TYRANT FLYCATCHERS: Family Tyrannidae [ 395 ] 



dusky centers of coronal feathers; wing bars varying from brownish to whitish; 

 under parts white, shaded with gray across breast, tinged with yellow beneath; under 

 wing coverts yellowish white. Young: browner above, yellower beneath; wing 

 bands buff or yellowish brown. Male: length 5.80-6.2.5, wing 2.. 70-2.. 85, tail 1.35- 

 2.. 60, bill .64-. 73, bill from nostril .35-. 40, width at base .17-. 31, tarsus .65~.7i. 

 Female: length 5.55-6.00, wing 2.. 5 5-1. 65, tail i. 2.0-1. 50." (Bailey) Nest: Usually 

 close to ground in low shrubs and bushes, woven of dry grasses, pine needles, shreds 

 of bark, plant fibers, and other similar materials and lined with finer material. 

 Eggs: 2. to 4, white, dotted and blotched with brown, mostly about the large end. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from British Columbia, Idaho, and Wyoming south 

 to Mexico. Winters in Central and South America. In Oregon: Common summer 

 resident and breeding species. Found in suitable situations throughout State. 



THE LITTLE FLYCATCHER is the most abundant and widely distributed 

 small flycatcher in the State and is the common small flycatcher of western 

 Oregon, especially the Willamette Valley, where the Western Flycatcher 

 is the only other Empidonax regularly found. It arrives in May (earliest 

 date, April 2.1, Multnomah County) and remains until early September 

 (latest date, September 17, Lake County). Audubon (1840) listed it from 

 Sauvies Island, and there have been many subsequent records. The name 

 "Little Flycatcher" was revived in the last A. O. U. Check-List, because 

 of the confusion over the name "Traill's Flycatcher," formerly applied 

 to this subspecies. 



It frequents the wooded stream bottoms where it builds its nests in 

 small trees and bushes, usually within a few feet of the ground; but like 

 many others of its family, it waits until insect life has reached its summer 

 abundance before undertaking the task of raising a family entirely on 

 such food. Therefore it is well into June before egg laying is finished. 

 We have 12. nests with eggs from June 15 to July 2.9, but it is probable 

 that these extremes can be extended considerably by more observations. 



Its habits are like those of other small members of the family. When 

 at rest, it perches silently and motionless on some dead twig, often low 

 down in the bushes or willow thickets, though occasionally on the 

 topmost branch of a tree. From such a vantage point it captures its insect 

 prey by short quick dashes, returning to the same perch or alighting on 

 a similar one nearby. 



Hammond's Flycatcher: 



Empidonax hammondi (Xantus) 



DESCRIPTION. "Adults: Upper parts grayish olive, grayer anteriorly; wing bars 

 whitish or yellowish; outer tail feather more or less edged with whitish; throat 

 grayish; breast olivaceous, almost as dark as back; belly and under tail coverts yellowish; 

 width of bill at nostrils less than half the exposed culmen. Young: tinged with 

 brown, wing bars yellowish brown. Male: length 5.50-5.75, wing 1.60-1.80, tail 

 1.30-1.50, bill .53-. 59, bill from nostril .2.6-. 19, width at base, .n-.i4, tarsus .60- 

 68. Female: length 5.2.5, wing 1.45-1.75, tail 1.15-1.40." (Bailey) Nest: Neatly 



