A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 2

Mr. Paine has since informed me that Traill’s Flycatcher reaches Central Vermont from the 20th to the 25th of May, and is one of the last birds to arrive, coming in company with Contopus virens and C. borealis. They all leave before the close of September. Mr. Paine has met with a great many nests of this species, but has only found one containing more than three eggs. It has a very simple song, consisting of but two notes. It has also a sort of twitter as it plays with its mate. They are usually found in thickets, for the most part near water, but not always, and are never seen in tall woods. They are occasionally seen chasing one another in the open fields.

Mr. William Brewster informs me that he found Traill’s Flycatcher moderately common and breeding at the foot of Mount Washington, in the Glen, in August, 1869, and in the township of Newry, Me., in June, 1871. Their favorite haunts were the dense alder thickets along the runs and small streams, over these dark retreats, perched on some tall dead branch, full in the rays of the noonday sun. The male sang vigorously, occasionally darting out after some insect, and returning to the same perch. His song consisted of a single dissyllabic refrain, ke´wing, uttered in a harsh peevish tone at an interval of about thirty seconds, varied occasionally to ke´wink, or ki-winch. At each utterance his head is thrown upwards with a sudden jerk. They were retiring, but not shy, were easily approached, and were apparently not so restless as most Flycatchers.

Near Washington, Dr. Coues found Traill’s Flycatcher a rare spring and fall visitant, a few possibly remaining to breed. They came about the last of April, and passed south the last of September. Professor Baird frequently met with them about Carlisle, Pa.

In Southern Illinois, Mr. Ridgway has found this species a rather common summer resident, chiefly met with in the open woods. It was found nesting in Northwestern Massachusetts by Mr. A. Hopkins, in Illinois by Mr. Tolman, in New Brunswick by Mr. Barnstow, and at Fort Resolution by Messrs. Kennicott, Ross, and Lockhart.

I have myself found this species on the banks of the Androscoggin and Peabody Rivers in Gorham, and met with several of their nests. They were all in similar situations, and it was quite impossible to obtain a glimpse of the bird after she had left her nest. The nests were all made like those of the Indigo-Bird, externally of dry grasses and fine strips of bark, and lined with finer stems of grasses. The eggs were five in number, and incubation commenced about the first of June. I have discovered their nests at the same time among the foot-hills at the base of Mount Washington, its wooded sides being, at the time, covered with snow to the depth of several feet.

Among the memoranda of Mr. Kennicott I find one dated Fort Resolution, July 9, mentioning the procuring of the parent nest and egg of this species. The nest was three feet from the ground, in a small spruce among thick low bushes. The female was shot on the nest, which contained two young and two eggs. Eggs of this species from Gorham, N. H., and Coventry and Randolph, Vt., do not essentially vary in size or shape. They measure .63 of an inch in length, by .56 in breadth. Their ground-color is white, with a distinctly roseate tinge. They are oval in shape, a little less obtuse at one end, and marked almost entirely about the larger end with large and well-defined spots and blotches of purplish-brown.

Empidonax minimus, Baird

LEAST FLYCATCHER

Tyrannula minima, Wm. M. and S. F. Baird, Pr. A. N. Sc. I, July, 1843, 284.—Ib. Sillim. Am. Jour. Sc. July, 1844.—Aud. Birds Am. VII, 1844, 343, pl. ccccxci. Empidonax minimus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 195.—Sclater, Catal. 1862, 229.—Samuels, 141.

Sp. Char. Second quill longest; third and fourth but little shorter; fifth a little less; first intermediate between fifth and sixth. Tail even. Above olive-brown, darker on the head, becoming paler on the rump and upper tail-coverts. The middle of the back most strongly olivaceous. The nape (in some individuals) and sides of the head tinged with ash. A ring round the eye and some of the loral feathers white; the chin and throat white. The sides of the throat and across the breast dull ash, the color on the latter sometimes nearly obsolete; sides of the breast similar to the back, but of a lighter tint; middle of the belly very pale yellowish-white, turning to pale sulphur-yellow on the sides of the belly, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts. Wings brown; two narrow white bands on the wing, formed by the tips of the first and second coverts, succeeded by one of brown. The edge of the first primary, and of the secondaries and tertials, white. Tail rather lighter brown, edged externally like the back. Feathers narrow, not acuminate, with the ends rather blunt. In autumn the white parts are strongly tinged with yellow. Length, about 5.00; wing, 2.65; tail, 2.50. Young with ochraceous, instead of grayish-white wing-bands.

