Ash-throated Flycatcher 265 



Description. — General colour above greyish-brown, less ashy on the 

 crown, v/hich is crested, the feathers being longer and somewhat pointed ; 

 wings darker, the secondaries edged with dull whitish, the primaries 

 with cinnamon-rufoiLs ; breast very pale ashy-grey, abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts very pale yellow ; tail with the outer web of the outer 

 feather almost white ; the inner web cinnamon-rufous with brown tips. 

 Length 7-50 ; wing 4 00 ; tail 3-50 ; tarsus -95 ; culmen -70. 



The female is very similar, but is slightly smaller ; the young are 

 essentially like the adults. 



Distribution. — Breeding in the western United States from 

 southern Wyoming and Oregon southwards to northern Mexico ; 

 in winter through central and southern Mexico to Yucatan and 

 Guatemala. 



The Ash-throated Flycatcher is a rare summer resident in Colorado, 

 and is more frequently met with in the southern portion of the State ; 

 there are several examples, taken in May and June, in Fremont co., 

 in the Aiken collection, where it is not uncommon in the cedar and 

 pLnon countiy ; it was once noticed by Warren in Baca co., while 

 Oilman observed " one in spring," in La Plata co. North of the 

 Arkansas divide it seems to be rare, but, according to Cooke, has been 

 taken by Osburn at Golden, and by Bond at Cheyenne, just over the 

 northern border of the State. Warren met with it at Douglas Spring 

 in Routt CO., and at Dotsero in Garfield co., while Sullivan reports it 

 to be rather a rare summer resident at Grand Junction from May 2nd 

 to August 22nd ; he was unable to find the nest, though he had little 

 •doubt it bred in the neighbourhood (Rockwell). It arrives from the 

 south late in May and returns in September. 



Habits. — This Flycatcher is of a retiring disposition 

 and not easily seen or flushed ; it frequents dense thickets 

 along creek bottoms ; it is not very noisy, and its food 

 consists chiefly of insects, with some berries. 



I have not met with any account of its nesting habits 

 in Colorado, but Bendire states that it frequently makes 

 use of the nests of other birds, such as the Cactus-Wren 

 and the smaller Woodpeckers ; but that when it makes 

 its own nest it is usually a bulky structure of rootlets, 

 lined with hair, and that the eggs, three to six in number, 

 are creamy to pinkish-buff, profusely covered with 

 fine longitudinal streaks of dark purplish. 



