386 THE WESTERN FLYCATCHER. 



— really the easiest, because the most common of this difficult group ; note a soft 

 piszi'it : a woodland recluse. Adults always more yellow than £. traillii, from 

 which it is not otherwise certainly distinguishable afield (save by note). 



Nesting. — Nest: placed anywhere in forest or about shaded cliffs, chiefly at 

 lower levels ; usually well constructed of soft green moss, fine grasses, fir needles 

 and hemp. Eggs: 3 or 4, dull creamy white, sparingly spotted and dotted or 

 blotched with cinnamon and pinkish brown, chiefly about larger end. Av. size 

 .66 X .52 ( i6.8.\ 13.2). Season: ]\Iay i-July i; one or two broods. 



General Range. — Western North America from the eastern base of the 

 Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, breeding north to Sitka and south chiefly in the 

 mountains to northern Lower California and northern Mexico; south in winter 

 into Mexico. 



Range in Washington. — Common summer resident in timbered sections 

 thruout the State. 



Migrations. — Spring: Seattle-Tacoma, April 15. Fall: c. Sept. i. 



Authorities. — Empidonax difficilis. Baird, Re]:). Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. i8s8, 

 p. 193 "Catal. No. 5920." L. D'. Ra. Ss'. Ss^ R. E. 



Specimens.— (U. of W. ) P. Prov. B. BN. E. 



PLEASE observe the scientific name, ififficilis. that is. difficult. There 

 is a delicate irony about the use of this term as a distincti\-e appellation for 

 one of the "gnat kings." for, surely, the plural, Empidoiiaccs difpcilcs. would 

 comprehend them all. There is something, indeed, to be learned fmm the 

 notes of these little Fl\-catchers, and the first year the author studied them 

 seriously he supposed he had a sure clew to their specific unra\eling". But 

 that was in the freshmen year of Empidonaxology. In coming u]) for "final 

 exams." he confesses to knowing somewhat less about them. 



The bird, also, is well called Western; for however difficult the genus, we 

 know at least that difficilis (speaking seriously now) is the commonest species; 

 tliat it appears under more varied conditions and enjoys a more general dis- 

 tribution than any other species of Empidonax in the West. The bird is, also, 

 the first to arri\-e in the spring, returning to the latitude of Seattle about the 

 middle of April, or when the yellow-green racemes of the Large-leafed Maple 

 (Acer niacrophylluin) are first shaken out to the breeze. The little fay keeps 

 well up in the trees, occttpying central positions rather than exposed outposts; 

 and so perfectly do his colors blend in with the tender hues of the new foliage 

 that we hear him twenty times to once we see him. 



The notes are little explosive sibilants fenced in by initial and final "p" or 

 "t" sounds. If one prints them they are not at all to be vocalized, but only 

 whispered or hissed, pssscct. pssseeit. pssivit. or piszvit. Other variations are 

 sc a-wit, slowly and listlessly ; clcotip. briskly ; kitshchtlip. a fairy sneeze in 

 Russian. One becomes familiar with these tiny cachinations, and announces 

 the Western Flycatcher unseen with some degree of confidence. But the way 

 is beset with dangers and surprises. Once, in June, at a point on Lake Chelan, 