Hab. Eastern United States to Missouri Plains; Mirador; Orizaba; Belize. Localities: Oaxaca (Scl. 1859, 384); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 122); Orizaba (Scl. Ibis, I, 441, and Mus. S. I.); Coban, Escuintla, Dueñas (Scl. Catal. 1862, 229); San Antonio, Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 474, common, summer).

Habits. The distinctness of this species from the acadica, with which it had been previously confused, was first pointed out by the Messrs. Baird in 1843, but it was some time before the complete differences between the two species and their distinctive habits and distribution were fully appreciated and known. This species, one of the commonest birds in the State of Massachusetts, where the E. acadica is nearly or quite unknown, was supposed by Mr. Nuttall to be the latter species, and under that name is treated and its history given. Wilson contributed to cause this error. For although his account of the acadica is in part correct, it is not wholly free from error, and probably the nest and eggs described as belonging to the latter were those of the minima. The discovery, by Professor Baird, of the nest and eggs of the acadica, and their marked difference in all respects from those of the minima, which had hitherto been attributed to it, at once pointed out the errors that had prevailed, and permitted the real facts to be appreciated.

This bird is an abundant species throughout Eastern North America, occurring as a migrant in all the States between the Atlantic and the Great Plains, and breeding from the 40th parallel northward over an extent not fully defined, but probably to within the Arctic Circle. It occurs in great numbers from Maine to Nebraska, and, unlike all the other species of this genus, is not shy or retiring, but frequents the open grounds, visits gardens, is found in the vicinity of dwellings, and breeds even in the vines that half conceal their windows and doors.

This Flycatcher reaches Washington, according to Dr. Coues, the last of April, and remains about two weeks. It returns in autumn the third week in August, and remains till the last of September. It is only a spring and autumnal visitant, none breeding, and is rather common. It frequents the margins of small streams and brooks.

I am not aware that the nest of this species has ever been procured farther south than New York City, yet it is given by Mr. Dresser as having been found common by him, through the summer, near San Antonio. It is not, however, mentioned by Dr. Woodhouse, nor by the Mexican Survey, nor was it met with by Sumichrast in Vera Cruz. It is cited by Dr. Coues as only a migrant in South Carolina. Near Philadelphia Mr. Turnbull gives it as a somewhat rare migrant, passing north in April and returning in September, but adds that a few remain to breed. I did not find it breeding in the vicinity of Newark, nor, among a very extensive collection of nests and eggs made in that neighborhood, were there any eggs of this species. It is mentioned by Mr. Boardman as occurring at Calais, and in the western part of the State Mr. Verrill found it a very common summer visitant, arriving there about the middle of May and breeding there in numbers. It is also an exceedingly frequent summer visitant at Hamilton, Canada West, according to Mr. McIlwraith. It is found during the winter months near Oaxaca, Mexico, according to Mr. Boucard, and has been met with throughout Mexico and south to Guatemala.

In Massachusetts this Flycatcher is one of the most abundant and familiar species, arriving from about the 20th of April to the 1st of May. It is found most frequently in orchards, gardens, and open grounds, and very largely on the edges of woods, remaining until October. They are much addicted to particular localities, and return to the same spot year after year, if undisturbed. A pair that had established their hunting-grounds in an open area north of a dwelling in Roxbury returned to the same spot for several successive years, and would come regularly to the piazza of the house, where bits of cotton were exposed for the benefit of such of the whole feathered tribe as chose to avail themselves of it. Each year they drew nearer and nearer the house, until at last the nest was made in a clump of honeysuckle on the corner of the piazza, from which they would sally forth in quest of insects, entirely unmindful of the near presence of the family. I never observed the quarrelsome disposition that Nuttall speaks of, nor have I ever seen them molest other birds, even when the summer Yellow-Birds and the Chipping Sparrows have nested in the same clump. They are very silent birds, having no song and no other cry or note than a very feeble, guttural utterance, given out either as a single sound or as a succession of twitters. Their nest is a very common receptacle for the eggs of the Cow Blackbird.

This species was found breeding at Fort Resolution, latitude 62°, by Mr. Kennicott, the nest being in an alder-bush, and about five feet from the ground. It was also found nesting in the same locality by Mr. Ross and by Mr. Lockhart. Its nest was found at Lake Manitobah by Mr. McTavish, and at Fort Simpson by Mr. Ross.

