98 



THE OOLOGIST 



known to change the general character of 

 their nesting places ; a Woodpecker's nest 

 in the wildest region imaginable is as likely 

 to be found in the top of a forest monarch 

 as lower down ; while Kingfishers' holes 

 are as often to be met with in easy reach 

 as in the side of an inaccessible cliff — more 

 so, in our experience. 



— Search for a nest whose owner you 

 have disturbed, till you find it, if you have 

 reason to believe it is within a certain lim- 

 ited area ; it is fully worth while in the 

 case of a desirable species. Patience is as 

 great a virtue to the oologist as to any one 

 else, and may often serve him better than 

 natural quickness of perception. To give 

 up a search without due examination of all 

 the immediate surroundings is often to leave 

 behind treasures of great value ; and even 

 though it is to be considered fortunate for 

 the parents, it may be the sacrifice of a lit- 

 tle information which to the scientific world 

 would prove a most important acquisition. 



Note on the Olive-sided Flycatch- 

 EK. — The isolation of Gontopus horealis 

 from cultivated regions, and the occupation 

 by it of little known or densely wooded 

 tracts, where those who study birds seldom 

 penetrate, may be taken as a reasonable 

 ground upon which to build up statements 

 of its rarity. That it is not an abundant 

 bird we do not question, but from recent 

 observations in its own haunts, we found 

 material sufficient to justify the assertion 

 that in certain localities, it does breed in 

 by no means small numbers. One locali- 

 ty — an extended, rather marshy tract, bor- 

 dered or either side by almost impenetrable 

 clumps of bushes and trees, studded here 

 and there with tall dead hemlocks — was 

 particularly noticeable for the number of 

 birds of this species which the high, clear, 

 though somewhat plaintive cry proclaimed. 

 These birds always occupied the topmost 

 twigs of the dead hemlocks, and flew from 

 one to another as if it were ordained they 

 should never descend any lower. The young 



birds, nearly full feathered, were not so ex- 

 clusive in their selection of a perch, but 

 none were seen lower than forty feet from 

 the ground. No specimens were met with 

 excepting near the water, over which, at 

 considerable elevation, the air swarmed 

 with insects. The Olive-sided and Yellow- 

 bellied Flycatchers are thus seen to have 

 their own separate spheres, though both oc- 

 cur in localities of the same character. 



Notes on the Dusky Grouse (Can- 

 ace obscurus).* 



BY CAPT. CHAS. BENDIRE, U. S. A. 



A COMMON resident throughout the 

 mountains. We have two varieties, 

 fuliginosiis and richardsoni, the former be- 

 ing the most abundant. They seem to pre- 

 fer the more open forests to the dense tim- 

 bered sections, and while the young are 

 small they frequent the creek bottoms and 

 open side hills almost exclusively. At such 

 times 1 have found them twenty miles front 

 timber of any size. After pairing, the males 

 separate from the hens, and are frequently 

 found in small coveys, from four to six, 

 sunning themselves on high rocky points, 

 crouching close to the rocks if anything ap- 

 proaches to disturb them. In the early 

 part of tlie fall they rarely fly into trees 

 when flushed, but later in the season they 

 do so almost invariably. It is said that 

 where a number are found in one tree, by 

 shooting always the lowest first the rest will 

 remain, and that they can all be killed ; but 

 I never got more than two shots at birds in 

 one tree. They sit close, and usually 

 lengthways on a limb, like Night Hawks, 

 as long as they think they have not been 

 discovered, but after the first shot they gen- 

 erally all take wing. In the winter they 

 seldom alight on the ground, excepting to 

 get water. They feed on the tender buds 

 of the spruce or pine, and their flesh is not 

 palatable. In the fall they are in splendid 



* Birds of Southeastern Oregon, p. 137. 



