24 
UPTON, MAINE 
1872 
June 2-14 
the season, we saw only one pain building (June 9). They were 
very quarrelsome, drove all other birds out of their retreats, 
kept low down in the bushed frequently flitting from twig to 
twig not more than six inches above the ground, and launched 
out after insects much less often than the other flycatchers. 
They were extremely shy and when pursued would start quietly 
and flitting off near the ground as if to light again within a 
few yards would fly the whole length of the thicket: this trick 
we noticed repeatedly and it was only by using the greatest 
care and caution that specimens were procured: they also had 
a habit of invariably lighting with their backs toward the pur- 
surer: nine out of ten were shot in behind. Their notes were 
numerous and kept up incessantly. The song of the S was a high 
loud, harsh quee-chee varying to quee-wechee and sometimes que- 
queah: this was as frequently uttered from the depths of the 
thicket as from the tops of the alder bushes and although they 
sometimes perched in the high trees overhead, or on some . ex¬ 
posed overhanging limb they rarely sang in such situations: 
the ordinary note used by both sexes was a petulant pip some¬ 
times repeated several times in quick succession: they also 
had an angry querulous trill expecially when fighting: all these 
cries were instantly suppressed on their being approached, al¬ 
though the report of a gun did not seem to alarm them much. 
Their nests were large bulky affairs composed of Spanish moss 
coarse weed stalks and grass with a lining of fine roots and 
were placed about breast high in the crotch of an alder or pop- 
