NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF OKANOGAN CO., 

 WASHINGTON. 



Family Tyrannidae, Tyrant Flycatchers. 



This aristocratic family is represented in Okanogan county by nine 

 species, of which four are Emf<ido7iaccs. The consideration of the 

 latter is reserved until, in some later Bulletin, they may be compared 

 with some available eastern specimens. Of the remainder, Tyranniis tyr- 

 anniis, the common Kingbird and Tyraniius verticalis, the "Arkansas" 

 Kingbird, have too wide a range to require special notice here. However, 

 may it be in order to note the manifest absurdity of calling T. vei'ticalis, 

 which is abundant in Washington, the " Arkansas'' Ya^^^xx^. It cannot 

 make even the feeble plea offered by the "Louisiana" Tanager, viz., that 

 the name once included the region of the bird's greatest abundance. 

 Western Kingbird would evidently be a more suitable, if not very origi- 

 nal, name. 



Say's Phcebe. Sayornis saya. — In the spring of 'g6 these birds 

 appeared on the 17th of March and immediately took up their wonted 

 stations as patrols on the granite cliffs. You may expect to find a pair of 

 these pewits around almost any considerable rock-wall of the lower 

 ranges. The bird will make its presence known by a sudden shrill, 

 "Look at 'ere, look at e-ere," as it flushes and seeks a higher point of 

 rocks. If pursued it will rise from rock to rock, alternately grumbling and 

 coaxing, but keeping shrewdly out of reach of "dust" shot until you are 

 successfully decoyed to the summit of the steep. Arrived there the bird 

 disappears from view by a bold plunge over the brow of the cliff, and 

 soon you hear, wafted up to you the faint, plaintive notes from some 

 boulder hundreds of feet below, where the bird sits waiting to "begin 

 again." On March igth a Say's Phoebe was seen on the townsite of Che- 

 lan, fluttering about with his mournful burden from fence to gable and 

 back again. His common note is a minor "Kuteza, kute-e-ezvy with var- 

 ious inflections, sometimes falling, sometimes sharply interrogatory. A 

 rapid succession of these liquid notes delivered while the bird is on the 

 wing, passes for quite a respectable song. 



Olive-sided Flycatcher. Contopus borealis. — Not a common resi- 

 dent even in the higher ranges where it is found, but conspicious on ac- 



