‘l

l4‘LY(‘.\’l‘(‘Il HRS. gt

Amt. of grasses, twigs. and rootlets. with generally a pieee ot' :1 east snake skin. in a hole in a tree. generally less than twenty feet up. [Egg/s, three to six. ereamy \\ bile, streaked {ulq/x'ttzi/[uiz/ly with elioeolate. 'lIIt x "EN

During the spring migration eaeh day brings its own surpris ‘ and pleasure. The bare. silent woods where I walked alone before are now astir with llitting wings and ringing with glad music. Each morning I hurry out, full of eager antieipalion. to be thrilled by the greeting of some old friend come home again.

There are red-letter days, however, even in this calen- dar. Ilark! from the woods a loud whistle pierces far through the clearing. The UI'L‘EIL'CTUSt llilS (101110! FIG. 75,—Crested Flycatcher, (Natural size.)

I break away from the confusing chorus of small voices and hurry off to the woods for the first sight of the distinguished hird. Full of life and vigor. he flies about. in the green tree tops, chattering to himself or :alling loudly as he goes.

Not many days pass. however. before he is so taken up with do— mestie matters that his voice is rarely heard outside the woods. Is he engaged in his famous pursuit—hunting snake skins to line his nest? Absorbed in my daily round of nest calls. I (fllt'tlsl‘t the memory of eaeh passing glimpse of him. Now I see him launch from a bass- wood top. with wings and tail spread. to sail down through the air, his tail glowing red against the light. Again. when looking fo ' a rare Warbler. his ealls arrest me. In the dead top of the highest tree in sight 1 find him with his mate. \Vith erests ‘aised. the handsome birds chase eaeh other about the bare branches. Tired of that. they explore the. old \\'<mdpeel<er‘s holes in the trunk. and one of them walks out of sight down a hollow limb. A lllaekbird lights in the tree, and the (lreat—erest above beeomes so agitated that I am eon- vineed his mate has gone to her nest. when lo! both I’lyeatchers are (ill and away to another of the great trees that orertop the forest.

I‘llitntl-ZM'E A. MERRIAM.

456. Sayornis phaebe (Ll/111.). l’mi-nna. iSee Fig. 42.» .-trl.!l'p— per parts grayish brown with an olive-green east: erown distinetly darker, fast-nus ; wings and tail t'useous. wing-bars not eouspieuous; outer vane of outer tailvt'eather white or yellowish white. exeept at the tip: under parts white, more or less washed with yellowish. and tinged with brownish gray