266 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



description oi flavivnntris, but is verj' like an Acadian shot yester- 

 day. Evident!}' the species is breeding here." 



Mr. Thompson's identification appears to be correct, for I find that 

 the bird gave utterance to the same note when found near its nest in 

 Maine. 



EMPIDONAX ACADICUS (Gmel.). 

 191. Acadian Flycatcher. (465) 



Above, -olive-gieen, clear, continuous and uniform (though the crown may 

 show rather darker, owing to dusky centres of the slightly lengthened, erectile 

 feathers) ; below, whitish, olive-shaded on sides and nearly across breast, 

 yellow-washed on belly, flanks, crissum and axillars ; wings, dusky ; innei- 

 quills, edged, and coverts tipped with tawny yellow ; all the quills whitish-edged 

 internally ; tail, dusky olive-glossed, immarked ; a yellowish eye-ring ; feet 

 and upper mandible, brown ; lower mandible, pale ; in midsummer, rather 

 darker ; in early fall, brighter and more yellowish below ; when very young, 

 the wing markings more fulvous, the general plumage slightly bully-suffused. 

 Length, oj-6J ; wing, 2J-,3 (rarely 3J) ; tail, '2J-2f ; bill, nearly or quite 4, about 

 J wide at the nostrils ; tarsus, § ; middle toe and claw, J ; point of wing 

 reaching nearly an inch beyond the secondaries ; second, third and fourth quills 

 nearly equal and much (J inch or more) longer than first and fifth, which about 

 equal each other. 



jlfirnt plumage : Above, nearly pure olive, with indistinct narrow transverse 

 bands of darker ; wing bands, pale reddish-brown ; under parts, soiled yellowish 

 white, with an olivaceous cast on the sides and breast. 



Hab. — Eastern United States, chiefly southward, west to the Plains, south 

 to Cuba and Costa Rica. 



Nest, composed of catkins, grasses, weed fibres, shreds of bark, rather 

 slovenly in afipearance, from three to twenty feet from the ground, in a 

 horizontal fork, fastened by the brim, bottom without support. 



Eggs, two to four, yellowish-buff, spotted round the larger end with rusty 

 brown. 



I mention this little bird more as one to be looked for than as one 

 known to occur here, for I have no positive record of its having been 

 found in Ontario. I have always thought it would be discovered on 

 the north shore of Lake Erie, and the nearest approach I have to it 

 is in the description of a pair of small Flycatchers which nested in 

 Dr. Macallum's orchard near Dunnville. In this case the nest and 

 eggs were taken, but the birds were allowed to escape, and, unfortu- 

 nately for identification, the eggs of this species are indistinguishable 

 from those of Traill's Flycatcher. 



