:]G0 



NOliTll AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Empidonax pusiUus, Cabanis. 



UTTLE FLTCATCHEB. 



' Piafftrhiftu'hus pusilJus, Swaixsun, Pliil. Mag. I, May, 1}^27, 366. Tijrannu/u pusilla, 

 Snv, V. 15. Am. 11, 1S31, 144, pi. — liicn. X\^\K Hack's Vc.Viigi-, 1834 3»), 144.— 

 IJ.vMm:!., Vv. A. N. Sc. Ill, 1847, 156. Musriaipn pusilla, Ari». Orn. Hiog. V, 1831), 

 288 ; J)!. cccLXXxiv. In. Binl.s \n\. I, 184(», 'J^ti, \A. Ixvi. Tiiranutut pusilla, Nrr- 

 lALL, Man. I, fjtl I'll.,) 184U. Kinjndoiiaj' pusillus, lUinD, IJinls X. .\m. 1858, rJ4. 

 CooPEii k SucKLEY, 176. — Sci.ATKU, C'utul. 1862, 22y. Emjiiduiuu trailU, CooPKU, 

 Orn. rul. I, 1870, 327 (Colorado Kiver). 



Sp. Char. Second, third, uud fourth (luills lonfrest; first shorter than tlio si.xth. IJill 



rather broad ; yellow liciieath. Tail even. Tarsi 

 rather long. Above dirty olive-brown, paler and 

 more tinged with biown towards the tail. Throat 

 and breast white, tinged witii grayish-olive on the 

 sides, shading across tlii' iireast; belly and under 

 tail-eoverts very })ale sulphur-yellow. Wings with 

 two dirty narrow brownish-white l)ands slightly 

 tinged with olive; the seeondaries and tcrtials 

 narrowly and inconspicuously margined with the 

 same. First primary liiintly edged with whitish ; 

 the outer web of lirst tail-feather paler than the 

 inner, but not white. Under wing-coverts red- 

 dish ochraceous-vellow. A whiti>h rin<r round 

 the eye. Length. 5.50; wing, 2.80; tail, 2.75. 

 Young. "Wing-bands oclnaceous instead of grayish. 

 Had. High Central Plains to the Pacific. Fur 

 countries. Southward into Mexico. Fort Wliipi)le, Ariz(jna (Coies, P. A. N. S. 18GG, 

 01) : Vera Cruz, temp. reg. resident (Su.m. Mem. Host. Soc. I, 557). 



Tliis race represents the var. trailli in the region west of the Kocky 

 Mountains. The present Inrd is paler colored than trailli, the olivaceous ahove 

 much more grayish anteriorly, and more brownish posteriorly, the olive 

 l>eing thus less greenish and less uniform in tint ; the Itrownish shade 

 across the breast is lighter and more ashy, and the yellow tinge posteriorly 

 beneath more hiint ; the wing-bands ligliter and more grayish. In color, 

 2>i(silh'x thus a]>proximates somewhat to £. mininm.^, which, however, is a 

 very distinct si)ecies, and more closely related to F. hammondi ; )ninimi(s 

 may be distinguislied by much smaller size (the liill especially), the whig- 

 bands grayish-white instead of olive-gray, and the tail emarginated instead 

 of ai)f)recial)ly rounded ; miniinus lays a white e^^^i like £. oh-^cuyus, while 

 2msillus and trailli lay distinctly spotted ones, and build a very ditt'erent nest. 



Habits. Professor Baird, in his Thirds of Xorth America, assigns to this 

 species an area of distrilnition extending from tlie Great Plains to the 

 Pacific, soutliward into ^Mexico, and north to tlie fur country. Dr. Hoy cites 

 it as of Wisconsin in his List of the birds of tliat State, but without positive 

 data for this claim; it has, howevei, since been actually taken, a summer 



Enijtiiionaj- pusillus. 



