THE OOLOGIST’S EXCHANGE. 
YOL. II. NEW YOKE, JULY, 1889. No. 4. 
Trail’s Flycatcher. 
fElIPIDONAX PUSILLUS TRAILLII.) 
BY W. IXGRA21. 
This bird is a fairly common summer 
resident in this locality and I am pleased 
to say one that is on the increase yearly. 
It is a sub-species of the Little Fly- 
catcher and, also closely resembles the 
Acadian, but has different notes and 
builds a different nest in different local- 
ities. It has no gaudy colors ; a de- 
scription given by Mr. L. O. Pindar 
is as follows: “Above, olive brown, 
darker on the head; below grayish white, 
wing bars the same color.” Although 
this is concise it covers all. It is one 
of the smallest of the family being about 
the size of a Chipping Sparrow. It is a 
true flycatcher, having a muscicapa bill 
with recumbent hairs at the base . It 
has much the appearance of a King bird 
on a diminutive scale and while the 
flycatcher disposition is highly de- 
veloped in this species I have repeatedly 
handled their eggs and nests without 
causing them to desert them and have 
often examined an unfinished nest with- 
out their “pulling up stakes.” 
Their favorite nesting places are in 
the wild plum trees along a stream, a 
hedge row or a retired orchard. I have 
found three forms of the nest, the most 
common one being built in an upright 
fork of a wild plum hedge or alder, 
being made fast at the sides by hempen 
fibres ; the second is placed upon a 
swinging limb of a plum or elm, being 
fastened to the limb below like a Robin’s 
nest, this form is necessarily compactly 
built as is the third or pensile nest 
which is swung between the forks of a 
swinging plum or apple tree, not unlike 
the nest of a Vireo. I have found but 
few of this form and regard it as the 
rarest of the three. The nest is generaly 
constructed of hempen fibers, lined with 
very fine grass and a few feathers from 
the breast of the bird, while horse hair 
sometimes enters into its composition, 
one nest found was composed almost 
entirely'of ‘ ‘ Tickle grass ” while another 
contained a large amount of wool, but I 
suppose these were merely local char- 
acteristics as the former was near an old 
field of grass and the other was in a 
sheep pasture, the height of the nest 
ranges from two to ten feet. 
The eggs have a ereamy white ground 
color, while the markings vary much in 
different sets, some having small spots 
and minute dots, others have large 
blotches and faint spots. The markings 
are principally at the large end and 
present many shades of red, brick-red, 
reddish brown and sometimes a faint 
lavender tint. They measure from ,70x 
.52to.77x.56 and vary as much in shape 
as in size. I agree with those who say that 
the prevailing number is three (and I 
have examined over one hundred nests) 
very rarely have I found four and only 
once five and as two of the five were so 
different from the others I believe the 
set was laid by two birds. The earliest 
date for a complete set was June 8,(88) 
the latest July 15, (85). 
The birds with two or three excep- 
tions were very shy and uneasy, leaving 
the nest at the first alarm (which “by 
the way ” is given by the male who is on 
the watch continuously) they will secrete 
themselves in the nearest covert and 
give vent to their displeasure by an oc- 
casional “ sharp, shrill chirp.” They 
have a very monotonous song which is 
poured forth from some alder or small 
tree in slow and troubled manner. After 
the breeding season is over they are rare 
and by the middle of September they 
have all gone south, they arrive in the 
Spring the middle of May. A common 
migrant in the Mississippi Valley, 
breeding from Southern Illinois north- 
ward. 
Odin, Ills., July 3, 1889. 
The Great White Heron. 
BY T. G. PBAB^ok. 
These beautiful birds which are being 
constantly slaughtered for their plumes 
and skins are, it is said becoming less 
numerous each year, and I fear, ere long- 
will become as rare as the Roseate 
Spoonbill. 
Their nests as 1 have found them are, 
as standard authorities say, “placed in 
almost impenetrable swamps.” 
Birds of Grant and Traverse Cos. 
Minn, June, 1879 Roberu. u, Lennar 
37. Empidonax trailli, {And.) Bd. Traill’s Flycatcher.— On 
July 19 a nest with three fresh eggs of this species was taken in a tangled 
growth of wild-plums and grape-vines. The nest was built about three 
feet from the ground, in the fork of a small plum-tree, and entirely hid- 
den by the grape-vines which covered the tree. It was composed of dry 
grasses rather compactly woven and lined with finer pieces of the same. 
External diameter 3)- inches ; depth 3. Internal diameter 2 ; depth 
about 1-| inches. The ground color of the eggs, which measure .75 of an 
inch in length by .56 in breadth, was a very rich cream-color before 
blowing, and afterward assumed a creamy-white appearance, having a 
circle of dots and spots of a reddish-brown color at the larger end. The 
female was shot. 
Bull. N,0>0f 5 t Jan,, 1880, p. 10 
