THE OSPREY. 



47 



quavers in continuous flow, the performer was im- from the pile to an adjacent hedge and fluttering 



pelled to move his tail in a constant quiver. Indeed, along its base, scolding sharply several times in the 



the restlessness of the tiny musician kept me moving familiar syllable used by the House Wren, and upon 



to keep track of him, and I was forced to circle the my continued interest in his movements, he entered 



brush heap many times in making my observations, another pile, where he remained in spite of my scru- 



Once when I became too inquisitive, he whirred tiny. 



NESTING OF THE OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER. 



CHESTER BARLOW, SANT--^ CLARA, GAL. 

 (Read before the Cooper Ornithological Club, July, 1897.) 



DUFiING a week's vacation in the Sierra Nevada open hillside, — open in the sense of being but slightly 



Mountains this year, I found few birds which timbered. Deer brush and manzanita grew com- 



interested me more than the Olive-sided Fly- monly all about, and Black-throated Gray Warblers 



ca^ichev (Coiiiopiis doyi'iilis). This vivacious little Fly- and Thick-billed Sparrows were the most common 



catcher was met with frequently every day, its weird, species in this patch, but the nests of both eluded 



ringing note resounding through the woods. Mr. our search. 



Carriger and myself reached the mountains on June The first Olive-sided Flycatcher's nest found was 



8, and were located at the picturesque stage station of by Mr. L. E. Taylor, our genial and obliging host. 



Fyffe, El Dorado County, Cal., at 3700 feet eleva- While in an open clearing which was bordered by 



tion, the pine forests stretching away on all sides, pines, spruce and fir, he saw a Flycatcher fly to a 



with a deep canyon close at hand. During our daily jjjjj]-, ^f ^ silver fir tree, and it proved to be the male 



rambles we ranged from 3500 to 3900 feet altitude, feeding the female on the nest. The bird remained 



and the Olive-sided Flycatcher was common at all ^^^ ^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ j^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ Perhaps it was 



the charming picturesqueness of the spot which made 



times. 



Each pair of birds seems to have a range of its 



the find so interesting. The clearing was on a hill- 



own, and one of the pairs can be heard in the same 



, r^ ^ -1 c- V.1 4 ■ t u- A side and bordered by tall, stately trees, while the 



locality daily. Frequently separate pairs of birds •' ■' 



will be found only a few hundred yards apart in the ground was thickly carpeted with the pretty white- 

 woods. They seem to favor the open hillsides where flowered mossy weed Cliamcebatia foliolosa, known 

 the growth of timber is not too thick and where locally as 'mountain misery." In a near-by burnt 

 there are more or less 

 burnt trees. Here, for 

 long intervals, the male 

 bird will sit, perched on 

 the top of some lofty tree, 

 uttering his plaintive 

 note. Several birds were 

 observed along the stage 

 road where they undoubt- 

 edly had nests, and they 

 were also scattered 

 through the timber but 

 appeared to prefer the 

 locations bordering the 

 clearings 



Their actions are sim- 

 ilar to those of the other 

 Flycatchers; they darting 

 from some favorite perch 

 in pursuit of insect prey 

 and returning, often by 

 a circuitous route. For 



several days we watched different birds, but they stump was a family of newly-hatched White-headed 

 seemed content to remain away from the nests while Woodpeckers, while in the bushes one foot from the 

 we were about, and to find a nest without the aid ground a Macgillivray's Warbler had a handsome 

 of the birds is well nigh hopeless, considering the set of four eggs. The ever-present Western Wood 

 character of the trees and the heights of the nests. Pewee was darting nervously about, feeling, no doubt, 



On the morning of June 9 we were exploring an that its nest was safely placed on some near-by limb 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER. 

 PHOTOGRAPH. IN SITU, 71 FEET FROM THE GROUND. 



