States, and even now these birds are often confounded one with the other by experienced 

 observers. Their size, coloration, and the habit of seizing insects is very much alike, 

 but each species has a very distinct note which is alone sufficient to discriminate among 

 the four species. In their mode of nesting as well as in the selection of their haunts 

 they also show characteristic features. The Yellow-bellied and the Least Flycatcher 

 inhabit the northern part of the country, the first named the swampy dark forest, the 

 latter species the border of these forests and gardens. The Green-crested and Traill's 

 Flycatcher are mainly found in the central region of eastern North America, the former 

 being an inhabitant of the forest region, the latter selecting particularly the borders of 

 prairie woodlands as well as parks, gardens, and orchards, even in the centre of crowded 

 cities. The two last species are so similar that they can only be distinguished by their 

 very characteristic call-notes and nesting habits. 



No other birds have puzzled, me more than these Flycatchers. One day late in 

 April, while observing numerous migrating birds in a broad Magnolia grandiHora in 

 full blossom in the city of Houston, Tex., I also saw quite a number of small Flycatchers 

 entirely unfamiliar to me. Although similar in coloration, they uttered very different notes, 

 which convinced me that at least two or three species w^ere represented among the w^axy 

 fragrant blossoms and beautiful foliage of the magnolia. A closer examination of a 

 number of birds in the hand did not reveal much light, and when looking over the 

 scientific descriptions at home, I w^as still more undecided. A few weeks later, while saun- 

 tering about in the post oak woods near the West Yegua Creek (Lee Co., Tex.), I came 

 into a piece of woodland where all the trees were densely festooned with hanging lichens 

 (Usnea barbata). Hackberi-y trees and elms grew near the border, but these trees had 

 only a few bunches of the long, beard-like moss on their branches. Here I met again 

 with these birds. There were certainly five or six pairs in this piece of woodland, which 

 occupied an area of about ten acres. They constantly uttered notes sounding like a 

 short e-the-ah or e-chee-ab, rather loud, quick, and emphatic. These sounds are so very 

 peculiar, and peculiar only to this, bird, that they can never be confounded with those 

 of any other species. A few days later I discovered a nest in the extremity of a hori- 

 zontal branch of an elm which was constructed entirely of Usnea lichens. It was 

 an exquisite piece of bird-architecture, shallow, but very soft. It contained three eggs. 

 I was at once convinced that I had discovered the domicile of the Green-crested Fly- 

 catcher, better known, however, as the Acadian Flycatcher. Other nests, all similar 

 to this one, were discovered from that time until the last day of May. They w^ere always 

 placed in the extremity of slender horizontal branches, from six to twenty-five feet from 

 the ground and far from the trunk. No snake or squirrel could reach them. All the nests 

 contained three eggs, and only one four. The ground-color was a light buff or cream- 

 color, and the markings, which were mostly grouped round the larger end, were of a 

 light rusty-brown or chestnut. They are not distinguishable from those of Traill's 

 Flycatcher. Nests, also built of Usnea lichens, found by Mr. C. J. Ma,ynard at Williams- 

 port, Penn., agree in every particular with those examined by me in Texas. 



At Freistatt, Mo., where the Acadian Flycatchers were common in the extensive 

 forest behind my house, their nests were usually found along an old shady wagon-track 

 leading through the woods. They were built also in the extremity of slender horizontal 



