302 BULLETIN 179, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



another was noted by the same observer at Piashte Bay, on June 16, 

 1921; while two were seen on June 10, 1927, at the mouth of the 

 Kegaska River. 



A specimen was taken at Nenortalik, Greenland, on August 29, 

 1840. 



Egg dates. — California : 48 records, May 20 to July 4 ; 24 records, 

 June 9 to 25, indicating the height of the season. 



Colorado: 16 records, June 16 to July 20; 8 records, June 23 to 

 July 3. 



Maine : 13 records, June 12 to July 26. 



Massachusetts : 20 records, June 8 to July 10 ; 10 records, June 15 

 to 22. 



Nova Scotia: 56 records, June 11 to July 8; 28 records, June 19 

 to 28. 



PYROCEPHALUS RUBINUS MEXICANUS Sclater 



VERMILION FLYCATCHER 



Plate 45 



HABITS 



The bird lover, traveling in the hot, semiarid, or desert regions in 

 our extreme Southwestern States or Mexico, will receive one of the 

 thrills of those interesting regions when he sees for the first time this 

 brilliant, flaming gem, with his prominent crest of fiery scarlet and 

 his equally bright scarlet-red breast. Pyrocephaliis^ firehead, is a 

 good name for it. One looks for somber colors in the denizens of 

 the desert and is, indeed, surprised to see this outburst of gleaming 

 color, which seems to outshine even the most brilliant scarlet flowers 

 of the springtime desert. We found it to be an abundant and con- 

 spicuous species in all the lower valleys of southern Arizona, 

 especially so in the valley of the San Pedro River, where willows 

 and cottonwoods with thickets of smaller trees and underbrush grew 

 along irrigating ditches, separating the fertile areas from the more 

 arid surroundings; we also found them near the wooded banks of 

 other streams and along the dry washes on the plains where these 

 extend outward from the mountains; but we seldom saw them even 

 in the mouths of the canyons and never at higher altitudes. 



Sfring. — Although a few individuals may remain throughout the 

 winter, the vermilion flycatcher is mainly a summer resident in 

 southern Arizona. Major Bendire (1895) says that the "first mi- 

 grants usually return about March 1, the males preceding the females 

 about a week, and by the 10th of the month both sexes are common." 



Courtship. — When we arrived in its haunts in April, the males were 

 busy with their courtship flight songs, a curious and most brilliant 