This species has been gradually undergoing certain modifications of habits and manners in consequence of its contact with civilization and becoming familiarized to the society of man. In nothing is this made more apparent than in the construction of its nests. Those made on the edge of woodlands or in remote orchards are wrought almost entirely of fine deciduous bark, hempen fibres of vegetables, feathers, dried fragments of insect cocoons, and other miscellaneous substances felted and impacted together; within this is a lining of fine strips of vegetable bark, woody fibres, fine lichens, and soft downy feathers. In some the lining is exclusively of fine pine leaves, in others with the seeds or pappus of compositaceous plants. The nests are always quite small, rarely measuring more than three inches in diameter or two in height. Those made in the vicinity of dwellings indicate their neighborhood by the variety of miscellaneous and convenient materials, such as bits of paper, rags, cotton, wool, and the larger and more conspicuous feathers of the poultry-yard. Where raw cotton was abundantly provided, I have known this material, strengthened with a few straws and woody fibres, with a lining of feathers, constitute the whole substance of the nest.

One nest, constructed in a thick tamarack swamp in Wisconsin, is composed of a dense, impacted mass of a dirty white vegetable wool, intertwined at the base with shreds of bark, vegetable stems, and small black roots. The inner rim and frame of the nest are made of black, shining rootlets, intermingled with slender leaves and stems of dry sedges, and lined with the pappus of a small composite plant and a few feathers.

The eggs of this species are pure white, never, so far as I am aware, spotted, of a rounded-oval shape, nearly equally obtuse at either end, and measuring about .60 of an inch in length by .50 in breadth.

Empidonax acadicus, Baird

SMALL GREEN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER

? Muscicapa acadica, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 947.—Latham, Index Orn. II, 1790, 489.—Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, 71 (from Latham).—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 256; V, 1839, 429, pl. cxliv.—Ib. Birds Am. I, 1840, 221, pl. lxii.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 208.—Giraud, Birds L. Island, 1844, 40. Muscicapa querula, Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 77, pl. xiii, f. 3 (not of Vieillot). “Platyrhynchus virescens, Vieillot.” Tyrannula acadica, Richardson, ? Bon. List, Tyrannus acadica, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 320. Empidonax acadicus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 197.—Sclater, Catal. 1862, 229.—Samuels, 143.

Sp. Char. The second and third quills are longest, and about equal; the fourth a little shorter; the first about equal to the fifth, and about .35 less than the longest. Tail even. The upper parts, with sides of the head and neck, olive-green; the crown very little if any darker. A yellowish-white ring round the eye. The sides of the body under the wings like the back, but fainter olive; a tinge of the same across the breast; the chin, throat, and middle of the belly white; the abdomen, lower tail and wing coverts, and sides of the body not covered by the wings, pale greenish-yellow. Edges of the first primary, secondaries, and tertials margined with dull yellowish-white, most broadly on the latter. Two transverse bands of pale yellowish (sometimes with an ochrey tinge) across the wings, formed by the tips of the secondary and primary coverts, succeeded by a brown one. Tail light brown, margined externally like the back. Upper mandible light brown above; pale yellow beneath. In autumn the lower parts are more yellow. Length, 5.65; wing, 3.00; tail, 2.75. Young (60,892 Mt. Carmel, Ill., August 11, 1870; R. Ridgway.) Whole upper surface with indistinct transverse bars of pale ochraceous; wing-markings light ochraceous.

Hab. Eastern United States to the Mississippi; Yucatan. Localities: Cuba (Lawr. VII, 1860, 265; Gundl. Rept. 1865, 240); San Antonio, Texas, summer (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 475).

This species is very similar to E. trailli, but the upper parts are of a brighter and more uniform olive-green, much like that of Vireo olivaceus. The feathers of the crown lack the darker centre. There is less of the olivaceous-ash across the breast. The bands across the wing are light yellowish, instead of grayish-olive. There is much more yellow at the base of the lesser quills. The wings are longer, both proportionally and absolutely. The primaries exceed the secondaries by nearly an inch, instead of by only about .70; the proportions of the quills are much the same.

