306 NE8T8 AND BOOS OF 



great height from the ground. It is similar in construction to that of the Wood 

 Pewee's nest, being saddled on a horizontal limb or fixed in a fork. A nest before me, 

 taken in Windsor county, Vt.. June 10, 1884, is a shallow structure made of twigs, 

 grasses, and bark strips, lined with soft grasses and moss; it is a very frail, clumsy 

 structure, compared -to that of ro/o/.v i //<//.. This was placed in a hemlock tree, 

 thirty feet from the ground, and contained four eggs, which is the usual number. 

 From three to five eggs are laid by this species, and May and June are the breeding 

 months. The eggs are creamy-white, spotted about the greater end with a distinct 

 confluent ring of chestnut-red and brown; there are also spots of purple and laven- 

 der. and on the whole the eggs very much resemble those of the Wood Pewee, but 

 are larger; sizes. .90x.65, .89x.G5, ,90x.62, .90x.67. These sizes are slightly .larger than 

 most of those stated by writers. The average size given is about .82x.62 inches. Mr. 

 C. Barlow read a paper July 10, 1897, before the Cooper Ornithological Club describ- 

 ing a nest and a set of eggs of the Olive-sided Flycatcher taken by W. W. Price in i:i 

 Dorado county, Cal. The nest was situated in a fir tree seventy-one feet from the 

 ground. 



46O. COUES'S FLYCATCHER, ('nnttijms i><rti>iu.c Cab. Geog. Dist. Moun- 

 tains of Southern and Central Arizona, south through Mexico and Guatemala. 



This Flycatcher was added to our avifauna by Dr. Elliott Coues, who took a 



specimen near Fort Whipple, Arizona, August 20, 1864. It is generally distributed 



throughout the southern half of Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, but is no- 



inmon. Breeds wherever found. Like the Olive-sided Flycatcher woods 



on the edge of an opening or along rocky ravines. The nest and eggs of this Fly- 



catcher were first described by Mr. Samuel B. Ladd, of Westchester, Pa., in The Auk 



VIII. p. :nr,). They were collected June 17, 1890. It is as follows: "The nest, 



1 on an oak limb 20 feet from the ground, is compact, and reminds one of the 



nest of our Cnutnjntx r/wix, excepting in size. Outside diameter 5 inches by 2 inches 



high; inside diameter 3 inches by 1 inch deep. The body of the nest seems to consist 



of the web of some spider, intermingled with the exuviae of some insect, fragments 



of insects and vegetable matter, such as staminate catkins, (,)n< rci<x-< ninriii. a pod of 



"me leaves of Qn< n-ns < nioriii and o/arr//.s- uinilntn. The interior of the 



nest is made up of grasses, principally of two species of Pna, also some fragments of 



I >>'//><;. The eggs, three in number, were slightly incubated. The 



ground color is cream buff, spotted in a ring around the larger end with chestnut 



lilac-gray. Measurements: 0.63x0.86, 0.82x0.61, 0.61x0.83 inch 0.62x0.84." Mr. 



Geon Hinder. of Phoenix, Arizona, makes note of the nesting of Coues's 



or September, 1897, page \'2. as follows: "I found the 



Cour her quite a common bird in the Huachuca Mountains, but saw none in 



the Santa Ritas. A nest v.-.-is found on Juno 11, by watching the female. At first 

 both birds appeared rather indifferent about my presence, but 1 noticed that no time 

 was lost in driving Jays from a large spruce tree. Patient watching revealed the 

 nest; It was built at the ronflin-nre of two limbs, resting in part on the main limb. 

 and HO well hidden that i a ted only by seeing tin- bird resume ihe duties of 



incubation. The nest is of the Wood Pewee type, but much larger; being composed. 

 irdly. of *mss stems coven .1 with lichens. The inside is lined entirely with 

 the ripe tips of a species of grass (Nfi/-- > Krowinu; in places near the nest. 



It was situated thirty fret from the Around, and ten feet from the trunk of the tree. 

 In the ne.^ o eggs and a third one. after receiving some injury, was thrown 



out of the nest, lodging upon the edpe. , ubation in the two eggs 



