‘THE WESTERN WOOD PEWEE. 383 
No. 147. 
WESTERN WOOD PEWEE. 
A. O. U. No. 462. Myiochanes richardsonii (Swains.). 
Synonyms.—SHORT-LEGGED PEWEE. RIcHARDSON’s PEWEE. 
Description.—Adults: Above deep grayish brown or grayish olive-brown; 
a lighter shade of same continued around sides and across breast, lightening on 
chin and throat, on remaining underparts becoming white or yellowish white; 
middle and greater coverts tipped with grayish; outer webs of tertials edged with 
grayish white. Bill black above, dusky (never light) below. Young birds have 
the middle and greater coverts tipped with buffy (forming two not inconspicuous 
bars), and some buffy edging on rump and upper tail-coverts. This species bears a 
curiously close resemblance to M/. virens of the East, insomuch that it is not 
always possible to separate specimens in the cabinent; yet the two are perfectly 
distinct in note and habit and are not suspected of intergradation. Length of 
adult males 6.00-6.50 (152.4-165.1); wing 3.43 (87); tail 2.60 (66); bill .st 
(13); tarsus .53 (13.4). Females a little smaller. : 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; dark coloration (appearing blackish), 
—but much darker and a little larger than any of the Hmpidonaces. Meezeer note 
of animated melancholy distinctive. 
Nesting.—Nest: a shallow cup of compacted moss, grasses, rootlets, etc., 
lined with fine grasses and wool or hair, and decorated externally, or not, 
with lichens; saddled midway or in fork of horizontal limb, chiefly at moderate 
heights. Eggs: usually 3, sometimes 4, creamy white, marked by largish spots of 
distinct and obscure rufous brown or umber, chiefly in open wreath about larger 
end. Av. size, .71x.55 (18x14). Season: June 10-July 10; one brood. 
General Range.—Western North America; breeding north to Alaska and 
Northwest Territory, east to Manitoba and western portion of Great Plains to 
Texas, south to northern Mexico; south in winter over Mexico and Central 
America to Equador, Peru, and Bolivia. 
Range in Washington.—Common summer resident and migrant east of the 
Cascades, chiefly in coniferous forests, occasionally in open sage; less common 
west of the mountains. 
Migrations.—S pring: c. May 15; Tacoma May 5, 1907; Yakima May 14, 
1895, May 15, 1900; Newport May 20, 1906; Conconnully May 27, 1896. Fall: 
Groept. 1. 
Authorities.—[‘“Western Wood Pewee,” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 
(1885), 22.] ?Muscicapa richardsonii, Aud. Orn. Biog. V. 1839, pl. 434. 
[Contopus richardsonii, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. TX. 1858, 189, 190. “Colum- 
bia River O. T. J. K. Townsend.”] Contopus richardsonii(?) Belding, L. B. P. 
D. 1890, p. 99 (Walla Walla, Dr. J. W. Williams). Lt. Rh. Dt. Kb. Ra. D’. 
ie B: EB. 
Specimens.—U. of W. P'. Prov. B. E. 
