OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER. 



CONTOPUS BOREALIS. 



CHAiR. Above, dull olive brown, darker on head, paler on rump ; tail 

 dusky, tipped with gray ; wings dusky, with gray band ; lower parts yel- 

 lowish white ; flanks pale olive. Length 7^ to 8 inches. 



Nest. Saddled on horizontal limb of tall tree; of twigs and grass lined 

 with grdss and moss. 



Eggs- 3-5; creamy white, spotted near larger end with reddish brown 

 and pale purple ; 0.85 X 0.65. 



This remarkable species, which appertains to the group of 

 Pewees, was obtained in the woods of Mount Auburn, in this 

 vicinity, by Mr. John Bethune, of Cambridge, on the 7th of 

 June, 1830. This, and a second specimen acquired soon 

 afterwards, were females on the point of incubation. A third 

 individual of the same sex was killed on the 21st of June, 

 1 83 1. They were all of them fat, and had their stomachs 

 filled with torn fragments of wild bees, wasps, and other sim- 

 ilar insects. I have watched the motions of two other living 

 individuals who appeared tyrannical and quarrelsome even with 

 each other ; the attack was always accompanied with a whir- 

 ring, querulous twitter. Their dispute was apparently, like 

 that of savages, about the rights of their respective hunting- 

 grounds. One of the birds, the female, whom I usually saw 

 alone, was uncommonly sedentary. The territory she seemed 



