Plate II, Fig. II. Eggs of the Gray Flycatcher 



{Empidonax griseus canescens) 



NESTING OF THE GRAY FLYCATCHER IN CALIFORNIA 



By Joseph Grinnell 



IN 1897 I found the Gray Flycatcher (then called Empidonax griseus) to 

 be fairly common in July on the higher portions of the San Gabriel 

 Mountains in the vicinity of Mount Waterman. I obtained adults and 

 young not fully grown, and upon these and a few migrants from the neigh- 

 borhood of Pasadena was made the first record of the species for California. 

 Since then many fall, winter and spring specimens have been noted from 

 various parts of southern California, but nothing further has been published 

 in regard to the breeding grounds or habits of the species. 



The summer of 1905 I spent in field work, with Joseph Dixon as assist- 

 ant, in the San Bernardino mountain range. I had previously heard of a 

 small Flycatcher said to occur in the vicinity of Bear Valley, and the species 

 had been variously reported as the Hammond, Wright, or W T estern. But no 

 specimens had been forthcoming, so that I entered the mountains with a 

 particular desire to determine this matter. As a result, a series of 67 adults 

 and young of Empidonax canescens was secured together with several nests 

 and two sets of eggs. Upon these and accompanying field notes, the follow- 

 ing account is based. 



The Gray Flycatcher was the most abundant member of the Tyrannidse 

 found in the San Bernardino Mountains. Yet it was not noted below 6000 

 feet nor above 9500 feet. To be more accurate, the Gray Flycatcher was 

 in summer restricted closely to the upper transition and Canadian life zones. 

 In August we found that a few had spread down into the lower transition 

 zone, doubtless as a beginning of the fall migration. The species was found 

 to be numerous in June and the first week of July on the mountain slopes 

 south of the headwaters of the Santa Ana and west of its tributary, South 

 Fork. From the lower edge of the fir belt up nearly through the Murray 

 pines on the slopes of San Gorgonio Peak, this Flycatcher was seldom out 

 of hearing, though individuals were often so wary as to render even a glimpse 

 of them difficult to obtain. But after we had learned their various notes, by 



