GREEN, GREENISH GRAY, AND OLIVE 441 



hastily swallowed bug en route if he can, going hungry 

 if he must. Small wonder that he forgets to sing or 

 even to scold, but becomes for the time a silent, self- 

 absorbed drudge in the workaday world. 



468. HAMiMOND FLYCATCHER. -^ Empidonaa: 

 hammondi. 



Family : The Flycatchers. 



Length: 5.50-5.75. 



Adults: Upper parts olive, grayer anteriorly ; wing-bars light grayish or 

 tinged with yellow ; outer tail-feathers edged with whitish ; throat 

 grayish ; breast strongly shaded with olive ; belly and under tail- 

 coverts yellowish. 



Geographical Distribution : Western North America, east to the Rocky 

 Mountains; north to the interior of Alaska; south in winter to 

 Mexico. 



California Breeding Range: Through Transition and lower Boreal zones 

 from Mt. Shasta to San Jacinto mountains. 



Breeding Season : June. 



Nest : On a horizontal limb of a tree, 2 to 50 feet from the ground ; made 

 of old weed stems, plant fibres, shreds of bark, plant down ; lined with 

 grass, shreds of bark, plant down, hair, and a few feathers. 



Eggs: 3 or 4 ; creamy white, sometimes lightly spotted with brown at 

 the larger end. Size 0.70 X 0.53. 



The Hammond Flycatcher is the Western representa- 

 tive of the Chebec of the East. Unlike the latter, 

 however, it is a shy dweller of the mountains, nesting 

 oftenest, in the higher altitudes, from five thousand to 

 ten thousand feet. 



Instead of the merry little note which has given the 

 Eastern species its nickname, the Hammond Flycatcher 

 gives only a low, indistinct whistle and a soft " peet.'* 

 Building in the higher branches of the coniferous trees, 



