TYRANNID.E — THE TYRANT FLYCATCHERS — EMPIDONAX. 33I 



with the outer eilj;e a little paler than elsewhere, but not at all white. Length, 5.75 ; ex- 

 tent, 8.50 ; wing, 2.80 ; tail, 2.50 ; tarsus, 0.6 7. Iris brown ; bill black, flesh-color below; 

 feet black. 



Hab. Vicinity of Fort Tejon to Los Angeles. Colorado Valley ; south to Mexico. 



I obtained but one specimen of thi.s specie.^ at Fort Mojave on May 20th. 

 Thi.s clofsely re.sembled in habit;?, at that time, E. ohscurus, for which I mis- 

 took it. I afterwards saw on Catalina I.sland, in June, several birds wliich I 

 think were of this species, but did not succeed in getting one. They kept 

 on low trees, and uttered a few faint lisping notes. 



The first of this species arrived at Santa Cruz, March 13, 1866, and 

 they were numerous during the summer, disappearing in September. April 

 27th, I found the first nest built on a horizontal branch of a " box-elder " 

 {Negundo), about eighteen feet from the ground, but in pulling down the 

 branch the eggs were broken. I found four others afterwards from four to 

 ten feet high, either on horizontal branches or in forks of smaU trees, and 

 containing three or four eggs or young. The last found with eggs was as 

 late as June 29th, probably a second attempt of a pair before robbed. All 

 were thick walled, composed externally of dry moss and downy buds, with 

 a few leaves and strips of bark, then slender fibres of bark, often a few hairs 

 and feathers, lining the inside. The size outside was about four inches 

 wide, two and a half high, the cavity two inches wide, one and a half deep, 

 the walls nearly one and a half thick. The eggs were white with bro\vn 

 blotches and specks near the large end, mostly in a circle. They measm-ed 

 0.68 X 0.52 inch. 



These birds frequented only the darkest groves along the river, had very 

 few simple calls of two or three monotonous notes, and were so shy that I 

 did not get near enough to determine the species positively. 



This bird is among the many species of birds that, while breeding, per- 

 liaps even as far nortli as the higher latitudes of North America, occur at 

 the same time on the table-lands of Mexico, from which country mtmerous 

 summer specimens have been sent to the Smithsonian Institution by Dr. 

 Sartorius, Professor Sumichrast, and other correspondents. As in other 

 instances, these are rather smaller than our birds, liut no other difference 

 is appreciable. 



There is considerable resemblance in immature specimens between E. 

 Hamniondii and ohscurus ; the former species is the smaller bird, though 

 with nearly as long a wing. The tail is decidedly shorter, being appreciably 

 less than the wing, instead of about equal to it, as in ohscurus. The first 

 quill in nammo7ulii is rather longer than the sixth, while in ohscurus it 

 is shorter, sometimes shorter than the eighth or ninth. The feet and bill 

 of ohscurus are considerably the larger. 



