THE CRESTED FLYCATCHER
Flycatcher Family—Tyrannidæ
Length: About 9 inches.
Male and Female: Olive-gray above; throat and breast light gray; belly, bright yellow; head conspicuously crested; bill, long, dark, slightly hooked, with bristles at its base; wings brown, margined with white, pale yellow, and reddish-brown; middle tail-feathers, dull brown; inner web of other tail-feathers reddish-brown.
Notes: A whistle that attracts attention. Major Bendire describes the “Great Crest’s” notes as follows:
“It utters a variety of sounds; the most common is a clear whistle like e-whuit-huit, or wit-whit, wit-whit, repeated five or six times in a somewhat lower key, and varied to whuir, whuree, or puree, accompanied by various turnings and twistings of the head. Its alarm-note is a penetrating and far-reaching whēēk, whēēk.”
Nest: The nest of the crested flycatcher is unique. Major Bendire says that it “is usually placed in a natural cavity of some tree or dead stump; possibly in an abandoned woodpecker excavation, though a natural one is preferred.” He says also that “nests vary in bulk; are begun with a base of coarse trash and finished with fine twigs, bunches of cattle hair, pine needles, dry leaves and grasses, the tail of a rabbit, pieces of catbirds’ eggshells, exuviæ of snakes, owl and hawk feathers, tufts of woodchucks’ hair and fine grass roots.”
Snake-skins “seem to be present in the majority of the nests of this species; sometimes in the nest proper, and again placed around the sides of it, in all probability for protective purposes, and changed and rearranged from time to time” ... probably hung outside to “alarm intruders.”[128]
The Crested Flycatcher lives in eastern North America; breeds from southern Canada to Florida, and winters in Mexico and northern South America. He is a common summer resident of the Middle and Southern States especially. Though louder-voiced than his relatives, the kingbird, phœbe, and wood pewee, he is not so well known because he is shyer. He is not so pugnacious as the kingbird, but he is known to fight fiercely for a mate.
THE OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER
Flycatcher Family—Tyrannidæ
Length: About 7½ inches.
Male and Female: Upper parts and sides olive-gray, the gray extending across the breast; throat and belly yellowish, the yellow extending in a point almost to the center of the breast; a patch of whitish feathers on both sides of the back near the rump; head slightly crested; bill long, black above, yellow below, bristles at the base, wings and tail olive-brown.
Notes: A monotonous call-note, Pit-pit-pit, and a loud, clear Peep-here or Peep-peep-here, frequently uttered from the top of a tall spruce.
Habitat: Groves of conifers.
Range: North and South America. Breeds from central Alaska and Canada, in coniferous forests of western United States to northern Michigan, New York, and Maine, south to the mountains of North Carolina; winters in South America from Colombia to Peru.
THE WOOD PEWEE
Flycatcher Family—Tyrannidæ
Length: From 6 to 6½ inches.
Male and Female: Dark olive-gray above, darkest on the head, which is somewhat crested; the slightly hooked bill has bristles at its base; under parts, grayish-white, slightly tinged with yellow; breast and sides a darker gray; brownish wings and tail; two whitish wing-bars that are more conspicuous than those of the phœbe.
Notes: Pee-a-wee, uttered slowly and mournfully, yet with sweetness and tenderness. Sometimes the phrase is followed by an abrupt Peer, given with a falling inflection. At times pewees sing continuously. My sister timed one that sang for an hour and twenty minutes at daybreak.
Nest: One of the most beautiful made. It is rather broad and flat, decorated on the outside with lichens similarly to that of the hummingbird. The nest seems to grow out of the branch on which it is placed.
Range: North and South America. Breeds from southern Canada to southern Texas and central Florida, westward to eastern Nebraska; winters from Nicaraugua to Colombia and Peru.
Of all the flycatchers of my acquaintance the Wood Pewee is the most lovable. He is the only one that possesses a sweet voice; but his note, long-drawn and sad, seems to proceed from an over-burdened heart. The appearance of the little bird is dejected, as with drooping tail, he utters the plaintive sound.
WOOD PEWEE