288 -LIFE lUSTOlUES OF ISOIITH AMElilCAN BIRDS. 



He says: " Contopus pcrtimix is a s})aringly distributed sviumier resident in the 

 pine-forested mountains of seutli central Mexico, between 8,000 and 12,000 feet 

 altitude. At Los Vigas, Vera Cruz, on June 14, 18'J3, a nest containing two 

 fresh eggs was found in a pine tree at an altitude of about 8,000 feet. The nest 

 was about 15 feet from the ground, on the outer end of one of the lower 

 branches. It was ])laced upon a small fork of the main l)ranch. The nest is 

 outwardly composed of grass tops, which are covered with fragments of moss 

 and lichens, and it is lined with the tine heads (seed tops) of a species of grass 

 growing all about under the pine trees of the vicinity. The locality was on 

 a gentle slope at the northeast base of the Cofre de Perote, near Los Vigas, in a 

 thick growth of small pines. The parent birds paid but little attention to the 

 nest, but were quite shy, so that some trouble was experienced in ol)taiuing one 

 of them; each time, however, the birds returned to .the vicinity of the "nest after 

 along detour through the woods. So far as I saw them, these l)irds are very 

 quiet during the breeding season." 



The nest, which is now before me, is a compact and neatly built structure, 

 and measures 4^ inches in outer diameter by 2 inches in height. The inner cup 

 is 2i inches wide by 1\ inches deep. ■ 



Coues's Flycatcher leaves its summer home in southern Arizona and New 

 Mexico about October 1, and apparently none winter within our borders. The 

 eggs are ovate in shape; the shell is frail anclwithoutf luster, of a rich cream tint, 

 and is sparingly spotted, principally about the larger end of the egg, Avith differ- 

 ent shades of chestnut, ferruginous, and lavender. They resemble very much 

 the eggs of the Olive-sided Flycatcher, but. average a trifle smaller, measuring 

 21.08 by 16..51 and 19.56 by 15.75 millimetres, or 0.83 by 65 and 0.77 by 0.62 

 inch, respectively. 



The type s"pecimen. No. 26222 (PI. 2, Fig. 17), United States National 

 Museum collection, the smallest egg of the two, was taken by Mr. Nelson, as 

 already stated, on June 14, 1893, near Los Vigas, Vera Cruz, Mexico. 



107. Contopus virens (Linnj^us). 



WOOD PEWEE. 



Museicapa virens LiNN.KUS, Systema Naturse, Ed. 12, I, 1700, 327. 

 Contonus virens Cabanis, Journal fiir Oniitliologie, III, Nov., 1855, 47i). 



(P> 139, C 255, E 320, G 382, U.461.) 



Geographical range: Eastern North America; north to the sonthern portions of 

 the Dominion of Canada, iroin New Brunswick to Manitoba; west to eastern North and 

 South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, Kansas, the Indian Territory, and Texas; soutli in 

 winter tlirough eastern Mexico and Guatemala to Colombia and Ecuador, ISoutli America. 



The l)reeding range of the Wood Pewee, also locally known in Soittli 

 Carolina as "Dead-limb bird," extends through the esstern United States north 

 into the sonthern parts of the Dominion of Canada to about latitude 46° N., 

 west to western Manitoba, the eastern parts of North and South Dakota, 



