ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER 129 



shrubbery in canyons leading down from the mountains, but I also 

 saw them occasionally on the more open plains covered with strag- 

 gling mesquite trees and patches of cholla and other species of 

 cacti." We found it at various places in Arizona, in the canyons and 

 foothills of the Huachuca Mountains, as well as on the washes below 

 the canyons; it was fairly common about Tombstone, and we found 

 it nesting in the woodpecker holes in the saguaros on the dry plains 

 near Tucson. 



In the Lassen Peak region of California, Grinnell, Dixon, and 

 Linsdale (1930) found these flycatchers "on the low ground along 

 the Sacramento Kiver, * * * in sycamores, in valley oaks, in live 

 oaks, and about dead trees or hollow snags close to the river. On 

 the higher ground to the eastward, * * * the birds noted were 

 on the rocky mesa clothed scantily with grass and with a few scat- 

 tering blue oaks and clumps of buck-brush. At other places in the 

 eastern part of the section this flycatcher was seen in or around 

 junipers, willows, or sage-brush." 



Nesting. — Major Bendire (1895) has a lot to say about the nesting 

 of the ash-throated flycatcher, which is worth quoting : 



The nests are usually placed in knot holes of mesquite, asb, oak, sycamore, 

 juniper, and cottonwood trees, as well as in cavities of old stumps, in Wood- 

 pecker's holes, and occasionally behind loose pieces of bark, in the manner of 

 the Creepers. On two occasions, near Tucson, I found the Ash-throated Fly- 

 catcher using abandoned nests of the Cactus Wren, and Mr. A. W. Anthony 

 found them nesting in the dry blossom stalks of the yucca and Agav^ americana 

 in southwestern New Mexico. 



The Ash-throated Flycatcher nests at various heights from the ground, rarely, 

 however, at greater distances than 20 feet. The nest varies considerably in 

 bulk according to the size of the cavity used. Where this is large, the bottom 

 is filled up with small weed stems, rootlets, grass, and bits of dry cow or horse 

 manure, and on this foundation the nest proper is built. This consists prin- 

 cipally of a felted mass of hair and fur from different animals, and occasionally 

 of exuviae of snakes and small lizards ; but these materials are not nearly 

 as generally used as in the nests of our eastern Crested Flycatcher — in fact, 

 it is the exception and not the rule to find such remains in their nests. Among 

 about fifteen nests of this species examined by myself I only found it in three 

 cases. As nearly as I have been able to observe, I think the female does most 

 of the work on the nest, but the male follows her around while in search of 

 material, and apparently guards and sings to her. I have known a pair of 

 these birds to finish a nest in one day. * * * 



It is suri^rising how little space is really required by them in which to rear 

 a family. The inner cup of a well-preserved nest of this Flycatcher, placed 

 behind a loose piece of bark of an old cottonwood stump, measures about 2V2 

 inches in diameter by 2 inches in depth. The walls of this nest are composed 

 exclusively of cattle hair, which is well quilted together and forms a fairly 

 strong felt. The base is formed of dry grass roots, and it was placed between 

 the soft inner and the outer bark of the tree, which kept it intact and held it 

 firmly in position. 



