THE ALDER FLYCATCHER ( EMPIDONAX TRAILLII 
ALNORUM ) AS A SUMMER RESIDENT OF 
EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS. 
BY J. A. FARLEY. 
Certain facts in the life-history of the Alder Flycatcher con- 
tribute to create the general impression that the bird is an 
exceedingly rare summer resident of eastern Massachusetts. Its 
chosen haunts are not too often in the eye of the world ; it is not 
a vociferous species; and its manner of securing an existence 
keeps it for the most part out of view of the casual observer. 
Furthermore, the species being well known to arrive toward the 
end of the spring migration, an Alder Flycatcher, appearing late 
in May in the capacity of a returned summer resident, has 
doubtless been often mistaken for a migrant still northward bound. 
E. t. alnorum therefore, while always breeding sparingly, is not 
so rare a summer bird in the eastern part of Massachusetts as it 
is commonly supposed to be. 
The Alder Flycatcher occurs in summer at various localities 
in Essex and Middlesex counties. I have noted it in the breeding 
season at Crane Neck Pond in Groveland, in northern Essex 
County, and so near Boston as Fresh Pond, Cambridge ; also in 
the towns of Wilmington, Lynnfield, and Wakefield. In one 
locality in Essex County the bird is plainly increasing in numbers. 
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t is Quite a s apt to be heard while the performer is perched unseen 
1 This in spite of the fact that long ago the species was reported by Mr. 
Brewster to be “retiring but not shy.” (Hist. N. A. Birds, 1874, p. 471.) 
