386 THE WESTERN FLYCATCHER. 
—really the easiest, because the most common of this difficult group; note a soft 
piswit; a woodland recluse. Adults always more yellow than &. traillii, from 
which it is not otherwise certainly distinguishable afield (save by note). 
Nesting.—WNest: placed anywhere in forest or about shaded cliffs, chiefly at 
lower levels; usually well constructed of soft green moss, fine grasses, fir needles 
and hemp. Eggs: 3 or 4, dull creamy white, sparingly spotted and dotted or 
blotched with cinnamon and pinkish brown, chiefly about larger end. Av. size 
66x .52 (16.8x 13.2). Season: May 1-July 1; one or two broods. 
General Range.—Western North America from the eastern base of the 
Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, breeding north to Sitka and south chiefly in the 
mountains to northern Lower California and northern Mexico; south in winter 
into Mexico. 
Range in Washington.—Common summer resident in timbered sections 
thruout the State. 
Migrations.—S pring: Seattle-Tacoma, April 15. Fall: c. Sept. 1. 
Authorities.—Empidonax difficilis, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, 
py 108) CataleiINos5o20. 7 a. D* Ra. Sshiss2 be: 
Specimens.—(U. of W.) P. Prov. B. BN. E. 
PLEASE observe the scientific name, difficilis, that is, difficult. There 
is a delicate irony about the use of this term as a distinctive appellation for 
one of the “gnat kings,” for, surely, the plural, Empidonaces difficiles, would 
comprehend them all. There is something, indeed, to be learned from the 
notes of these little Flycatchers, and the first year the author studied them 
seriously he supposed he had a sure clew to their specific unraveling. But 
that was in the freshmen year of Empidonaxology. In coming up for “final 
exams.” he confesses to knowing somewhat less about them. 
The bird, also, is well called Western; for however difficult the genus, we 
know at least that difficilis (speaking seriously now ) is the commonest species; 
that it appears under more varied conditions and enjoys a more general dis- 
tribution than any other species of Empidonax in the West. The bird is, also, 
the first to arrive in the spring, returning to the latitude of Seattle about the 
middle of April, or when the yellow-green racemes of the Large-leafed Maple 
(Acer macrophyllum) are first shaken out to the breeze. The little fay keeps 
well up in the trees, occupying central positions rather than exposed outposts ; 
and so perfectly do his colors blend in with the tender hues of the new foliage 
that we hear him twenty times to once we see him. 
The notes are little explosive sibilants fenced in by initial and final “p” or 
“t” sounds. If one prints them they are not at all to be vocalized, but only 
whispered or hissed, psssect, psssecit, psswit, or piswit. Other variations are 
sé a-wit, slowly and listlessly; cleotip, briskly; kushchtlip, a fairy sneeze in 
Russian. One becomes familiar with these tiny cachinations, and announces 
the Western Flycatcher unseen with some degree of confidence. But the way 
is beset with dangers and surprises. Once, in June, at a point on Lake Chelan, 
