Empidonax trailli. 
18T 
1872. 
Juno 3- 
14. ^ 
1874. 
July 31. 
Aug. 4. 
“ 6 . 
1879. 
?'ay 29. 
1876. 
June 17. 
Maine (Lake Umbagog). 
Near the top of Upton Hill yiq found these Flycatch¬ 
ers abundant. One locality, comprising about three 
acres of alder thickets fringed about the edges v/’ith 
scattered poplars, literally sv/arnn d vrith them and af- 
4^^-^ -I.... _ ^ 
there their numbers vraro not 
ter tv/enty had been shot 
appreciably diminished. Although at this time-- they 
'.Yere evidently settled for the season, they had not 
apparently, begun to brood, b^tt last year’s nest vz-ere 
found in abundance. These Flycatchers are very quarrel 
some, fighting fiercely yzith oaciiother, and driving all 
other birds 
the bushes 
rorn taoir 
retreais. They keep low down in 
froquontlj,' perching not more than six inches 
above the ground. They appeared to eatcli flying insects 
less often than do other Empidonaces. They are very 
shy, and when pursued usually flit on ahead keeping near 
the ground and just out of range. Often one v/ill start 
as if to fly only a few yards but really go the v/hole 
lengi^h oi tiio thicket. This trick was noticed repeated¬ 
ly. They also have a habit of alighting \Yith their 
backs to'vards the |)ursuer; nine out of ten vrere shot in 
the back. Their notes are numerous and uttered almost 
incessantly. What soens to be the song of the male is 
an emphatic .gueorwo^hx or .quee-weech . sometimes Queo- 
.aiiuah,. The ordinary cry of both sexes is a petulent 
urn sometimes repeated several times in quick succession. 
They also utter an angry, querulous tv/ittor, especially 
v/hen fighting. When their retreats are invaded those 
in tlie immediate neighborhood become at once silr>nt 
although the report of a gun does not seem to alarm ihem. 
The males sing indifferently from the denths of the 
thicket or from the tops of the higher alders! Altbourh 
they sometimes porch on the branches of trees'overbad 
they rarely sing in such situations. ’ 
On June 9 v/e found Traill’s Flycatchers numerous 
in the 'willov/ thickets along the edges of B Meadow. 
A female was seen building there. 
! a brood of several young. Although 
: Jarely _arg 0 enough to fly and still being fed by their 
parents, they called exactly like the adults 
and kept darting up after flies. 
Saw a number (all adults) on Upton Hill. 
I; 
Pound a brood of 
They called quee-v/ichv 
The mother flitted nor 
pip of alarDi. 
young in a tnicket of low bushes, 
- Qxactly the tone of the adult, 
vously about uttering the usual 
Abundant among the alder thickets 
ji 
i| A coripletod 
jjthe ground, in a 
but empty nest at 
spruce. 
bordering B Meadov/s. 
least ten feet above 
