250 
distinct, by greyer (less olive) back, lighter crown in less distinct contrast with body, and 
in having the breast more suffused with brownish ash. The distinctions from tins last 
species can only be made by direct comparison of specimens and then not always easily. 
Field Marks. The Pewee never flirts its tail as does the Phoebe. Its best identifica- 
tion mark, however, is probably its call-note, which bears a casual resemblance to that of 
the Eastern Wood Pewee but is more abrupt and emphatic, and has been syllabized 
“dear-me” instead of a long drawn u Pee-e-weee.” The two Pewees usually keep both well 
up in the trees, and are seldom seen in the low brush where similar little Flycatchers are 
often seen. 
Nesting. A well-made, but slight, structure of fine fibres and rootlets, covered with 
lichens, lined with wool or hair and saddled on a branch. 
Distribution. Western North America. In Canada, from southern Manitoba west- 
ward to the coast. The ranges of this and the Eastern Wood Pewee have not been very 
well defined on the prairies, owing largely to the difficulty of separating the two birds and 
the lack of specimens. 
SUBSPECIES. The race attributed to North America is the type one, the Western 
Wood Pewee Myiochanes richardsoni richardsoni. 
Though so nearly like the Eastern Wood Pewee that even so keen an 
authority as Dr. Elliot Coues admits that it is “impracticable to pronounce 
upon a Pewee, in the closet, without knowing its locality” all are agreed 
from observation in life that the two are specifically distinct. Typical 
birds of the two species are noticeably distinct and groups of specimens 
en masse show convincing differences. 
Economic Status. Probably very similar to that of the Eastern Wood 
Pewee. 
463. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Empidonax flaviventris. L, 5-63. A small 
Flycatcher, similar in pattern to the Wood Pewee ( See Plate XLII A), and the little green 
Flycatchers, but the browns and olives of those species replaced by distinct olive-green and 
the Whites by dull sulphur yellow. 
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s r 
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■ 7ra///s . 
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Figure 248 
Maximum and minimum wing lengths of Flycatchers most likely to be 
confused; laid off natural size. 
Distinctions. This and the similar Western Flycatcher are the yellowest of all the 
small Flycatchers. Other species in the autumn may show suggestions of yellow below, but 
never so clearly as in the least yellow individuals of these two. It resembles very closely 
the Western Flycatcher. In the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher the olive and yellow are of a 
clearer and brighter tint and decidedly less ochreish than in the Western, and the first 
primary is longer instead of shorter than the sixth (Figure 249 b). 
Field Marks. A small, generally yellow Flycatcher, most yellow below. The notes, 
“Te-pee-a ” — three syllables with accent on the middle one, are distinctive. Its u Pe-wick” 
is something like the call of the Phoebe, but the first syllable is not accented. Probably 
not separable with certainty from the Western Flycatcher in life. 
Nesting. On the ground, nest built of moss, lined with grasses. 
