140 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Tarsus lengthened, considerably longer than the middle toe, which is decidedly 

 longer than the hind toe; bill variable; tail very slightly forked, even, or rounded, 

 a little shorter only than the wings, which are considerably rounded, the first pri- 

 mary much shorter than the fourth; head moderately crested; color olivaceous 

 above, yellowish beneath ; throat generally gray. 



EMPIDONAX TEAILLII. — Baird. 



The Traill's Flycatcher. 



Muscicqpa traillii, Audubon. Orn. Biog., I. (1832) 236 ; V. (1839) 426. 

 Tyratmus traillii, Nuttall. Man., I. (2d ed., 1840) 323. 



Description. 



Third quill longest, second scarcely shorter than fourth, first shorter than fi*ftn, 

 about thirty-five one-hundredths shorter than the longest; primaries about seventy- 

 five one-hundredths of an inch longer than secondaries ; tail even ; upper parts dark 

 olive-green, lighter under the wings, and duller and more tinged with ash on nape 

 and sides of the neck; centre of the crown feathers brown; a pale yellowish-white 

 ring (in some specimens altogether white) round the eye; loral feathers mixed 

 ■ with white ; chin and throat white ; the breast and sides of throat light-ash tinged 

 with olive, its intensity varying in individuals, the former sometimes faintly 

 tinged with olive; sides of the breast much like the back; middle of the belly nearly 

 white ; sides of the belly, abdomen, and the lower tail coverts sulphur-yellow ; the 

 quills and tail feathers dark-brown, as dark (if not more so) as these parts in 

 C. virens; two olivaceous yellow-white bands on the wing, formed by the tips of the 

 first and second coverts, succeeded by a brown one, the edge of the first primary 

 and of secondaries and tertials a little lighter shade of the same ; the outer edge of 

 the tail feathers like the back, that of the lateral one rather lighter; bill above dark- 

 brown, dull-brownish beneath. 



Length, nearly six inches ; wing, two and ninety one-hundredths ; tail, two and 

 sixty one-hundredths. 



Hub. — Eastern United States, and south to Mexico. 



This bird is occasionally found as a spring and autumn 

 visitor in New England, arriving about the 15th or 20th of 

 May. In its habits, it resembles the Least Flycatcher QJS. 

 minimus'), as it does also in its plumage : in fact, these two 

 birds and the Green-crested Flycatcher have been so much 

 mistaken for each other by different naturalists, the confu- 

 sion in whose descriptions is so great, that it requires a very 

 careful examination to identify either of these birds per- 

 fectly and accurately. I have had no opportunities for 

 observing the habits of the bird now before us, and can add 

 nothing to its history. Thompson, in his " Vermont Birds," 



