The Hawkeve Ornithologist axd Ooi.ooist. 



37 



corresponding to the color of the 

 branch on which it is placed. The 

 set of eggs, — three or four in number, 

 are of a creamy white color, blotched 

 towards the large end with reddish- 

 brown. 



THE YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER. 



(Empidonex flaviventris.) 

 This species — which at a short dis- 

 tance bears a close resemblance, 

 both in size and coloration, to the 

 wood pewee, or the female Traillii — is 

 the rarest of all the smaller flycatch- 

 ers which make their summer homes 

 in the wild woods of Canada; though 

 owing to its songless character, and 

 the wild places that it frequents, as 

 well as the very limited number of 

 those who take any interest in our 

 woodland birds, it is possible that it 

 may be more common than is now 

 supposed. Only one nest of this 

 species has ever come under my ob- 

 servation, and but for that I would 

 not have distinguished the species 

 from the wood pewee. It was about 

 the summer of 1872, and I think the 

 early days of July, or latter part of 

 June, I was then residing on Emer- 

 ald farm, in North AVaiiace, when 

 having occasion to penetrate a 

 piece of lo .-, tangled, cedar swamp, 

 near the house, I flushed from a 

 mossy bank, formed by a partially 

 turned up cedar root, a bird which at 

 first appeared to be the wood pewee, 

 but a glance at its nest, which con- 

 tained three beautiful eggs, convinced 

 me that it was a different species, 

 and I have since become certain that 

 it was the yellow-bellied flycatcher. 

 The nest was placed in a little hol- 

 low, evidently made by the bird, in 

 the side of the mossy bank, and com- 

 posed of dry moss, some rootlets, 

 fine dry grass, and cattle hair. The 

 eggs were of a civamy-white hue, 

 marked with an irregular ring of 

 re;ldi-h-brown spots toward the large 

 end, much in every particular like 

 those of the wood pewee. While I was 

 looking at these, the bird returned 

 and scolded in an angry manner, in a 

 sharp "chip"-like tone of voice; nor 

 am 1 aware that this species utters 

 any other notes. A set of four eggs, 

 which I saw in the collection of a 

 person, some ten miles south of this 

 town, and which he informed me he 

 found in aturned up root, in aswamp 

 at that place, I also bdieve, belong- 

 ed to this species. 



For the Ilrackeye 0. and 0. 



CAROLINA WREN. 



BY J. W. JACOBS, WAYKTSSBURG-, PA. 



I found my first nest of this species 

 Thryothorus ludovicianus on May 7th, 

 1887. It was placed on a shelf under 

 a skating rink; was five feet from the 

 ground, and was composed of grass, 

 leaves, bark, rags, strings, etc., nicely 

 lined with feathers, and was partially 

 arched over on top. The eggs were 

 five in number, fresh, of a reddish- 

 white; thickly covered, but chiefly at 

 the larger end, with spots and dots 

 of red and different shades of brown; 

 very much resembling the eggs of the 

 white-bellied nuthatch Sitta carolinen- 

 sis. They measure as follows: .7Gx.!38; 

 .75x.S9; .70x.57; .75x.56; and .75x.58 

 inches. 



Set ii; taken July 21. This set was 

 taken from a nest built in a rudely 

 made cupboard in a corner of an old 

 paintshop. It contained four eggs, 

 slightly incubated, and measuring 

 about the same as those of the first 

 set. I could have easily caught the 

 old bird as she emerged from the 

 entrance, but I was afraid she would 

 the eggs in her struggles to get loose. 

 The nest was large and bulky, being 

 composed of a great variety of rub- 

 bish, strings, twigs, bark, paper, 

 leaves, rags and grass, lined with 

 feathers, a few stems of grass and a 

 small amount of hair, which it pick- 

 up in the shop. 



The parent birds of the first set ex- 

 perienced considerable trouble in 

 raising their brood. They had built a 

 former nest; in this the mother de- 

 posited five eggs, which some chil- 

 dren destroyed; then she built and 

 deposited the second set which I col- 

 lected; a few days afterward she 

 built again. This time she was suc- 

 cessful. All three nests were but a 

 few feet apart. 



