ARIZONA CRESTED FLYCATCHER 125 



bunch of feathers attached to it. The center of the nest is usually 

 lined with a felted mass of the softer fur. 



All the nests I have seen, and most of those I read about, have 

 been located in the saguaros, as described above. But W. E. D. Scott 

 (1887) mentions a nest that he found in the Catalina Mountains at 

 an elevation of about 4,000 feet, that was "built in a deserted Wood- 

 pecker hole in a dead sycamore stub." And A. J. van Rossem (1936) 

 reports seeing two pairs of these birds "carrying nesting material 

 into natural cavities in tall cottonwoods," 10 or 12 miles from the 

 nearest giant cactus. 



Eggs. — Three to five eggs are laid by the Arizona crested flycatcher. 

 They vary from ovate to short-ovate and are only slightly glossy. 

 They are typical crested flycatcher eggs, much like those of our fa- 

 miliar eastern species, but usually less heavilj' marked. The creamy- 

 buff ground color is more or less completely marked with the peculiar 

 elongated blotches, spots or scrawls, as if made by an erratic pen, 

 of various shades of brown, purple, or lavender, "liver brown," "claret 

 brown," and shades of "brownish drab" prevailing, with underlying 

 markings of shades of "Quaker drab." In some eggs the smaller half 

 is very sparingly marked; and in some others the whole surface is 

 uniformly covered with very minute brownish dots. The measure- 

 ments of 43 eggs average 24.1 by 18.2 millimeters; the eggs showing 

 the four extremes measure 26.2 by 19.1, 26.0 by 20.0, and 21.8 by 16.3 

 millimeters. 



Plumages. — I have not seen any very young birds, but birds in the 

 fully developed juvenal plumage are similar to adults, though having 

 the upper parts browner (less olivaceous) , especially on the pileum, 

 which is "sayal brown," and on the upper tail coverts, which are 

 largely "ochraceous-tawny" ; the outer webs of the rectrices are broadly 

 margined with "ochraceous-tawny" (not narrowly margined with 

 grayish brown, as in the adult) ; the outer webs of the primaries and 

 secondaries are more extensively margined wath "ochraceous-tawny" 

 than in the adult ; the greater and median wing coverts are broadly 

 margined with "cinnamon-buff"; the gray areas and the yellow areas 

 of the under parts are paler than in the old birds. 



The postjuvenal molt, which apparently includes the contour 

 plumage only, probably occurs before the birds leave for the south 

 and produces a first winter plumage that is practically adult. 

 Wliat June and July birds I have seen are in decidedly worn 

 plumage ; and October and November birds in fresh plumage indicate 

 that the annual complete molt occurs in August and September. I 

 have seen an adult female molting both wings and tail on Septem- 

 ber 4. 



