nycatcLer WESTERN BIRDS 



has gray uppers that are tinged with olive; wings and 

 tail dull brown; throat, middle of belly, and generally 

 a narrow line on the center of the breast, yellowish 

 white; rest of under parts like back. A tuft of fluffy, 

 yellowish feathers on either flank, that is low on the 

 side, has given the bird its name. The upper mandible 

 is black, and the lower yellowish tipped with dark. It 

 always reminds me of a Wood Pewee, but is much larger, 

 being seven and one-half inches in length. 



The birds frequent the forests, rather than the haunts 

 of man, although they show no particular fear of humans. 

 They are noisy fellows, their loud call ringing through 

 the woods when the singer is only a small spot on the 

 top of some high tree. From this vantage point the bird 

 sallies out into the air in search of food. Nuttall gives 

 the notes of the female as 'pu 'pu, or 'pu pip, and 'pip 

 pu; and for the male an additional call of eh'phebee or 

 'h'phebed, almost exactly in the tone of a circular tin 

 whistle, or bird-call, being loud, shrill, and guttural at 

 the commencement. 



He describes a nest which he found placed on a hori- 

 zontal branch of a tall red cedar forty or fifty feet from 

 the ground. It resembled that of a Kingbird, externally 

 made of interlaced dead twigs of the cedar; internally 

 of the wiry stolons of the common cinquefoil, dry grass, 

 and fragments of branching Lichens or Usnea. The 

 young remained in the nest twenty-three days, and were 

 fed from the first on beetles and perfect insects, not by 

 regurgitation. When the young were able to fly they 

 made trips back and forth to the nest before finally 

 abandoning it. 



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