the Middle States. 



Of small species the Least Flycatcher is by far the 

 best known. It is the familiar little fellow that nests 

 in orchards and shade trees, and it is constantly repeat- 

 ing its sharp, scolding note, from which they call it 

 "Chebec." One year, in June, I was about to start on 

 a trip up north into the Province of Quebec, and every 

 morning one of these little birds, perched just outside 

 my open bedroom windows, would begin at the first 

 early ray of dawn and wake me up by calling out 

 "Quebec, Quebec." We had a lot of fun over it, 

 because members of my family said the bird was very 

 anxious to get me oflF to Quebec so that I should not 

 be annoying it with my camera-fiend tricks. 



The nest is apt to be out on a slender branch and is 

 not easy to photograph. But I took pictures of one 

 with a brood of young about ready to leave by standing 

 on a ladder, against which I leaned the camera on the 

 tripod and managed to keep it still enough. Another 

 time there was a nest out on the end of a branch of a 



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