Flycatcher WESTERN BIRDS 



in cavities and deserted holes, rather than in the open. 

 In the desert portions of their range, Utah, Nevada, 

 southeastern California, and northern Arizona, they use 

 knot-holes in mesquit, giant cactus, and cavities in 

 stumps, in lieu of trees. The nests are lined with fur, 

 hair, rootlets, grasses and occasionally snake skins, but 

 these are not so frequently used as by the eastern 

 birds. 



Irene Grosvenor Wheelock thinks that this flycatcher 

 deserves the name of tyrant far more than does the King- 

 bird. She says it not only drives all birds, large and 

 small, away from its nest, but has the reputation of 

 being a "claim-jumper." She tells of seeing the Fly- 

 catchers drive a pair of Gairdner Woodpeckers (small 

 birds like the Downy) away from the hole upon which 

 they were working, and take possession themselves. For 

 a whole day the battle waged. "No sooner had the 

 Flycatchers settled the affair and begun to line the nest 

 with rabbit fur, than the Woodpeckers returned to the 

 fray; during the temporary absence of the bandits they 

 scratched out every bit of the unwelcome material, and 

 prepared to occupy the home themselves. But, as al- 

 ways, the fiercer temper of the Flycatchers prevailed 

 over the brave resistance of the Woodpeckers, and after 

 repeated defeats, they surrendered. Afterward under 

 the tree was found one broken egg of the little Wood- 

 peckers, probably scratched out of the nest cavity in 

 their energetic endeavor to get rid of the rabbit fur, 

 and telling more emphatically than any words the story 

 of their ruined hopes." Mrs. Wheelock tells us that 

 this family of Ash-throats were wonderful upholsterers, 

 padding the sides and bottom of the cavity with rabbit 

 fur and short hairs until little space was left for the 

 three small eggs which were laid by June 9th, and 

 incubated by the female, alone, for fifteen days. The 

 nestlings in this cavity proved to have astonishing ap- 



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