WESTERN BIRDS Flycatcher 



low-bellied, as well as Baird. It resembles its eastern 

 cousin in size and coloring, being, however, paler below, 

 the belly and under tail coverts being yellow, and the 

 breast shaded with grayish brown. This yellowish tone 

 of the under parts is helpful in distinguishing the bird 

 from the other small Flycatchers since they have white 

 plumage below. But in reality, seen on the wing, they 

 all look much alike, the yellow not being very pro- 

 nounced. 



One June I spent a week at Camp Rincon on the west 

 fork of the San Gabriel River in the Sierra Madre Moun- 

 tain Range, Los Angeles County. There were fourteen 

 miles of stage road which crossed the river twenty-eight 

 times to reach this camp, and all the way along I heard 

 the plaintive see-rip of the Western Flycatcher. 



On the twenty-first of June we wandered in a little 

 canyon which extended about a half-mile into the moun- 

 tains and was so narrow in many places that it was little 

 more than a trail beside a small stream. The banks 

 rose high above our heads and were overgrown with 

 shrubs and trees, alders predominating, but there were 

 also rock maples, oaks, sycamores, and bays. 



At almost the end of this canyon, in an alder tree 

 which grew close beside the water, we found a pair of 

 these little Flycatchers feeding their young. The nest 

 was on the southwest side of the tree in a crotch made 

 by a dead stub about a foot long. There were no leaves 

 near it so our view was unobstructed. Although this 

 crotch was about twenty feet from the foot of the tree, 

 the bank rising steeply from the stream passed not far 

 from the nesting site, and afforded a comfortable place 

 for us to watch every move of the birds. 



The nest was darker than the tree-trunk, but matched 

 the shadow in the crotch. It was made entirely of plant 

 fibers. 



It was about 8:40 when we sat down to watch these 



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