308 ZOOLOGY. 
the plants. Paxton (Bot. Dict.) instances the var. alba, but 
American authors do not look upon it as a permanent variety.— 
J. S. Hoven. ; 
ZOOLOGY. 
OLIvE-SIDED FrycatcnHer.—In the December number of the 
Narurauisr Mr. C. Hart Merriam, in remarking on Contopus - 
borealis, states, that he obtained a fine specimen at Easthampton, 
Massachusetts, and asks if this species has ever been taken in 
Massachusetts before. 
During the past three or four years I have observed each year — 
several specimens of this beautiful flycatcher in the vicinity of 
Cambridge, Mass., and although I consider this a rare bird with 
us, I am inclined to think a few breed within the limits of the 
state every year. I have always observed it in May or June, 
though specimens have been captured here in the fall. 
With us it is a very wary and shy species when it first arrives 
from the south, frequenting the topmost branches of tall trees, and 
its mild, clear notes can be heard at along distance, but at the 
Umbagog Lakes, in Maine, where it breeds in numbers, it does not 
show nearly so much shyness as it exhibits during its northern — 
migrations through Massachusetts. I have taken several speci- i 
mens there in the course of a few hours. eo 
On the 23d of June, 1873, I had an unusual opportunity of ob- & 
serving a pair of Contopus borealis in Belmont, Mass. For sev 
eral days previous [ had heard one of the flycatchers uttering its ae 
peculiar call from a hillside which was sparsely covered with firs. a 
On the above date, as I was passing that locality, I again heard 
the notes of this bird in nearly the same place, and thinking r 
must be breeding I approached in the direction of the sound, and 
soon saw the flycatcher in question sitting, in its erect posture, 0R- 
the top of a small fir tree. I was surprised at the near approach 
it allowed me, as I was within a few yards of the tree before w 
bird took flight, though but for a short distance, however, a8 5 
alighted on the dead branch of a maple a few yards off, and per. 
then joined by its mate. I then secreted myself in a aea 
barberry bushes where I remained for some time wate ing them 
_ From the uneasiness the birds exhibited, I was convinced they 
had a nest in the immediate vicinity, though the locality ee 
particularly adapted for breeding, but although I se 2 
