170 ZOOLOGY. 



Nuttall.) Jiorn color, darker at the tip. Lining membrane of tlie moutb, yellow oraruje ; feet and 

 legs, hlaclc ; iris, hazel. Tail extends about \\ inches beyond the folded wings." This skin was 

 unfortunately lost in my missing collection of July and August, 1856. 



This bird is not abundant on Puget Sound, and it is but seldom that a specimen can be 

 obtained. But this is partly owing to the preference it has for shady thickets and dense 

 foliage, where it is with difficulty shot. — S. 



EMPIDOXAX PUSILLUS, Cabauis. 



Tijranmila punUa, Sw. F. B. Am. II, 1831, HI; pi.— Ricu. App. Back's Voyage, 1831-'3G, lit.— Gambell, Br. 



A. N, Sc. Ill, 1847, 15G. 

 Muidcapa pusilla, AuD. Orn, Biog. V, 1S39, 288 ; pi. 434— Ib. Birds Amer. I, 1810, 23G ; pi. 66. 

 lyrannus puntU, Nuttall, Man. I, 2d ed. 1840. 

 ? "Empidonax piisillus, Cab." Baird, Gen. Rep. Birds, p. 194. 



Sr. Ch. — Second, third, and fourth quills longest ; first shorter than the sixth. Tail even. Tarsi rather long. Above 

 dirty olive hrown, paler and more tinged with brown towards the t.ail. Throat and breast white, tinged with grayish olive 

 on the sides, shading across the breast ; belly and under tail coveits very pale sulphur yellow. Wings with two dirty 

 narrow brownish white bands, slightly tinged with olive ; the secondaries and tertials narrowly and inconspicuously margined 

 with the same. First primary faintly edged with whitish ; the outer web of first tail feather paler than the inner, but not 

 white. Under wing coverts reddish ochraceous yellow. A whitish ring round the eye. Length, 5.50 inches ; extent, 8.50 ; 

 wing, 2 80 ; tail, 2.75. Iris, brown ; hill and feet, black ; lower mandible, pile flesh color. 



J/ab — High central plaiijs to the r,iciCc. Fur countries. Southward into Mexico. 



This little pewee of Nuttall is one of the few birds that frequent the dark and gloomy spruce 

 forests, which it seems to prefer to more open places. It is most abundant near the coast, but 

 I have seen a few at Puget Sound, where they arrived about the 25 Lh of April. It is difficult 

 to get a sight of this small musician as it flits through the upper branches of the tall spruces, 

 uttering constantly its monotonous but lively ditty. Its colors make it almost invisible in the 

 shade. 



It is also a common species about Puget Sound in summer. I could not discover its nest. 

 I observed that' one of them kept constantly on the border of a small pond, and drove the 

 kingbird away from tiie place. It has a peculiar short and lisping song of three notes in 

 summer, very different from other species. In fall the young birds make a very different loud 

 call as they wander about the woods. 



I did not find the nest of this bird. By the first of September they have all retired southward. 



Note. — The diflerence in color of lower mandible observed in this and some other western 

 birds may be of value as a specific distinction in connexion with other points stated by Prof. 

 Baird.— C* 



Quite abundant in the vicinity of Fort Steilacoom, where it arrives early in ilav. It seems 

 to prefer the vicinity of bushes and low trees at the edges of dense forests. In 1856 I obtained 

 at Fort Steilacoom the following : No. 396. May 19. G|, 9.— No. 421. June 3. 6, 8J.— 

 No. 443. June 18. C^, 8|. 



I found this bird rather less pugnacious than others of the group, and in habits generally 

 more resembling the Vireo family. Its notes are short but sweet, and just after sundown on 

 warm summer evenings particularly low, plaintive, and soothing.— S. 



°The specimens here mentioned have since been found to ba a distinct species, E. flavivextbis, var? difficilis, Baird, 

 described in Gen. Rep Birds, p. 198. Dr. Cooper's specimens measured as follows : No 7243, Shoalwater bay, July 4, 1854. 

 Length, 5 50; e.\tent, 8.50 inches.— No. 5920, Fort Steilacoom. Length, 5.60 ; extent, 8 50 : wing, 2 S3 ; tail, 2.45. Both 

 had the iiis, brown ; bill, black above, pale flesh color below, feet, black. 



