April 1004] BIRDS OF THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA. ?5 



rather sharply defined against the dark colored breast and sides. The 

 greater and middle wing- coverts are edqfed with a darker shade of the 

 same, so as to form two conspicuous bars across the wing. An adult 

 female taken August 24, 1902, just commencing the autumnal moult, 

 has most of the plumage so worn and faded as to have lost all distinc- 

 tive coloring, but on the upper breast and on the dorsum the new 

 feathers are just beginning to appear. 



Contopus richardsoni (Swainson). Western Wood Pewee. 



During the summer months this species is found in abundance in 

 the lower parts of the mountains, occurring almost entirely, at least in the 

 breeding season, along the canyon streams, and but seldom venturing 

 up on the hill sides. It is a late arrival in this region, the earliest one 

 noted being on May 4, 1903, and it is the middle of the month before 

 they are at all abundant. Migrating birds were seen on the plains be- 

 low the mountains up to nearly the end of May. Old birds were noted 

 feeding young still in the nest after the middle of August. 



Empidonax difficilis Baird. Western Flycatcher. 



Although the Western Flycatcher breeds in the Huachucas it is 

 anything but a common bird, and even during the migrations is not as 

 abundant as some of the other species of Emipidonax. It is a late arival 

 in this region, the earliest one noted being a male bird shot on May 18. 

 Up to the first of June it can be found in limited numbers in the washes 

 leading from the various canyons, not occurring at all in the higher parts 

 of the mountains, from 7000 feet upward, where it breeds. On June 21, 

 1902, a nest was found, apparently just finished, but empty, built on a 

 beam in an old cabin at an altitude of 9000 feet. The bird had been seen 

 about the place a week earlier but at that time had not yet commenced 

 to build. After examining the nest I left the cabin for a few minutes, 

 and at my return the bird darted out over my head, having laid an egg 

 during my brief absence. On visiting the place a few days later I found 

 the nest torn apart and the eggs destroyed, probably by the rats which 

 infested the place. After the breeding season they descend the moun- 

 tains to a lower altitude, and after the first of August young and old are 

 fairly abundant in the oaks of the foothills, and along the washes as in 

 the spring. 



Empidonax trailli (Audubon). Traill Flycatcher. 



On August 9, 1902, I secured two Traill Flycatchers in some scrub 

 oaks at the base of the mountains. This is the only record I have of the 

 occurrence of this species in the Huachucas, though it is a fairly com- 

 mon summer resident in suitable spots along the San Pedro River. The 

 two secured, both adult males, had not yet begun to moult their summer 

 plumage, and compared with specimens from Southern California are 

 very pale in coloration. There is hardly a trace of olivaceous on the 

 back or yellow in the abdomen, and at a casual glance, they bear a close 

 resemblance to E. griseus, for which species, in fact, I mistook them 

 when I shot them. 



Empidonax hammondi (Xantus). Hammond Flycatcher. 



Of the migrating birds passing through this region in the spring 

 the Hammond Flycatcher is one of the first to put in an appearance, and 

 about the last to leave. The earliest noted, a male, was taken on March 

 30 ; the bulk of them arrive early in April, and they remain in the great- 

 est abundance until the middle of May, when they begin to rapidly 



