106 Nesting Place of Empidonax. [ZOE 
catcher ( #. pusillus ), their habits being very similar and the birds 
- not distinguishable at gunshot distance in a shady grove. It doubt- 
less builds at times in the pine woods near Santa Cruz, where my 
collections of nests and eggs were made in 1866, but at that time 
the difference in the eggs of the two was unknown. In Proc. 
Cal. Acad. Sci., vol. vi, p. 199, 1 made some corrections of this 
error, but think the nests and eggs collected were partly of the 
yellow - bellied as well as of the little flycatcher, their eggs being 
scarcely different, either in size or pattern of spots. 
As is now well known, those of Hammond’s species differ in 
being pure white, and I may state that during four years, when I 
collected nests and eggs around Haywards, I never but once ob- 
tained a probable egg of the species, and then the positive evidence 
of the bird itself was wanting, as a boy brought me the egg and 
could give no account of the bird. 
In the present instance I noticed a pair of birds about the garden 
for a week or more before finding the nest. As no creek is within 
300 yards of the house I did not suspect the birds of building there, 
but now think they may have chosen the location on account of its 
dryness and also the presence of several pine and cypress trees. 
As if to escape all chance of wetting by the rather late rains, they 
chose the driest spot they could find for the nest, for on June 11 I 
found it, by seeing the bird fly off. And for a very timid bird it 
built in a strange place, on top of a pilaster supporting the roof ot 
the porch close to the front door frame and only eight feet high! 
A flat ledge there, four and a half inches square, formed more than 
enough room for it though a few straws hung over the edge. Un- 
fortunately the eggs were hatched .already, and two young only 
were in it, not a fragment of egg-shell to be found. 
The base of nest measures 4% inches long and 3% wide; the 
cavity 2 wide and 1% deep, which is much smaller than those of 
the other species I measured. It is 2 inches high, the base of coarse 
grasses, cobwebs, a bit of lace and one green leaf, then some stiff 
plant-stems, green and dry grasses, a few feathers, leaves and more 
lace, with a thick lining of finer grasses and thread-like fibers, from 
decayed pine leaves. Unlike the nests of the other two species men- 
tioned, no green moss was used in this. Neither was there any 
earthy material, which sometimes becomes wet and looks like mud 
used in their construction. 
a a Ma 