Habits. This species belongs to Eastern North America, but its distribution north and east is not determined with entire certainty. I have never met with or received any evidence of its breeding northeast of Philadelphia. Nuttall’s account of this bird so blends what he had ascertained in regard to the habits of a different species with what he derived from other writers, that his whole sketch must be passed as unreliable. It is shy and retiring in its habits, frequenting only lonely places, and would readily escape notice, so that its presence in New Jersey, New York, and even New England, may not be uncommon, although we do not know it. Mr. Lawrence mentions its occurring in the vicinity of New York City; but I can find no evidence whatever that a single specimen of this bird has ever been procured in any part of New England, except Mr. Allen’s mention of finding it near Springfield. That it is found in the immediate neighborhood of Philadelphia I have positive evidence, having received its nest and eggs, found in West Philadelphia. Mr. Turnbull gives it as of frequent occurrence from the beginning of May to the middle of September. He generally met with it in the most secluded parts of woods. Mr. McIlwraith calls it a rare summer resident near Hamilton, Canada West.

I am informed by Mr. Thomas H. Jackson, an accurate observer, resident in Westchester, Pa., that this Flycatcher arrives in that neighborhood early in May, constructing its nest about the first of June. This is generally placed on a drooping limb of a beech or dogwood tree at the height of from six to ten feet from the ground. It is never saddled on a limb like that of a Wood Pewee, neither is it pensile like those of the Vireos, but is built in the fork of a small limb, and securely fastened thereto by a strip of bark. The nest itself is mostly made of fine strips of bark or weed-stalks, woven together without much care as to neatness or strength, and so very slight is the structure that you may often count the eggs in the nest from below. Occasionally this bird constructs its nest of the blossoms of the hickory-tree, and when thus made is very neat and pretty.

The eggs are generally three in number (Mr. Jackson has never known more in a nest), and they are said to be of a rich cream-color, thinly spotted near the greater end. The Cow-Bird sometimes imposes on this species with its parasitic offspring, but not so often as upon other birds.

Mr. Jackson also informs me that this is quite a common bird in some localities. In one piece of woodland, half a mile east of West Chester, he can every season meet with six or eight of their nests, while in another direction, in a wood apparently similar in every respect, he has never met with any.

Mr. J. A. Allen mentions finding this Flycatcher as a rare summer visitant in Western Massachusetts, where, as he states, it breeds in swamps and low moist thickets, which are its exclusive haunts. He characterizes it as one of the most spirited and tyrannical of this genus. It is said to have a short quick note, sounding like quequeal, which it utters hurriedly and sharply, and to have an erect, hawk-like attitude. He adds that it is very quarrelsome with its own species, a battle ensuing whenever two males meet. They pursue each other fiercely, with snapping bills and sharp, querulous, twittering notes. He found it a very shy bird, and difficult to collect, frequenting exclusively, so far as he was able to observe, thick alder-swamps and swampy thickets, keeping concealed among the thick bushes, or at a great distance.

Wilson’s history of this species is quite brief, and he expressly states that it is a bird but little known. His account of its nest and eggs is inaccurate, and refers probably to that of the minimus, as also the statement that it extends its migrations as far as Newfoundland. He found it inhabiting only the deepest solitary parts of the woods, stationed among the lower branches, uttering at short intervals a sudden, sharp squeak, heard at considerable distance through the woods. As it flies, it utters a low, querulous note, which it changes, on alighting, to its usual sharp cry. He adds that it is a rare and very solitary bird, always haunting the most gloomy, moist, and unfrequented parts of the forest, feeding on flying insects, devouring wild bees and huckleberries in their season.

To this account Audubon furnishes but little additional that is reliable. He evidently confounded with it the minimus, repeats Wilson’s description of its eggs, and is incorrect as to its northern distribution. He speaks of it as extremely pugnacious, chasing from its premises every intruder, and when once mated seldom leaving the vicinity of its nest except in pursuit of food. His description of the nest applies to that of the minimus, but not to that of this species.

Mr. Ridgway writes me that in Southern Illinois it is the most abundant of the Empidonaces, breeding in the same woods with E. trailli. It is so exceedingly similar to that species in manners and general habits that they are hard to distinguish, and it requires a long acquaintance with the two in the woods to learn to distinguish them when seen or heard. A close attention, however, shows that the notes of the two are quite distinct.

Mr. Dresser mentions finding this species not uncommon near San Antonio, Texas, during the summer. Its stomach was found to contain small insects. Dr. Woodhouse also speaks of it as common in Texas, New Mexico, and the Indian Territory, but at what season is not mentioned.

Dr. Hoy writes me that this bird, quite common about Racine some twenty-five years ago, has now almost entirely disappeared.

Near Washington Dr. Coues found this Flycatcher a common summer resident, the most abundant of the kind, and the only one that breeds there in any numbers. They arrive the last of April, and remain until the last of September.

