Breeding of the Alder Flycatcher ( Empidonax traillii alnorum) near 
Plainfield, New Jersey. — During a visit to Ash Swamp, three miles east 
of Plainfield, Union County, New Jersey, on the 19th, 20th, and 21st of 
July, 1899, I was surprised to find the Alder Flycatcher ( Empidonax 
traillii alnorum) a common species there. 
My identification was confirmed by Dr. Jonathan Dwight, Jr., who 
examined a bird-of-the-year secured on August 6, 1899. 
Circumstances pointed to its breeding here, and my experience during 
the past summer proves that it does so, for on every visit to the swamp I 
found the shy little flycatchers among the alders. These dates include 
May 30, June 17 and 24, and July 8, 15, 22 and 29. 
The species is rather numerous and generally distributed throughout 
the swamp (which is less than one square mile in area), frequenting 
chiefly the alders along the streams and edges of the woods. Elsewhere 
in the vicinity of Plainfield I have found it only during the migrations. 
I have not yet succeeded in finding an occupied nest, but discovered a 
deserted nest containing one egg, which may belong to this species. On 
July 29 I came upon one of these birds with a brood of full-grown young 
and saw one of the latter fed by its parent. 
I believe this to be the first positive record of the breeding of this spe- 
cies south of northwestern Connecticut. 
Its three congeners of the eastern United States all occur in this vicin- 
ity. The Least Flycatcher is a common summer resident, the Green- 
crested Flycatcher is a rare summer resident, and the Yellow-bellied 
Flycatcher is a fairly common transient visitor. 
The avi-fauna of this region is decidedly Carolinian. — W. D. W. 
Miller, Plainfield, N. J. Auk, XVIII, Jan., 1901, p . / O $■ 
