Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored 
lowish-white tufts of feathers on its flanks. Its habits have the 
family characteristics: it takes its food on the wing, suddenly 
sallying forth from its perch, darting about midair to seize its 
prey, then as suddenly returning to its identical point of vantage, 
usually in some distended, dead limb in the tree-top; it is pug- 
nacious, bold, and tyrannical; mopish and inert when not on the 
hunt, but wonderfully alert and swift when in pursuit of insect 
or feathered foe. The short necks of the flycatchers make their 
heads appear large for their bodies, a peculiarity slightly em- 
phasized in this member of the family. 
High up in some evergreen tree, well out on a branch, over 
which the shapeless mass of twigs and moss that serves as a 
nest is saddled, four or five buff-speckled eggs are laid, and by 
some special dispensation rarely fall out of their insecure cradle. 
A sharp, loud whistle, whew—o-wheu-o-wheu-o, rings out from the 
throat of this olive-sided tyrant, warning all intruders off the 
premises ; but however harshly he may treat the rest of the 
feathered world, he has only gentle devotion to offer his brooding 
mate. 
Least Flycatcher 
(Empidonax minimus) Flycatcher family 
Called also: CHEBEC 
Length—s to 5.5 inches. About an inch smaller than the English 
sparrow. 
Male—Gray or olive-gray above, paler on wings and lower part 
of back, and a more distinct olive-green on head Under- 
neath grayish white, sometimes faintly suffused with pale 
yellow. Wings have whitish bars. White eye-ring. Lower 
half of bill horn-color. 
Female—Is slightly more yellowish underneath. 
Range—Eastern North America, from tropics northward to Quebec. 
Migrations—May. September. Common summer resident. 
This, the smallest member of its family, takes the place of 
the more southerly Acadian flycatcher, throughout New England 
and the region of the Great Lakes. But, unlike his Southern rela- 
tive, he prefers orchards and gardens close to our homes for his 
hunting grounds rather than the wet recesses of the forests. 
Che-bec, che-bec, the diminutive olive-pated gray sprite calls out 
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