°iS97 J Merrill. Birds of Fort Shermati, Idaho. "? ^ ^ 



season I have little doubt that some remain, as late in May I have 

 watched them apparently breaking off dead twigs near the tops of high 

 cottonwoods, though this may have been in play. This, and the western 

 Montana record in Bendire's ' Life Histories ' (Vol. II. p. 1S3;, considerably 

 extend to the eastward the known range of this species. I have frequently 

 seen Swifts along the Yellowstone River in Montana but have been unable 

 to secure any for identification. 



* Trochilus alexandri. — Fairly common late in May, especially about 

 the low, lavender-colored blossoms of the camass. A few pairs remain to 

 breed. 



* Selasphorus rufus. — A common spring migrant, probably breeding. 

 Found most frequently about blossoms of cherry trees in the yards about 

 the officers' quarters. I have rarely seen this Hummer outside the fort, or 

 the other two within it. 



* Stellula calliope. — The most common of the Hummers at Fort 

 Sherman, both during the spring migration and the nesting season, their 

 arrival in both years coinciding with the first blossoming of the wild 

 hawthorn. 



A good many Hummers, probably of the three species, pass through to 

 the south during the latter part of August. 



Tyrannus tyrannus. — Arriving during the last week in May, the King- 

 bird at once becomes fairly common among the cottonwoods bordering 

 the river, and in which it nests. 



Tyrannus verticalis. — Rare ; but a pair or two breed each year near the 

 fort. 



Contopus borealis. — Breeds sparingly at a height of several hundred 

 feet above lake level. 



Contopus richardsonii. — Very common, both in pine woods and in 

 cottonwoods bordering the river. 



* Empidonax hammondi. — Northern Idaho must be near the center of 

 abundance of this Flycatcher, and it is far more plentiful here than I 

 have found it to be in Montana and Oregon. Arriving early in May, its 

 habits here are somewhat peculiar, for it is as common among young 

 cottonwoods and willows along the river and in and near swamps — just 

 such places as E. traillii haunts — as in dry woods among pines, in which 

 it is generally seen in the higher branches. It breeds in the latter 

 situations, and I also took a good series of nests in young cottonwoods 

 and aspens, some not more than two or three feet above the ground or 

 water. When in pines the nest is usually thirty or forty feet from the 

 ground, saddled on a horizontal dead branch several feet from the 

 trunk, and is much like a Contopus nest. When placed in a young 

 Cottonwood the nest is more like that of E. -.vrightii, near the ground and 

 generally against the trunk. I found Hammond's Flycatcher to be by no 

 means as shy as other observers have noted ; in fact, it is here one of the 

 most common and, for an Empidonax, conspicuous of the summer 



