THE WRIGHT FLYCATCHER. 391 



were to be Iieard brisk Sezvick's in tlie precise fashion of eastern iiiiniiiiiis; 

 and at rarer intervals a more intense bnt still harsli and unresonant Stvee-chexv. 

 These observations were contirnied by the taking of several specimens; but 

 elsewhere and in other seasons 1 have found the bird most unaccountaljly 

 silent, and ha\e been able to add little to its repertory of speech. 



In llie sunnncT of 11^06 we found these Flycatchers preparing nests on 

 Cannon Hill in Spokane. In both instances the birds were building out in the 

 open after the fashion of the Western Wood Pewee (Myiochanes richard- 

 sonii) ; one on the bare limb of a horse-chestnut tree some ten feet from the 

 ground; the other upon an exposed elbow of a picturesque horizontal limb of 

 a pine tree at a height of some sixty feet. Near Newport, in Stevens County, 

 we located a nearly completed nest of this species on the 20th of May, and 

 returned on the ist of June to complete accounts. The nest was placed seven 

 feet from the trunk of a tall fir tree, and at a height of forty feet. The bird 

 was sitting, and when frightened dived headlong into the nearest thicket, 

 where she skulked silently during our entire stay. The nest proved to be a 

 delicate creation of the finest vegetable materials, weathered leaves, fibers, 

 grasses, etc., carefully inwrought, and a considerable cpiantity of the orange- 

 colored bracts of yoimg fir trees. Tlie lining was of hair, fine grass, bracts, 

 and a single feather. In pusition the nest might well have been that of a 

 Wood Pewee; but. allho it was deeply cupped, il was much broader, and so 

 relatively flatter. The four fresh eggs whicli il cimtained were of a delicate 

 cream-color, changing to pure white upon blmving. 



The Hammond Flycatcher was also foiuul to lie a conniion breeder in the 

 valley of the Stehekin, where Mr. Bowles has taken se\eral sets in \ery similar 

 situations, viz., upon horizontal branches of fir trees at considerable iieights. 



No. 151. 



WRIGHT'S FLYCATCHER. 



A. (). U. \'o. 469. Empidonax wrightii llaird. 



Synonym. — Little C.r.w Fi,vc.\tcher. 



Description. — .Idiilt ((jra\ phase): .'\bove dull l)luish gray or faintly olivace- 

 ous on back and sides ; throat and l)reast pale gray to whitish with admixture of 

 ill-concealed dusky; remaining parts, posteriorly, faintly tinged with ]wlc prim- 

 rose; a whitish eye-ring; wing-markings, of the same pattern as in other species, 

 or more extensive on secondaries and outer webs of tertials, definitely white ; 

 outer web of outermost rectrix pale whitish. Adult (yelloiv-bellicd phase): As 

 in gray phase, but underparts strongly tinged with yellow and upperjiarts faintly 

 tinged with olive-green ; wing-markings less purely white. Bill blackish above, 



