YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER. 



Empidonax Haviventris Baird. 



This is not at all a scarce bird in the Northern and New England States, bging 

 found from the Atlantic to the Plains and breeding from the Northern States north- 

 ward. It is the most easily distinguished of all the small Flycatchers, by its decidedly 

 yellow color on the underside. Its call-note also betrays its presence, being often uttered 

 and very distinct, sounding like a soft and melodious pe-ub, pre-peah. In the Sheboygan 

 Marsh, in Wisconsin, it is not uncommon, selecting for its haunts places where the ground 

 is covered w^ith white-cedar, tamarack. Ledum palustre, pitcher plants, cranberry bushes, 

 ladies' slippers, wintergreen {Gaultheria procumbetis) , and dense mats of sphagnum moss. 



Nests of this species have been found by Mr. H. A. Purdy, Mr. R. Deane, S. D. 

 Osborne, etc., in Maine and other parts of New England. Two nests were found by 

 Mr. Chas. F. Batchelder ^nd Jonathan Dwight, Jr., at Fort Fairfield, Maine. Mr. 

 Batchelder writes about his finds": 



"My first nest, containing four fresh eggs, which was taken on June 14, 1 found in 

 rather w^et mixed w^oods of small spruces and arbor-vitaes, with a few larger hemlocks, 

 — also a few yellow^ birches and maples.- It was on the edge of a bank formed by a 

 decayed tree trunk, and over a pool in a small brook that was flowing beneath the 

 moss-covered trunks of fallen trees. The nest was protected above and hidden from 

 sight by some green moss growing upon a projecting root. A small vine {Ribes lacustre) 

 growing past the entrance of the nest gave additional concealment. The bird flew^ from 

 the nest when I was within a few feet of it. After a short time she returned to the 

 nest, and I again flushed her. . . . 



"The nest, which was partly sunk in the surrounding moss, is made of fine brown 

 roots, bits of rotten wood, and the scaly coverings of buds, apparently of the arbor-vitae, 

 together with a few sticks and withered leaves, and one or two bits of arbor-vitae and 

 green moss. It is scantily lined with very fine black roots and stalks of withered grass, 

 the latter contrasting strongly in color with the rest of the nest. Its external diameter 

 is four inches, its depth two and a quarter inches ; internally its diameter is two and 

 three eights inches, its depth one and a quarter inches. The ground-color of the eggs is 

 white, with a slight creamy tinge. They are spotted and blotched with two shades of 

 light reddish-brown, mostly about the larger end. Two of the eggs have also a few fine 

 dashes and specks of black over the other markings. 



"I did not find the second set until June 27. It was in a small piece of damp 

 woods, consisting of scattered arbor-vitaes and hemlocks growing in the valley of a small 

 brook. The nest was not far fi-om a clearing, and was among a tangled mass of fallen 

 trees. It was situated about two feet from the ground, on the side of the moss-covered 

 stump of a fallen tree. It was deeply sunk in the soft green moss, which covered and 

 protected it above, though the eggs could be seen from the outside. . . . 



"The nest, which is very bulky for the size of the bird, is a compact mass of the 



soft green moss that is so abundant in such places, with a few bits of arbor-vitae and 



one or two sticks. It is thinly lined with slender stalks of grass and a few very fine 



roots. . . ." 



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