406 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
but nowhere very abundant. It is an inhabitant of the open woods. 
orchards and groves, and is not infrequently 
found in city parks and gardens. It is one of 
the later migrants in spring, rarely reaching us 
before the first of May, although Trombley 
recorded it at Petersburg on April 23, 1885, 
and April 29, 1892; in 1890, however, it did not 
appear until May 12, and in 1898 was first 
seen May 14. In the northern part of the 
state it is a week or ten days later. 
It nests usually in deciduous trees and at all 
heights from ten to sixty feet from the ground, 
the nest being sometimes saddled on a branch 
of about its own diameter and at other times 
placed in an upright fork. It is small, compact, 
deeply hollowed, and very neatly built of soft 
fibrous materials, with a lining of cottony 
fibres and occasionally a few feathers. The 
eges are white, usually with a distinct 
creamy or buffy tint, and almost always un- 
spotted; occasionally eggs are seen with a few 
cae Vig. 95. Least Flycatcher. 
faint brown dots, They are commonly four, rom oreimal drawine by Pos 
but may be three or five, and average .64 by Taverner. 
.49 inches. The period of incubation is said to be twelve days. 
The food is mainly insects, though a few berries are eaten in the late 
summer. The bird is strongly beneficial to the farmer and fruit grower 
and should be rigidly protected. 
TECHNICAL DISCRIPTION. 
Very similar to the Alder I'lycatecher, but besides being decidedly smaller the upper 
parts are olive-grey rather than olive-green or olive-brown, the two wing bars are decidedly 
whitish, or at most grayish-white, not yellowish, and there is a conspicuous whitish eye- 
ring; chin, throat and belly whitish, the throat sometimes nearly white, the belly usually 
faintly tinged with yellowish; breast and sides washed with ashy gray; upper mandible 
dark brown, the lower much lighter but not yellowish except perhaps at very base, in this 
resembling the Alder Flycatcher; iris brown. 
Male: Length 4.90 to 5.50 inches; wing 2.30 to 2.60; tail 2.10 to 2.40. 
Female: Wing 2.20 to 2.40 inches; tail 2.10 to 2.25. 
Suborder OSCINES. Song Birds. 
Family 52. ALAUDIDA‘.  Larks. 
This family is represented in Michigan only by the Horned Larks or 
Shore Larks, two or three species of which occur with more or less regularity 
in migration, but only one, the Prairie Horned Lark, nests. The old world 
Skylark (Alauda arvensis), famous for its beautiful song and lofty flight, 
is a member of this family, but has never been recorded from this state, 
though it was introduced in the vicinity of New York city fifty years ago 
and has become sparingly naturalized on Long Island. 
