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BIRDS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY. 
Empidonax flaviventris. Yellow-bellied Fly- 
catcher. 463. 
This species is only a spring and fall migrant, and uncommon at 
that. Even diligent search will hardly reveal one a year. I have seen 
but two here in four years — once on the twenty-first of May, and once 
on the thirtieth of September, which dates may be accepted as a good 
time to lock for it. I have always found it in the neighborhood of 
running water, in low trees. It is not a very shy bird, and will usually 
let an observer approach near enough to recognize it by its yellowish 
eye-ring and breast. 
Empidonax traillii alnorum. Alder Flycatcher. 466a. 
If a person is familiar with the notes and habits of the Alder Fly- 
catcher, he will have little difficulty in finding it; otherwise, it is easily 
overlooked. It is a summer resident, living exclusively near water — in 
the alder runs which mark the course of brooks, or in swamps. Its 
manners are distinctively those of a flycatcher, but its notes are quite 
unlike the well known calls of the Chebec and Wood Pewee, the 
only two summer flycatchers which resemble it in the least. Its nest 
is a thick, deeply cupped affair placed in an upright crotch of a small 
tree. 
Empidonax minimus. Least Flycatcher. 467. 
This common orchard denizen comes on or about the seventh of 
May very regularly. The migration takes place practically en viasse 
as not more than one or two days elapse after the first arrival before 
they are abundant. The departure takes place in August, my latest 
date being the thirty-first of that month. Though this flycatcher is 
small and dull-colored, it is as prominent in May as any bird in the 
orchard. It is a veritable jumping-jack, jerking its head backward 
every time it says " chebec,'' its wings quivering, and its tail in inces- 
sant motion. The white ring around the eye serves to distinguish it 
from other small flycatchers. Its nest is a well-made structure of soft 
felted material, oftener in an apple tree than elsewhere. 
Family ALAUDID^. 
Otocoris alpestris. Horned Lark. 474. 
The Horned or Shore Lark is a common migrant on the marshes 
of Great Bay and along the coast. They are here by the last of 
October, through November and more or less in December. Their 
