310 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



diminutive bird showed a persistent partiality for the low bushes 

 that constitute the greater portion of the chaparral of the region, 

 never being observed in arborescent growth, although trees grew 

 rather plentifully along the Arroyo, and some large mesquites were 

 scattered through the chaparral proper. This was at variance with 

 my previous experience with the species in Mexico; and it is quite 

 likely that I would have overlooked the bird entirely had its notes 

 not given me the clew. In size, color, and movements, the Beardless 

 Flycatcher bears a superficial resemblance to several other small 

 birds thronging the chaparral during the winter, such as the Verdin, 

 Orange-crowned Warbler, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet." 



Nesting.. — ^What were probably the first two sets of eggs, with the 

 nests, of this rare little flycatcher to be collected, were taken by 

 Gerald B. Thomas in British Honduras, near the Manatee River, on 

 May 7 and 16, 1906, and were purchased by Col. John E. Thayer 

 (1906). Mr. Thomas wrote to Col. Thayer as follows: 



The first set of Beardless Flycatchers was taken from a nest in a small 

 palmetto about 4% feet from the ground. The palmetto was on the edge 

 of quite a clump of its kind and was situated in a flat sandy stretch of low 

 land about five miles from the coast. The nearest fresh water was about two 

 miles away. 



The other nest was in a simUar location about two miles from where the 

 type was found. This nest was about 7 feet from the ground and only a few 

 rods from a freshwater creek. Two other nests — old ones — were found and 

 both were built in palmettos, one about 12 feet from the ground and the other 

 about 6 feet. 



The parent birds were very bold and perched within two feet of the nest 

 while I was examining it, continually uttering their clear piping call and 

 ruffling the feathers on their heads into a small crest. The female sat very 

 close and almost allowed herself to be touched before flying. 



Both parents were collected with the first set. I have examined 

 these two nests, which are very much alike in situation and in com- 

 position. They are nearly globular, with the entrance partially on 

 the side away from the stem of the palmetto, which came with the 

 nest. They are rather firmly lodged between the bases of the thorny 

 stems of the palmetto fans. They are well made and deeply hol- 

 lowed in a downward-slantmg direction and are composed mainly 

 of the reddish-brown fibers from the stem of the palmetto, strips of 

 inner bark, shredded weed stems, bits of lichens, and other vegetable 

 fibers. The first nest is well lined with what the collector calls "cot- 

 tony seed fibers of orchids" ; the other has two feathers of some dove 

 and a green feather of a parrot in the lining. The outside diameter 

 is about 2 by 2i/2 inches, and the inner cavity is fully 2 inches deep. 



Three Arizona nests, the only ones for which we have the data, 

 are all quite different from the Honduras nests in situation and com- 

 position, but all seem to be much like each other in these respects. 



