104 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



that, hearing the familiar note in some tree top, I have watched, sometimes for 

 half an hour, endeavoring to see the bird ; scanning, as I supposed, every twig 

 on the tree, only to see it finally depart from some limb where it had been sit- 

 ting, if not in plain sight, at any rate but very imperfectly concealed. 



In Arizona this flycatcher does not seem to be so aggressive toward 

 hawks and crows as are the kingbirds, perhaps because its eggs and 

 young are better protected in the hollows in which it nests. But a 

 pair that had been robbed previously by jays fought a red-shafted 

 flicker for its hole for over a week and finally drove it away and 

 took possession of the hole ; the flycatchers' victory was gained more 

 through perseverance than fighting ability, for the flicker could drive 

 either of the flycatchers away at will; but the other one would fly 

 down to the hole, compelling the flicker to return and drive it away. 

 The reason that the flicker fought so long was evident when the fly- 

 catchers' nest was removed later and three fresh eggs of the flicker 

 were found in the hollow beneath it. 



Eeferring to the Central American race, Mr. Skutch says in his 

 notes: "The sulphur-bellied flycatchers, especially the male, harried 

 other birds that flew about in the vicinity of their nest. They fre- 

 quently pursued the quetzals that were feeding nestlings near by, 

 worrying them a good deal but doing them no harm. One morning 

 the male flycatcher attacked a pigeon {Golumha suhviiiacea) , which 

 was harmlessly eating berries in the top of a tall tree at some distance 

 from the nest, and drove it from its meal. When a pair of little 

 Dow's tanagers {Tangara doioii) alighted in the dead tree just in 

 front of the nest, the flycatcher darted upon one of them. But the 

 little bird held its ground, screaming shrilly, while the bigger assail- 

 ant hovered menacingly above it. Seeing that the tanager could 

 not be bullied into retreating, the flycatcher took no further heed of 

 it; and for some minutes the pair of tanagers and the pair of fly- 

 catchers perched amicably close together in front of the latter's nest," 



Voice. — The same careful observer says that the sulphur-bellied 

 flycatchers are "very active and noisy, especially during the mating 

 season. Then they pursue one another, calling />' /?' p' pe-ya^ ;?' />' ;;' 

 pe-ya in shrill, petulant voices. This remains the call uttered in 

 flight even after they are happily settled and brooding their eggs. 

 When they call from a perch they remind me of a withered and some- 

 what ill-tempered old woman calling her grandson, Weel-yum, Weel- 

 gum, in thin, high, querulous tones. With this utterance, too, they 

 protest intrusion at their nest; but not satisfied with merely vocal 

 protestations, they make spirited darts at the head of the inruder. 



"One would hardly expect that a bird with such a thin and 

 petulant voice could really sing; but in the gray dawn, during the 

 breeding season in April and May, the male mounts to some lofty 

 perch and delivers a song of appealing beauty. Frequently he 



