(_Empidonax minimus_) Flycatcher family
_Called also_: CHEBEC
_Length_--5 to 5.5 inches. About an inch smaller than the
English sparrow.
_Male_--Gray or olive-gray above, paler on wings and lower
part of back, and a more distinct olive-green on head.
Underneath grayish white, sometimes faintly suffused with pale
yellow. Wings have whitish bars. White eye-ring. Lower half of
bill horn-color.
_Female_--Is slightly more yellowish underneath.
_Range_--Eastern North America, from tropics northward to Quebec.
_Migrations_--May. September. Common summer resident.
This, the smallest member of its family, takes the place of the more
southerly Acadian flycatcher, throughout New England and the region of
the Great Lakes. But, unlike his Southern relative, he prefers
orchards and gardens close to our homes for his hunting grounds rather
than the wet recesses of the forests. _Che-bec_, _che-bec_, the
diminutive olive-pated gray sprite calls out from the orchard between
his aA"rial sallies after the passing insects that have been attracted
by the decaying fruit, and chebec is the name by which many New
Englanders know him.
While giving this characteristic call-note, with drooping jerking
tail, trembling wings, and uplifted parti-colored bill, he, looks
unnerved and limp by the effort it has cost him. But in the next
instant a gnat flies past. How quickly the bird recovers itself, and
charges full-tilt at his passing dinner! The sharp click of his little
bill proves that he has not missed his aim; and after careering about
in the air another minute or two, looking for more game to snap up on
the wing, he will return to the same perch and take up his familiar
refrain. Without hearing this call-note one might often mistake the
bird for either the wood pewee or the ph[oe]be, for all the three are
similarly clothed and have many traits in common. The slightly larger
size of the ph[oe]be and pewee is not always apparent when they are
seen perching on the trees. Unlike the "tuft of hay" to which the
Acadian flycatcher's nest has been likened, the least flycatcher's
home is a neat, substantial cup-shaped cradle softly lined with down
or horsehair, and placed generally in an upright crotch of a tree,
well above the ground.