380 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



slightly more chalky hue than those of the ininimus, and more oblong. Those 

 procured by Mr. Boardman were sprinkled with minute dots of reddish- 

 brown. Tlieir measurement is .68 by .52 of an inch. 



Erapidonax flaviventris, var. difficilis, Baird. 



WESTERN YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHEE. 



Empidonax difficilis, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 198 (under E. flaviventris), pi. Ixxvi, f. 2. 

 — ScLATEE, Catal. 1862, 230. Empidonax flaviventris, Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 

 328. 



Sp. Char. ^vcaWsx to flaviventris, hnl i?i\\ much longer, and colors lighter and duller. 

 The olive above less green, and the sulphur-yellow beneath less pure, having an ochra- 

 ceous cast, tliis especially marked on the edge of the vising ; wing-bands grayish rather 

 than yellowish white. Measurements, $ (58,550, Parley's Park, Wahsatch Mountains, 

 Utah, August 5, 1869; C. King, R. Ridgway) : Wing, 2.90; tail, 2.80; wing-formula, 3, 

 4, 2, 5, 6, 1. Young. Wing-bands ochraceous, instead of grayish-white, with a sulphur- 

 yellow tinge. 



Hab. Western Province of United States, and Western Mexico. (Mazatlan, Cohma, 

 etc.) Fort Whipple, Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 62). 



Habits. This Flycatcher is a western form, closely allied to our eastern 

 E. flaviventris. It was met with by Dr. Coues in Arizona, where it was 

 rather rare, and appeared to be a summer resident. It arrives in that 

 Territory about the middle of April, and remains there until the latter part 

 of September. Dr. Coues found it difficult to distinguish this form from 

 our eastern flaviventris. 



Dr. Cooper obtained at Monterey, Cal., specimens of the western types of 

 this bird, having darker markings on the wing, which, however, he regards 

 as only indicative of a young plumage, and not of specific distinctness. He 

 found these birds chiefly frequenting woods of Coniferoe, and very silent, 

 which, so far as the observation has any value, indicates a marked difference 

 between the eastern and the western birds. 



The eggs of this species are also different from any of the eastern E. 

 flaviventris that I have ever seen, and are more like the eggs of E. trailli . 

 than of the other species of Empidonax. They measure .73 of an inch in 

 length, by .58 in breadth, have a creamy-white ground, marked at the 

 larger end with reddish-brown and purplish markings. They are of an 

 oblong-oval shape. Mr. Ptidgway met with this species only once in his 

 western explorations, when he obtained a pair in a thick pine woods on the 

 Wahsatch Mountains, in June. They were exceedingly retiring, and fre- 

 quented dark woods, whose solitudes were shared besides only by the 

 TurdiLs auduboni and Myiadestes toivnsendi. Their note was a pit, much 

 more like that of some Warblers than like the notes of the other Empi- 

 donaces. 



This species, called by Mr. Grayson " The Lonely Flycatcher," was found 