A beautiful nest of this species was found by Mr. George O. Welch near Indianapolis, Indiana. It was fully identified, and the parent shot. This nest has a diameter of four inches, and a height of two. Its base is composed to a large extent of dried grasses, intermingled with masses of withered blossoms of different herbaceous plants. Above this is constructed a somewhat rudely interwoven nest, composed entirely of long, fine, wiry stems of grasses. The cavity is two inches wide and less than one in depth. The eggs, three in number, are exceedingly beautiful, and differ from all the eggs of this genus, having more resemblance to those of Contopi. They have an elongated oval shape, and are quite pointed at one end. They measure .78 by .56 of an inch. Their ground is a rich cream-color, tinged with a reddish-brown shading, and at the larger end the eggs are irregularly marked with scattered and vivid blotches of red and reddish-brown. The nest was found on the 3d of June.

Empidonax flaviventris, Baird

YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER

Tyrannula flaviventris, Wm. M. and S. F. Baird, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phila. I, July, 1843, 283.—Ib. Am. Journ. Science, April, 1844.—Aud. Birds Am. VII, 1844, 341, pl. ccccxc. Tyrannula pusilla (Swainson), Reinhardt, Vidensk. Meddel. for 1853, 1854, 82.—Gloger, Cab. Jour. 1854, 426. Empidonax hypoxanthus, Baird (provisional name for eastern specimens). Empidonax difficilis, Baird (provisional name for western). Empidonax flaviventris, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1859, 198.—Sclater, Catal. 1862, 229.—Maynard, B. E. Mass. 1870, 126.

Sp. Char. Second, third, and fourth quills nearly equal; first intermediate between fifth and sixth. Tail nearly even, slightly rounded. Tarsi long. Above bright olive-green (back very similar to that of Vireo noveboracensis); crown rather darker. A broad yellow ring round the eye. The sides of the head, neck, breast and body, and a band across the breast like the back, but lighter; the rest of the lower parts bright greenish sulphur-yellow; no white or ashy anywhere on the body. Quills dark brown; two bands on the wing formed by the tips of the primary and secondary coverts, the outer edge of the first primary and of the secondaries and tertials pale yellow, or greenish-yellow. The tail-feathers brown, with the exterior edges like the back. The bill dark brown above, yellow beneath. The feet black. In the autumn the colors are purer, the yellow is deeper, and the markings on the wings of an ochrey tint. Length, 5.15; wing, 2.83; tail, 2.45.

Hab. Eastern United States, and Eastern Middle America, south to Costa Rica. Localities: Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 122); Xalapa (Scl. Ibis, I, 441); Choctun, Dueñas (Scl. Catal. 1862, 230); Costa Rica (Lawr. IX, 114); Panama (Lawr. VIII, 63); Vera Cruz, winter, resident? (Sum. M. B. S. I, 557); San Antonio, Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 475).

Specimens from the eastern regions of North and Middle America, though varying slightly among themselves, all agree in the characters which distinguish them from the western series.

Habits. This well-marked species was first obtained in Carlisle, Penn., and described by the Bairds in 1843. It has since remained a comparatively rare and scattered species, and has been only seldom met with. I found it breeding in the vicinity of Halifax, and also among the Grand Menan Islands, and in both cases was so fortunate as to be able to obtain its nest and eggs. It has been found near Calais by Mr. Boardman, and its nest also procured. It has also been found breeding near Trenton, N. J., by Dr. Slack, and in a not distant locality in the same State by Dr. Abbott.

Dr. Coues observed the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher to be a rather rare spring and autumnal visitant at Washington. As specimens were taken there July 28, undoubtedly they occasionally breed there. They appear early in May, and go south the latter part of September.

Two specimens of Flycatcher, identified as of this species, are recorded by Professor Reinhardt as having been taken at Godthaab, Greenland, in 1853.

Sumichrast met with this species in Vera Cruz, but whether as a resident or only as a migrant he could not determine. Mr. Dresser states that it is common in the summer near San Antonio, arriving there in April. Dr. Coues met it in its migrations through South Carolina. Dr. Turnbull speaks of it as rare in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, where it arrives in the middle of April on its way north. It has been found throughout Eastern Mexico and Guatemala, and as far south as Panama.

Mr. Verrill regarded this species as a summer resident in Western Maine, though he never met with its nest, and at no time very common. Specimens were procured between the last of May and the middle of June. It was found, though very rare, by Mr. McIlwraith, at Hamilton, where it was supposed to be a summer resident. Specimens were taken about the middle of May.

