The Hawkeye Ornithologist and Oologist. 



4 1 



For Uie Hawkeye 0. and 0. 



THE TRAILL'S FLYCATCHER. 



{Empidonex pusillus Trailli.) 



BY JAMBS B. PURDY. 



Read before the Ornithological Society Of 

 Wayne County, Michigan, Sept. 34, 1887, 



Mr. President and Gentlemen: — 



Having been assigned to me for my 

 subject this evening, the "Traill's fly- 

 catcher," and having no works at 

 hand; on which I can rely, I am com- 

 pelled to rely almost entirely upon 

 my own observation. Mr. Davie's 

 Key to the Nests and Eggs of North 

 American birds, although a very re- 

 liable work, seems to make two and 

 perhaps three great mistakes in de- 

 scribing its nest and eggs. Mr. Da- 

 vie says, "the locality usually select- 

 ed as a nesting place by this species* 

 is in a thick growth of alders border- 

 ing a stream, or in the deep solitude 

 of a lonely wood." The first place is 

 correct, but I have never been able 

 to find one of the birds or its nest in 

 the woods. Again, he says, "that the 

 nest is more slovenly built than that 

 of the Acadian flycatcher." Now, 

 of all that I have examined, and 

 I have examined a consider- 

 able number, the Traill builds, by 

 far. the neatest and most compact 

 nest. And again, he says, "In near- 

 ly all eases, three eggs is the usual 

 complement, rarely four." Now, of 

 all the nests that I have examined, 

 four has been the usual complement, 

 and rarely any other number. And 

 again, another mistake by Mr. Col- 

 lins, the well known naturalist and 

 taxidermist of Detroit. While talk- 

 ing with him one day last spring, the 

 subject of the Traill's flycatcher was 

 brought up, in which he declared 

 that there never was a train's fly- 

 catcher's nest found in Wayne county 

 or in Michigan; that they were a bird 

 of passage with us and went farther 

 north to breed, in which he is cer- 



tainly mistaken. Therefore I flat- 

 ter myself that I know at least as 

 much of the Traill's flycatcher as any 

 authority that has thus far came 

 under my observations. And yet, it 

 is not strange that so many are mis- 

 taken, for it is so retired in its habits 

 that none but the closest observer and 

 student of birds are aware of its pres- 

 ence among us. In the month of 

 June, as you are walking through a 

 low, wet piece of land with a creek 

 - running through, dotted here and 

 there along its margin with clumps 

 of alder, you come upon a nest. It is 

 situated in the upright fork of an 

 alder, generally close to the stream. 

 It is composed, mostly, of wild hemp, 

 and resembles, nearer than any other, 

 that of the summer yellow-bird. It 

 contains four eggs of a cream or a 

 light-buff color, and are marked with 

 larger or smaller dots of reddish- 

 brown, chiefly at the larger end, and 

 measure about .70 hy .53. But 

 where is the bird? She saw you 

 coming and slipped off her nest al- 

 most with the quietness of thought, 

 and hid herself in the deep foliage. 

 Listen! from a thicket three or four 

 rods off, at intervals of about ten 

 seconds, you hear a low "twit." It 

 is the note of the Traill's flycatcher; 

 and the only one I ever heard her 

 utter. You go closer in hopes of 

 seeing the bird, but it is with difficul- 

 ty that you obtain a fair view of her, 

 so close does she keep to the thicket. 

 I do not believe that the male takes 

 much, if any, part in incubation, for 

 I have never seen him around the 

 nest, nor have I ever seen one of the 

 birds in any locality, except at their 

 nesting place in the nesting season. 

 Nor do they seem to express that 

 anxiety for their eggs and young, 

 that is so common with most other 

 birds. It is one of our true flycatch- 

 ers, having a musca capa bill with 

 recumbent hairs at its base, and in 

 color and appearance resemb'es very 



