• THE DEEBY FLYCATCHER. 253 



may be heard at all seasons of the year, hut luoi-e particularly during the 

 breeding season, when it is excessively garrulous. It is more frequently met 

 with in the neighborhood of fresh-water streams and lagoons, and I have often 

 observed them dart into the water after water insects and minnows that were 

 swunming near the surface, not unlike the Kingfisher; ])ut they usually pursue 

 and capture on the wing the larger kinds of Coleoptera and Neuroptera, swallow- 

 ing their prey entire after first beating it a few times against their perch. They 

 are usually in paii's, but I have also seen as many as twenty about a stagnant 

 pool, watching its turbid water for insects and small fish, for which they seem to 

 have a great partiality. 



"The nest of this species is very large, and its construction differs from all 

 the Tyrannido} of which I have any knowledge excepting- M. texensis. It is 

 dome-shaped or covered, with the entrance on the side, while the other species 

 build a saucer-shaped nest. The nest of the Bull-headed Flycatcher is usually 

 placed in the forks of the branches of very thorny trees, 25 or 30 feet from the 

 ground. It is composed of very coarse materials, of either straw or lichens, 

 sometimes of both, the lining, however, is of firmer and more elastic fibers. 

 Other birds sometimes make their nests in the same or nearest tree, such as 

 M. texensis, C. melanicterus, and I. 'pustulatus. The eggs of this Flycatcher are 

 usually five in number; they are of moderate size, rather lengthened, of a light 

 cream color, with a small reddish speck; the shell is delicate and easil}- broken." 



Messrs. Salvin and Godman make the following remarks about this species: 

 "In Gruatemala Fitat/tjus derhlanus builds its nest in April and May; one found 

 at Duenas was a large, loose structure with a great deal of superfluous matter 

 about it, its entrance l^eing on one side; it was composed entirely of small 

 twigs and jilaced at the end of a branch about 20 feet from the ground; 

 another taken at San Ger(5nimo had two openings, but one seems to be the rule. 

 A favorite haunt is the banana groves, where the nest may be found ^^edged in 

 among the clusters of fruit. The eggs are slightly pear-shaped, of a pale 

 creamy- white color, spotted and blotched with In-ick red. They vary consider- 

 ably in size and color, especially as to the magnitude and density of the spots. 



"We never noticed 1\ derhunius feeding on fish and water insects, as 

 described by Grayson, but Mr. Hudson ascribes similar habits to P. sulphuratus 

 in the Argentine Republic."^ 



There are three sets of eggs in the Ralph collection, taken in Cameron 

 County, Texas, on May 9, May 27, and Jufte 23, 1893, respectively. Each of 

 these contained four tresh eggs when found; the last set was probably a second 

 laying, the first having been destroyed. Two of these nests were located in a 

 thicket of huisache trees (^Acacia furnesiana), about 10 feet from the ground; 

 the other in a large bunch of Spanish moss, pending from tlie limb of a large 

 tree, about 14 feet up. The last-named is now in the collection here. The nest 

 proper is an uiuisually bulky structure, composed principally of gray Spanish 

 moss, dry weed stems, pieces of vines, and swamj) grasses, and lined with finer 



'Biologia Ceiitrali Americani, Avos, Vol. II, 1889, p. 45. 