Dr. Hoy detected this species in the summer of 1869, in the vicinity of Racine, and although he had no doubt that they had a nest in the vicinity, he was not able to discover it. He was surprised to find that the male of this species has quite a pretty song. This fact has since been confirmed by the observations of Mr. Boardman, who has heard this bird give forth quite a pleasing, though somewhat monotonous trill. This, according to Dr. Hoy, resembles Pēa-wāyk-pēa-wāyoc, several times repeated in a soft and not unpleasant call or song.

In Western Massachusetts Mr. Allen has found this species rather rare. Those met with have all been taken from May 15 to June 5. Dr. Coues, in his List of the birds of New England, expresses his conviction that this species is probably much less rare than collectors have generally supposed. It harbors very closely in shady woods and thickets, and is very rarely to be met with anywhere else. In the distance it is not easily distinguished from other species of this genus, and may have been allowed to go unsought, mistaken for a much more common species. Mr. Allen has generally met with quite a number each year in May, sometimes several in a single excursion. Mr. Maynard took eight specimens in a few hours, May 31, in Eastern Massachusetts, and Mr. Welch obtained an unusual number in a single season. Dr. Coues has also met with them near Washington during their breeding-season.

At Grand Menan I found the nest of this species in a low alder-bush, on the edge of a thicket, but within a few feet of the shore. The nest was about two feet from the ground, placed in the fork of the bush, and bearing a close resemblance to the nest of the Cyanospiza cyanea. It was loosely made of soft strips of the inner bark of deciduous trees, and lined with yellow stems of grasses. It was not large for the bird, but the conspicuous color of the materials at once betrayed the nest as we chanced to land within a few feet of it. The female immediately slid from it, and was not seen again, but her mate was undisturbed by our presence. Afterwards other nests were obtained at Halifax, on the edge of swampy woods, made of stubble, and placed in low bushes. All the eggs I obtained were white, of a slightly more chalky hue than those of the minimus, and more oblong. Those procured by Mr. Boardman were sprinkled with minute dots of reddish-brown. Their measurement is .68 by .52 of an inch.

Empidonax flaviventris, var. difficilis, Baird

WESTERN YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER

Empidonax difficilis, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 198 (under E. flaviventris) pl. lxxvi, f. 2.—Sclater, Catal. 1862, 230. Empidonax flaviventris, Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 328.

Sp. Char. Similar to flaviventris, but tail much longer, and colors lighter and duller. The olive above less green, and the sulphur-yellow beneath less pure, having an ochraceous cast, this especially marked on the edge of the wing; wing-bands grayish rather than yellowish white. Measurements, ♂ (58,550, Parley’s Park, Wahsatch Mountains, Utah, August 5, 1869; C. King, R. Ridgway): Wing, 2.90; tail, 2.80; wing-formula, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 1. Young. Wing-bands ochraceous, instead of grayish-white, with a sulphur-yellow tinge.

Hab. Western Province of United States, and Western Mexico. (Mazatlan, Colima, etc.) Fort Whipple, Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 62).

Habits. This Flycatcher is a western form, closely allied to our eastern E. flaviventris. It was met with by Dr. Coues in Arizona, where it was rather rare, and appeared to be a summer resident. It arrives in that Territory about the middle of April, and remains there until the latter part of September. Dr. Coues found it difficult to distinguish this form from our eastern flaviventris.

Dr. Cooper obtained at Monterey, Cal., specimens of the western types of this bird, having darker markings on the wing, which, however, he regards as only indicative of a young plumage, and not of specific distinctness. He found these birds chiefly frequenting woods of Coniferæ, and very silent, which, so far as the observation has any value, indicates a marked difference between the eastern and the western birds.

The eggs of this species are also different from any of the eastern E. flaviventris that I have ever seen, and are more like the eggs of E. trailli than of the other species of Empidonax. They measure .73 of an inch in length, by .58 in breadth, have a creamy-white ground, marked at the larger end with reddish-brown and purplish markings. They are of an oblong-oval shape. Mr. Ridgway met with this species only once in his western explorations, when he obtained a pair in a thick pine woods on the Wahsatch Mountains, in June. They were exceedingly retiring, and frequented dark woods, whose solitudes were shared besides only by the Turdus auduboni and Myiadestes townsendi. Their note was a pit, much more like that of some Warblers than like the notes of the other Empidonaces.