Olive-sided Flycatcher. 
A bird by no means common in this lo- 
| cality, arriving from the 10th to 20th of 
May. Having observed a pair of them fre- 
quenting a large and isolated orchard, I 
was confident of finding their nest ; but 
careful and repeated search failed to reveal 
it. Leaving the orchard June 16tli, 1882, 
and entering a piece of young growth 
among which were a few large hemlock 
trees, I suddenly noticed one of them 
(probably the male) flying toward me. It 
was very much annoyed by my presence 
and was constantly flying toward me and 
snapping its bill. Here was new light. 
As the bird would frequently fly to the top 
of a particular hemlock and then dart back 
toward me, I began to feel sure of finding 
its nest. I retreated a short distance and 
watched the movements of my new ac- 
quaintance, who perched upon the top of 
the tree, seemingly to act as guard. A 
striped squirrel ventured part way up the 
tree, but when spied by the bird was in- 
stantly driven down. After carefully 
searching the tree for two hours, I noticed 
something near the top which I thought 
must be the long-sought nest. Upon 
striking the tree with my axe I had the 
satisfaction of seeing a bird fly away and 
immediately return. A hard climb of 
sixty-five feet brought me to the nest. It 
was saddled upon a horizontal limb, six 
feet from the trunk, and was closely con- 
cealed by the small boughs. It was com- 
posed of moss, ( Usnea barbata,,) and dry 
hemlock twigs. These were interwoven 
into a loose, clumsy nest, the only lining 
being about a dozen pieces of fine, dry 
grass. I think this is the poorest piece of 
bird architecture that I have ever found, 
but the three fresh eggs which the nest 
contained were indeed beauties, their color 
being a delicate creamy-white, marked 
with large blotches and spots of brownish- 
red, lavender and lilac, and fine spatters of 
lilac. On one are a few black dots. Their 
dimensions are, 95x64, 92x64, 91x65, 
respectively. Both birds resented my 
presence with great courage, and while I 
was in the tree were constantly darting at 
me in a decidedly vicious manner, snapping 
their bills and uttering their loud notes 
with such vigor that a general commotion 
was raised among all the feathered tribe 
who were within hearing. 
A few weeks after finding this nest I 
found another, within a few rods of the 
first. This was also in a large hemlock 
tree. As it contained young, I allowed it 
to remain. It doubtless belonged to the 
Birds of Dead River Region, Me. F, K, O. 
64. Gontopus borealis , (Olive-sided Flycatcher). 
A not common summer visitor of the county, 
seemingly evenly distributed throughout all 
cleared portions. A nest was found in a sugar 
maple orchard at Stratton. Contrary to pub- 
lished descriptions I found the nest to be quite 
Prettily and substantially built of fine rootlets, 
twigs and hair. It was very shallow. The eggs 
were three in number, dull white, faintly spotted 
with lilac and brown. Another nest of similar 
construction, containing three eggs, was found by 
my companion, Dr. Northrup. This latter nest 
was placed in a walnut tree in the woods. 
O.&o. XI. Nov. 1886. p. 162 
same pair of birds that I robbed earlier in 
the season. In his Birds of New Eng- 
land, Samuels says of this bird : “ It has 
been found breeding in Vermont ; and Dr. 
Thompson, in his work on the birds of that 
State, gives a description of the nest and 
eggs. Three nests have been found in Mas- 
sachusetts within two years, two in West 
Roxbury and one in Dorchester. These 
were all built in forked twigs of apple trees 
in old, neglected orchards, facing to the 
southward, and were constructed of the 
same material that the Kingbird uses in its 
nest. In fact, they were almost exactly 
like the Kingbird’s nest, but were a little 
smaller.’’ 
Samuels’ description and my own ob- 
servation had led me to believe that it se- 
lected an apple tree in which to build its 
nest, but my experience of the past Sum- 
mer goes to convince me that it breeds 
more commonly than is usually supposed. 
— <7. 0. Tracy , 
ec. 15. 1882. p, I W-lte 
