244 CONTOPUS BOREALIS, OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER. 



Lvc. N. Y. viii, 18G6, 290 ; ix, 1868, 115 (Costa Rica).— Coues, Pr. Bost. Soc. 

 xi'i, 1868, 118 (Sontli Carolina).— Tuhnh., B. E. Pa. 1869, 13 (very rare).- 

 Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 323.— Mayx., Guide, 1870, 125 (Massachusetts, breeds, 

 not very rare).— Ma yn., Pr. Bost. Soc. 1871 (Northern New iingland).— Aiken, 

 ibid. 1872, 206 (Wvoming).— Snow, B. Kaiis. 1873,3 (migratory).— Allen, Bull. 

 M. C. Z. iii, 1872, i79 (Colorado Mountains up to 12,000 teet; Wahsatcb Mount- 

 ains ; Utah).— Merr., U. S. Geol. Snrv. Ter. 1872, 691 (Idaho).— Coues, Key, 

 1872, 173.— Salv., P. Z. S. 1870, 199 (Veragua).- B. B. & R., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 

 353, pi. 44, f. 1. 



Sayornis borealis, Wheat., Ohio Agric. Rep. 1860, Birds, No. 48. 



Piirocephalua {Coniopus) borealis, Gray, Hand-list, i, 1869, 362, No. 5507. 



Mmdcapa inornatu. Coop. & Nutt., Nutt., Man. i, 1832, 282, 285. 



Muscicajya cooperi, Nutt., Man. i, 1832, 282 (not Tyraiimda cooperi, of Hartl., Chili, nor 

 of Kaup, Mexico, nor Myiarchtis cooptri of authors). — AuD., Orn. Biog. ii, 1834, 

 422, pi. 174 ; Syn. 1839, 41 ; B. Am. i, 1840, 212, pi. 58.— Putn., Pr. Ess. Inst, i, 

 1856, 206 (Massachusetts). 



Tymnnus cooperi, Bp., List, 1838, 24.— Nutt., Man. i, 1840, 298.— Reinh., Ibis, Jan. 1861, 

 7 (Greenland). 



Tyrannula cooperi, Bp., Consp. Av. i, 1850, 189. 



Contopus cooperi, Cab., J. f. O. iii, 18.55, 479; is, 1861, 248 (Costa Rica) ; Mas. Hein. ii, 

 1859, 72 (excl. syn. C. borealis, Sclater). 



Contojyus mesoleucus, Scl., P. Z. S. 1859, 43 ; Ibis, 1859, 122, 440.— Sumich., Mem. Bost. 

 Soc. i, 1869, 557 (Vera Cruz). 



Muscicapa villica, Light., "Mus. Berol." (Cabanis), 



Hah. — Entire temperate North America. Mexico. Greenland (Eeinhardt). Com- 

 mon, and breeds in parts of New England. Rare in Middle and Southern Atlantic 

 States. More abundant in the West. South to Central America. 



List of specimens. 



Latei' Expeditions.— 61739, Utah ; 62289-90, Idaho. 



The very general dispersiou of this species iu North America only 

 gradually become apparent. It was disco veered by Sir John Eichard- 

 sou on the Saskatchewan, at Cumberland House, iu latitude 54°, and 

 described iu 1831 by Mr. Swainson, as above cited. It was rediscovered 

 by Mr. Nuttall, a specimen being obtained near Cambridge, Massachu- 

 setts, in June, 1830. This gentleman obtained several others in the same 

 vicinity, and described its notes and manners accurately. Tlie nest, he 

 states, was on "the horizontal branch of a tall cedar- tree, forty or tifty 

 feet from the ground. It was formed much in the manner of the King- 

 bird's, externally made of interlaced dead twigs of the cedar, internally 

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

 fragments of branching Lichen or Usnea. It contained three young, 

 and had probably four eggs. The eggs had been hatched about the 

 20th of June, so that the i^air had arrived in this vicinity about the 

 close of May. The young remained in the nest no less than twenty- 

 three days." The same author speaks of the eggs as ''•yellowish-cream3^ 

 white, with spots of reddish-brown, of a light and dark shade." This 

 is exactly the character of the specimens before me. Tlie size is about 

 0.84 by O.OG. About the same time Dr. Brewer communicated a note to 

 Mr. Audubon, describing the nest as follows : "Measures five inches in 

 external diameter and three and a half inches in internal, and is about 

 half an inch deep. It is composed entirely of roots and fibres of moss. 

 It is, moreover, very rudely constructed, and is almost wholly flat, re- 

 sembling the nest of no other Flycatcher I have seen, but having some 

 similitude to that of the Cuckoo." New England quotations have con- 

 tinually multiplied, many referring to the l)reediiig of the bird from 

 Massachusetts northward ; quite lately, Mr. Brewster says, iu Mr. May- 

 nard's book above quoted, that it nests generally in the fork of a pine- 

 tree, the only nest found by him iu any other situation being placed ou 



