MATERIALS : 
Of the nests before me there are two distinct types. In general shape and method of construction 
they are alike, but in material they are very dissimilar. No. 1 is composed of small, round, dried 
stems, apparently of a slender vine, as many of the pieces are eighteen inches or more long, and pieces 
of roller-grass; the outside and inside are similar; no web, or only a very little, is used. No. 2 is com- 
posed outside entirely of catkins, and is lined with the same vine as in No. 1, or with pieces of vegeta- 
ble fibre and blades of grass ; perhaps it would be better to say that No. 2 is the same as No. 1, except 
that it is co\ ered with catkins, much of the material composing No. 1 being consequently dispensed with. 
The whole is bound together and to its supports by an abundance of spiders’ web or webby substance 
collected from trees. The majority of the nests are a combination of these two forms. In some the 
catkins predominate, though they do not cover the entire outside. In others, the vine and grass are the 
principal material, but all are lined with more or less of the vine, and are fastened together and bound 
to the branches by a varying quantity of web. Some nests of the second type are bulky, and have long 
festoons of catkins hanging from their rims. Some nests have grasses or weed-fibres a foot or more long 
swinging loosely from them. Others are very neat and small, containing just enough material to hold 
the eggs, which can be plainly seen through the bottom. The average diameter of the cavity at the 
rim in fourteen nests is two inches. None vary an eighth of an inch from this measurement. The 
depth of cavity varies from .60 to 1.50, average about .90. The walls of the nest vary in thickness 
from a few fibres to an inch. 
EGGS: 
The complement of the first set of eggs is uniformly three. The second set sometimes contains but 
two. They are deposited every day, or at intervals of two. or three days. The shell when blown is de- 
cidedly creamy in hue, occasionally almost buff. The tint varies some in different sets, and even in 
specimens of the same set, but the egg is never white. The markings consist of blotches, spots, and 
minute specks, of chocolate or reddish-brown, confined chiefly to the basal half, often forming a ring. 
They are never very numerous, seldom numbering more than twenty blotches and spots, and as many 
specks. Deep shell-markings are wanting or few. About one egg in every six or eight is plain or marked 
with only one or two spots. They measure in long-diameter from .70 to .79 of an inch. In short- 
diameter from .53 to .59. An average egg measures .74 x .55. The smallest egg in nine sets is .71 x .53, 
the largest .79 x ,58. 
DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 
The nest is unique. It may always be recognized by the description. The eggs alone may be mis- 
taken for those of E. trailli, to which the reader is referred for details. 
REMARKS : 
Fig. 1, Plate XIX, represents a nest of the first type. The original was taken May 30, 1877, from 
a black-haw. The eggs figured show the average and extremes in ground-color and markings, and the 
ordinary shapes and sizes. When the Acadian Flycatcher is approached while sitting, she will permit 
the hand within a few inches of her nest before flying. If driven off, she will alight on some low limb 
nearby, and sometimes will utter, in measured succession, her faint, mellow cry ; but generally she si- 
lently watches the intruder. If the nest contains young, she may perhaps show more concern, but she 
never blusters or loses her slow, dignified air. The male seems to be entirely free from any anxiety or 
concern about the family, let happen what may. The young leave the nest the thirteenth or fourteenth 
day after they are hatched. 
84 
