TYUANNID/K. j5j 



Like the general character of those of all our Empidonaces, each 

 utterance was of two distinct but connected notes, though lacking 

 the abrupt vigor of the other species, and at a little distance the louder 

 and more prolonged final note was often the only one heard. 



In view of our very deficient knowledge of the breeding range of 

 this bird, and the short time that we have known anything positive 

 regarding its nidification, the discovery of its breeding in the Catskill 

 Mountains is of interest, not only as greatly extending the area with- 

 in which its nest has actually been found''' but also as assisting to 

 render clear the apparently misunderstood subject of its precise 

 faunal relationship. 



Close to the summit of Slide Mountain, on June 26, 1882, its nest, 

 containing four fresh eggs was discovered by Dr. Fisher At the 

 outset it may be said that the eggs were spotted, and generally sim- 

 ilar to those of authentic sets which have recently been described. 



On the slope whereon the birds had made their home an abundant 

 o-rowth of brio-ht Q^reen moss invested the ruo-oed confio-uration of the 

 surface and enfolded the scattered remains of trees, ancestors, per- 

 haps, of the young growth of balsams which clustered about the spot 

 and afforded seclusion to the little pair that had come among them. 

 The nest was built in a cavity scooped in a bed of moss facing the 

 side of a low rock. The cavity had been excavated to a depth of 

 two and a half inches and was two inches across. The opening, but 

 little less than the width of the. nest, was nine inches from the ground 

 and, partially hidden by overhanging roots, revealed the eggs within 

 only to close inspection. 



The primary foundation of the nest was a layer of brown rootlets; 

 upon this rested the bulk of the structure, consisting of moss matted 

 together with fine broken weed stalks and other fragmentary material. 

 The inner nest could be removed entire from the outer wall, and was 

 composed of a loosely woven but, from its thickness, somewhat dense 

 fabric of fine materials, consisting mainly of the bleached stems of 

 some slender sedge and the black and shining rootlets of, appar- 

 ently, ferns, closely resembling horsehair. Between the two sec- 

 tions of the structure, and appearing only when they were separated, 

 w^as a scant layer of the glossy orange pedicels of a moss {^Polvtricluini) 

 not a fragment of which was elsewhere visible. The walls of the 

 internal nest were about one half an inch in thickness, and had doubt- 

 less been accomplished with the view of protection from dampness. 



Professor Daniel C. Eaton, of New Haven, very kindly assumed 

 the task of determining the different species of moss which entered 

 into the composition of the nest and of the moss-bed in which it 



* All records of the nests and eggs of this l>ir(l prior to 1S7S are here ignored as being too dubious 

 to be entertained. 



