OF NEW ENGLAND. 287 
mated, are wedded for life. Occasionally, however, an in- 
truder presents himself, in the hope of winning the affections 
of the female, and in these cases the male becomes irritated 
and furious. But ordinarily he is not very pugnacious, though 
of a rather jealous disposition. After becoming settled in 
their summer-homes, the Least Flycatchers often limit their 
movements, and confine themselves to some group of trees 
much more closely than I have observed any other birds to 
do. This may be due to a desire to protect their homes. 
They are both less expert and less active than many other 
flycatchers, and sometimes remain for a considerable length 
of time on one perch, uttering their loud song-notes. They 
do not depend exclusively upon insects in the air, but occa- 
sionally pick them up in the foliage of trees, among which 
they pass their days, sometimes, however, alighting on a 
fence, or on the top of a weed. They flirt their tails, but 
never in the decided and continuous manner of the Common 
Pewee, and, on delivering their song-note, throw the body 
back, in the manner of Traill’s Flycatcher. 
(d). This song-note is loud and emphatic, but wholly unmu- 
“sical, amd resembles the syllables che-béc. It is frequently re- 
peated, occasionally at night, often for half an hour at a time, 
and sometimes so hurriedly as to become an unmusical song. 
The other notes are a single whit, and querulous exclamations 
(wheu, wheu, whew) which are more or less guttural and sub- 
dued. 
The Least Flycatchers, though common and well character- 
ized by their striking notes, escaped the attention of Wilson, 
and apparently that of Audubon, until it was called to the 
then new species by Professor Baird. This is an excellent 
instance of the rule that the more one knows, the more one 
sees, though it is natural to suppose that the reverse might be 
the case. Hence, ‘“‘most discoveries are accidental, or, at 
least, indirect.” Young students, on beginning to study birds, 
will almost invariably from year to year discover species which 
they have never before observed, though they may often have 
seen them, and will find many species common which they 
