WRIGHT'S FLYCATCHER 235 



Nesting. — Mr. Howsley says in his notes from Stevens County, 

 Wash.: "Of some 30 nests studied, 70 percent of them were placed 

 in willows. Alders, 'snowbush,' and 'meadowsweet' comprised the 

 others. No nests were found in conifers, or in the numerous clumps 

 of chokecherry. My notes show the nesting heights ranging from 

 4 to 7 feet. None was higher. In all cases the nest was tightly 

 secured to the surrounding uprights. Evidence of many old nests 

 that had survived the severe storms and snows of that region testi- 

 fied to the care with which they were anchored. 



"The nesting material is usually composed of fine, bleached weed 

 fibers and fine grasses, woven compactly into a neat, well-rounded 

 cup, which is lined with very fine weed bark, grasses, often bits of 

 vegetable down and feathers, although feathers are a rather uncom- 

 mon occurrence. I have never observed horsehair or other animal 

 hair in the structure. Sometimes, however, there seems to be con- 

 siderable spider webbing used in binding the outside of the nest; 

 and I have rarely found a nest whose outer structure showed many 

 'loose-ends,' except the lowest part next the crotch, which seems 

 to be quite carelessly and slovenly laid. The nest as a whole, how- 

 ever, compares very favorably with other flycatchers' both in 

 neatness and compactness." 



Many fine photographs of Idaho nests, sent to me by Mr. Kust, 

 illustrate nests in different shrubs and one in a young ponderosa 

 pine, the latter resting on two small branches and against the trunk 

 (pi. 31) ; all seem rather loosely constructed at the base, and one 

 has many loose ends hanging down. He tells me that nesting begins 

 by the middle of June and that the young are on the wing early in 

 July. "On brushy hillsides nests are usually located in low shrubs, 

 and on wooded flats in small pines from 7 feet up." 



James B. Dixon writes to me that he has found this flycatcher 

 nesting in the Mono Basin area of the Sierra Nevada and in the 

 San Bernardino Mountains. "Its breeding range seems to lie 

 between 6,000 and 9,000 feet. It is commonly found in the aspen 

 groves of the stream beds, where it nests at varying heights from 

 the ground. One of its favorite locations is on the so-called knees 

 of the aspens. These knees are apparently caused by the snow 

 bending over a young sapling, and then, the next year, the sapling 

 grows upright again, leaving a step or knee." 



There is a nest in the Thayer collection taken at an elevation of 

 8,000 feet in the San Bernardinos; it was placed 2iA feet up in a 

 buckthorn bush, and the collector, H. A. Edwards, comments that 

 this is almost the only situation in which this species nests in that 



