260 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Apache, August 18. Arizona — Seveii-Mile-Hill, September 12; Hua- 

 chuca Mountains, October 18. 



Egg dates. — Arizona : 17 records, May 23 to July 16 ; 9 records, May 

 26 to June 17, indicating the height of the season. 



MYIOCHANES PERTINAX PALLIDIVENTRIS (Chapman) 



COUES'S FLYCATCHER 



Plate 37 



HABns 



This, the largest species of the genus, is another one of those Mexican 

 species that find the northern limit of their simmier range just across 

 our southwestern border in Arizona and New Mexico. The breeding 

 range of the whole species covers most of Mexico, but that of our race 

 covers only the northwestern part of that country, Sonora, Chihuahua, 

 and Durango to Nayarit. Our race is decidedly grayer above and 

 paler beneath than the type race, the abdomen being dull white or 

 yellowish white ; hence the name paUidiventris. 



We found Coues's flycatcher, which reminded us in some respects of 

 its smaller relative the wood pewee, fairly common in the Huachuca 

 Mountains, Ariz., at elevations between 7,000 and 9,000 feet. Harry S. 

 Swarth (1904) says that "during the breeding season these birds 

 are to a gi-eat extent restricted to the higher parts of the mountains, 

 being most abundant from 8,000 to 10,000 feet ; though I have seen 

 one or two nests as low as 7,000 feet." 



One of their favorite haunts was in Stoddard Canyon, a branch of 

 Ramsay Canyon, where the land rises in steep, rough slopes toward 

 the smnmit, about 9,000 feet. Scattered over the slopes are tall bull 

 pines and various medium-sized oaks, with an undergrowth of oak 

 scrub and various bushes. Here long-crested jays were far too com- 

 mon for the welfare of small birds' nests. Mearns's woodpeckers car- 

 ried on their showy courtships in the tops of the tallest pines, hepatic 

 tanagers nested in the pines with the buff-breasted and Coues's fly- 

 catchers, and the rare Grace's warblers concealed their nests too well 

 for us to find them. Here, too, we found the nests of the Rocky 

 Mountain nuthatch, the lead-colored bushtit, the black-throated gray 

 warbler, and the spurred towhee. Bird life was plentiful on these 

 rather open, sparsely wooded slopes. 



Spring. — Mr. Swarth (1904) writes: "During the summer months 

 this flycatcher is one of the characteristic birds of the pine regions of 

 the Huachucas, where if not seen, it can at least be heard almost every- 

 where. It is one of the first of the summer residents to arrive, and 

 one was heard calling as early as March 29th. The usual time of 

 arrival is the first week in April, and during this month they can be 



