380 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



sli<;htly more chalky hue than those of the minimus, and more oblong. Those 

 prucuivd hy Mr. I^oardiiiau were sprinkled with minute dots of reddish- 

 brown. Their measurement is .08 by .52 of an inch. 



Empidonax flaviventris, var. difficilis, Baiud. 



WESTESN TELLOW-BELUEB FLTCATCHEB. 



EmpicUmcu- difficilis^ Baikd, Birds N. Am. 1858, 198 (under E.flaviventi'is\ ]>1. Ixxvi, f. 2. 

 — ScLATKU, Catal. 1862, 230. Empkloiuix JlaviveiUris, Coopeii, Oru. Cul. I, 1870, 

 328. 



Sp. Char. Similar to ^aiwen^m, but t ^uch longer, and colors lighter and duller. 

 The olive above less green, and the sulphur-^ )vv beneath less pure, having an ochra- 

 ceous cast, this especially marked on the edge of the wing; wing-bands grayish rather 

 than yellowish white. Measurements, ^ (r)8,oo0, Parley's Park, Wahsateh Mountains, 

 Utah, August 5, 1869; C. King, R. Ridgway) : Wing, 2.90; tail, 2.80; wing-formula, 3, 

 4, 2, 5, 6, 1. Yuung. Wing-bands ochraceous, instead of grayish-white, with a sulphur- 

 yellow tinge. 



Hab. Western Province of United States, and Western Mexico. (Mazatlan, Colima, 

 etc.) Fort Whipple, Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 62). 



Habits. This Flycatcher is a western form, closely allied to our eastern 

 a. Jlaviventris. It was met with by Dr. Coues in Arizona, where it was 

 rather rare, and appeared to be a summer resident. It arrives in that 

 Territory about the middle of April, and remains there until the latter part 

 of September. Dr. Coues found it difficult to distinguish this form from 

 our eastern Jlaviventris. 



Dr. Cooper obtained at Monterey, Cal., specimens of the western types of 

 this bird, having darker markings on the wing, wliich, however, he regards 

 as only indicative of a young plumage, and not of specific distinctness. He 

 found these birds chiefly frequenting w^oods of Conifcrce, and very silent, 

 which, so far as the observation has any value, indicates a marked dili'erence 

 between the eastern and the western birds. 



The eggs of this species are also different from any of the eastern E. 

 flaviventris that I liave ever seen, and are more like the eggs of E. tniilli 

 than of the other species of Empidoimx. They measure .73 of an inch in 

 length, by .58 in breadth, have a creamy-white ground, marked at the 

 larger end with reddish-browm and purplish markings. They are of an 

 oblong-oval shape. Mr. Ridgway met with tliis species only once in his 

 western explorations, when he obtained a pair in a thick pine woods on the 

 Wahsatch Mountains, in June. They were exceedingly retiring, and fre- 

 quented dark woods, whose solitudes were shared besides only by the 

 Tardus auduhoni and Mijiadcstcs toicnscmli. Their note w^as a pit, much 

 more like that of some Warblers than like the notes of the other Empi- 

 donaces. 



Tliis species, called by !Mr. Grayson " The Lonely Flycatcher," was found 



