342 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Dr. Kennerly states that after passing the mountains of California, and 

 descending into tlie valley of the San Gabriel River, he found these birds 

 quite abundant on the Pueblo Creek in New Mexico, though he had noticed 

 none previously. They were generally found perched upon the summit of a 

 busli, from which they would occasionally make short excursions in search 

 of prey. At the season in which they were observed, March, they were 

 rarely found in pairs, from which he inferred they were already hatching. 



Dr. Heermann speaks of it as abundant througliout all California, and 

 as constructing its nests in situations similar to those of the common 

 eastern species (>S'. fuscus). It seems to have a marked predilection for the 

 vicinity of streams and lakes, where it is nearly always to be seen, perched 

 upon a stake or branch. It occasionally darts into the air for an insect, and 

 returns to the same place to renew its watch and to repeat these movements. 

 The nest, composed of mud and mosses and lined with hair, is placed against 

 the rocks, the rafters of a house or bridge, or against the inside of a large 

 hollow tree, and the eggs, four or five in number, are pure white, speckled 

 with red. 



Dr. Coues found this Flycatcher a very abundant and permanent resident 

 in the valleys of the Gila and Colorado, and the more southern portions of 

 the Territory of Arizona generally. It was not observed in the immediate 

 vicinity of Fort Whipple, though it was detected a few miles south of that 

 locality. As it has been found on the Pacific coast so much farther north 

 than the latitude of Port Whipple, he thinks it may yet be met with, 

 at least as a summer visitant to that place. In his journey from Arizona 

 to tlje Pacific, he ascertained that it is common throughout Southern Ari- 

 zona, being, among land birds, his most constant companion on the route. 

 Perched generally in pairs upon the dense verdure that in many places 

 overhangs the river, it pursued its constant vocation of securing the va- 

 grant insects around it, constantly uttering its peculiar unmelodious notes. 

 In all its movements the Pewee of the Eastern States was unmistakably 

 reproduced. It was rather sliy and wary. In Southern Arizona and Cali- 

 fornia it remains throughout the winter. It seems to delight not only in 

 river bottoms, but also in deep mountain gorges and precipitous canons 

 with small streams flowing through them. 



Dr. Newberry found tliis species quite common in Northern California, 

 and specimens were also obtained as far to the north as the Umpqua Valley 

 in Oregon. According to Dr. Cooper it is an abundant and resident species in 

 all the lower parts of California, except the Colorado Valley, where he found 

 none later than March 25, as they had all evidently passed on farther nortli. 

 At San Diego, at that date, the following year (1862), all these birds liad 

 nests and eggs, and were there, as elsewhere, the first birds to build. Their 

 nest, he states, is formed of an outer wall of mud about five and a quarter 

 inches wide and three and a half high. It is built like that of the Barn 

 Swallow, in little pellets, piled successively, as they dry, in the shape of 



