EMPIDONAX TRAILLII, TRAILL's FLYCATCHER. 253 



Columbia, where be also locates pusiUus. But it is best to accept traiUii 

 as the eastern bird, taking jJ«6'*7Z/^s', as defined by Baird more particu- 

 larly, for the western form, if this be considered worthy of a name. 



In the East I never fonnd Traill's Flycatcher abundant, having ob- 

 served it only in its passage through the Middle districts, chiefly in May 

 and September. According to New England writers, it breeds in that 

 section; and Mr. Mayuard has given a valuable note respecting it: 

 "This species has a most i)eculiar note, like the sylhibles '•liewin'h'' ; 

 this is not so quickly given as the ^se-tvic'l-^ of E. minimus, -Aud is some- 

 what harsher. There is, perhaps, thirty seconds' interval between each 

 keicin'Jc. The birds while singing were perched on the top of a low alder. 

 It appears to frequent these thickets, generally by the side of streams, 

 for Mr. Brewster has repeatedly observed it in similar localities at Gor- 

 ham, where it had the same song and habits. When the bird is freshly 

 killed, the bill bears a striking resemblance to that of U. fiaviveniris, 

 and having the under mandible yellow, delicately veined with purple. 

 But in the dried state this yellow fades into brown, and loses its vein- 

 ing. The whole bird then ai)pears much like the larger and darker 

 types of E. minimus. Indeed, were it not for the slightly larger and 

 broader bill, and generally olivaceous or greenish-yellow stripe at tbe 

 base of the upper mandible and sides of the head of ^. tndUii, it would 

 be difficult to determine the skins of the two species." I entirely agree 

 with the author so far, though the rest of his article is not so i)ertinent. 

 E. minimns does grade up to irailUi in size, the colors are very 

 nearly the same, and the proportions of the parts scarcely different ; 

 yet no one who has had any experience in the field would say that they 

 were not ditferent birds. 



This si)ecies appears to entirely withdraw from the United States in 

 the fall, to winter in Central America. 



I found var. pnsiUus an abundant Flycatcher of the West. At Fort 

 Whipple, in Arizona, it is the commonest and characteristic species of 

 its group, arriving in the middle of April, and remaining through Sep- 

 tember. According to my note-book, the under mandible in my speci- 

 mens was dusky flesh-color. They averaged about G inches long by D 

 in extent, tbiis being quite as large as ordinary acadicus. A young bird 

 was strongly suffused with olivaceous-yellow below, nearly as in Jiavi- 

 ventris, and had the under mandible bright yellow, like the inside of the 

 moutli. The si)ecies was not noticed by Dr. Hayden in the Missouri 

 region, but wc hav-e various quotations demonstrating a general range 

 from tlie central ]ilains to tlie Pacific, north to the fur countries, and 

 south far into, if not quite through, Mexico. Mr. Merriam gives the 

 following account of its nidification : 



" This western race of E. fraillii was very common in the Salt Lake 

 Valley, where I collected seven specimens ami three nests. They build 

 a neat, conq)act little nest, which they place in the fork of a rose or 

 other siiudl bush, about five feet above the ground. It is composed of 

 fibrous grasses, llax, wool, and other soft substances, interwoven wiih a 

 lew leaves of swamp-grass. It is a curious fact that this bird places all 

 the wool and other soft, downy substances on the outside of its nest, 

 lining it with Ihc rough stalks of <lry grass." 



The eggs of this species (Indllii), to Judge frt)m nunuMous specimens 

 before me, may be distinguislu-d from those of acdflicus in lacking much 

 or all of the creamy tinge of the latter, and in the markings being, for 

 the most part, large, bold, and blotched, rather than sharpl> dotted. 

 The fact tiiat the eggs are colored nistead of coloiless at once «listiu- 

 guishes them from those of E. minimus, and is a point to be regarded 

 in discussing the specific relationships of the two. 



