April 1904] BIRDS OF THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS, ARIZO>JA. 27 



spring-, remaining so throughout the month. All that were taken at this 

 time were adults in worn, abraded plumage, many of them in the midst 

 of the autumnal moult with hardly enough feathers to cover them. A 

 series of twenty-one Gray Flycatchers taken in the spring from Febru- 

 ary to the middle of May, show some little variation in color and plu- 

 mage, enough so to indicate a slight pre-nuptual moult. .Specimens 

 taken during February and the early part of March are in fresh, unworn 

 plumage, soft and blended in appearance and with a considerable oliva- 

 ceous on the dorsum. Those secured at the end of March and through- 

 out April have the feathers rather worn and abraded, the upper parts 

 dull grayish with a few new olivaceous feathers showing on the back. 

 Specimens taken in May present a bright, fresh appearance, with the 

 upper parts olivaceous with but a few of the old gray feathers remaining, 

 and with considerable yellow on the abdomen. There is considerable 

 individual variation also, the extremes of which are presented in my 

 collection by a male bird taken April 2, 1902, which has the breast, sides, 

 and flanks dark plumbeous, the throat a trifle paler, and but the middle 

 of the abdomen white, with just a tinge of yellow; and a female taken 

 April 22, 1896, in which nearly the whole of the under parts are pure 

 white, the breast being darker on the sides and presenting rather a 

 streaked appearance along the median line. 



From the middle of A.pril to the middle of May these three Einpidon- 

 ' aces, haniDioiidi, -cvriglifi and i^riseus, taken together, are a feature of the 

 avian landscape in all parts of the mountains; haminoiidi along the can- 

 yons and in the pines, zvrighti in the oak belt, and crriscus in the more 

 barren country along the base of the range ; and during this time there 

 is hardly a place where one or more of some one of these small fly- 

 catchers can not be seen, darting from tree or bvtsh after some passing 

 insect, or sitting on a twig with drooping wings and twitching tail. 



Empidonax fulvifrons pygmaeus (Coues). Bufif-breasted Flycatcher. 



The Buff-breasted Flycatcher is one of the rarest of the regular 

 summer visitants to these mountains, and as it is a small, inconspicu- 

 ously colored bird, and in my experience rather shy and difficult to ap- 

 proach as well, it is a species that is most easily overlooked. It arrives 

 in the Huachucas about the middle of April, and all the migrating birds 

 T have taken have been alon;^ the base of the mountains, where they were 

 usually sitting in low bushes or weeds. In 1902, I secured but two. both 

 males, during the spring migration ; one on the evening of April 20, and 

 another early the next morning at precisely the some place. In 1903 I 

 secured a female on the west side of the mountains on April 12, and a 

 migrating bird was shot as late as May 4. 



Specimens collected show considerable variation in the color of the 

 lower parts, irrespective of sex. The darkest colored one I have, a 

 female, has the breast deep ochraceous buff, with the throat and abdo- 

 men but little paler ; while a rather large sized male in fresh unworn 

 plumage, has the upper breast yellowish buff, fading to pale yellowish 

 on the throat and abdomen, almost white along the median line. Speci- 

 mens taken during April frequently have a few new feathers scattered 

 over the back, indicating at least a partial pre-nuptial renewal of the 

 plumage of these parts. The buff of the lower parts extends up on the 

 sides of the neck so that in many skins it nearly joins on the nape. 



On May 26, 1903, I found these flycatchers breeding near the head 

 of Tanner Canyon in such a way as to almost indicate a "colonizing" 

 tendency, for I found seven or eight pair breeding within a radius of 



