count of its clear penetrating note, "SzceecJiezv," delivered with great 

 energy from a high branch in some fir tree. The bird chooses its sum- 

 mer quarters in the depths of the mountains up to the very feet of the 

 glaciers. Here the miners and prospectors love its heartening cry, 

 which they hear as "Thi-ee cheers ! " 



Western Wood Pewee. Coiitopus richardsoiiii. — This bird is 

 perhaps the most characteristic species of the fir-clad, precipitous 

 shores of Lake Chelan. Structurally it closely resembles the common 

 Wood Pewee, (C z'lretis) of the East so that the distinctions between 

 birds in the hand are very nice. The olivaceous of inrens is almost 

 subdued in i-ichardso7iii and this is especially noticeable on the breast, 

 where the olive is entirely replaced by fuscous. In the specimens at 

 hand (two of C. ricJiardsoyni and three of C. z'/re/is) the under mandible 

 of the western bird is largely dusky, as against the yellow with merely 

 dusky tip of I'ireris. 



But habits, and particularly notes, at once set the western representa- 

 tives still further apart. The note of richardsoyiii, is not only "not 

 exactly like that of z'irens" (Coues), but radically different. It is a 

 unique blending of poignant melancholy and fitful exultation, which de- 

 fies analysis. "A weird sztv^-r, " as given thus in quotation marks by 

 Coues* perhaps expresses it as nearly as one can hope to. "Weird" 

 it certainly is, and calculated to prepare you for the mysteries of 

 the great dark mountains, as you draw up along shore and are saluted 

 by one of these little mourners. The vivacious manners of the bird how- 

 ever, compromise the impression produced by its doleful tones. And so 

 when one of them has returned from a successful brush with a hated ri- 

 val or, as one may imagine, has shared some Contopine jest, his little 

 being fairly overflows with such a tumult of braggadocio or shrill laugh- 

 ter that one fears for his sanity. 



The breeding range so far as observed is confined to the lake shore, 

 where the birds choose some exposed situation and set a dainty hempen 

 cup at the fork, or foot, of a bare limb, without invoking the aid of any 

 covering leaves. A nest found on August ist, 1895, which contained two 

 large young, was saddled upon the crotch of a maple sapling which 

 leaned out from the cliff at an acute angle and at a height of fifteen feet 

 above the water. There was no attempt at concealment as the sapling 

 was destitute of leaves for several feet on each side of the nest. Other 

 situations chosen were clumps of osiers or dead elderberry bushes. 



The bird is perfectly guileless in its domestic affairs and indeed seems 



*Key N. Am. Birds ed. 1887 — but there wrfmgly attributed to Wiit^ht's Flycatcher. 



