382 NORTH AMEUICAN BIRDS. 



IG, 18G8 ; C. King, Ii. llidgway) is remarkable for its pale ami iinusuiilly 

 grayisli colors. There is nowhere any tinge of yellow, and scarcely any of 

 brown, tlie colors being simply clear ash and pure dull white, except the 

 dusky of wings and tail. In these respects it ditfers from all others in the 

 cnllection ; there can be no doubt, however, that it is the same species as 

 tlie browni.sh individuals obtained in the same locality. 



Habits. This Tlycatclier ajjpears to have been first described as a Mexi- 

 can species by Swainson in 1827. Since then it has been obtained by Sumi- 

 chrast in the Department of Vera Cruz, but whether resident or only 

 migratory he was unable to decide. Specimens were obtained at El Paso, 

 in Texas, by Mr. V. Wright, on the Mexican IJoundary Survey. Dr. Coues 

 found this bird a summer resident in Arizona, but rare. It arrives there 

 eaily in April, and remains until October. Dr. Cooper first observed this 

 sj^ecies at Fort Mohave al)out April 1, and a few afterwards until May 25. 

 Tliey ke]it among low bushc? .vere generally silent, or with only a single 

 lisi)ing chirp. Occasionally they flew a short distance after insects in the 

 general manner of this genus. AVe are indebted to Mr. Eidgway for all the 

 knowledge we possess in reference to the habits and nesting of this rare 

 species. 



He met with them in all the aspen groves and thickets of the high 

 mountain regions, from the Sierra Nevada to the Wahsatch and Uintah 

 Mountains. The aspen copses at the head of the canons of the highest 

 and well-watered ranges of the Great Basin were their favorite resort; but 

 they were sometimes seen in the " mahogany " woods on the spurs, and 

 occasionally, e\en, on the %\illows in the river valleys. Their common note 

 was a weird swccr, much like the call of Clirijsomitris innua, but very often, 

 especially when the nest was approached, they uttered a soft liquid %(^nt. In 

 the Toyabe Mountains, where these little Flycatchers were breeding abun- 

 dantly in tlie asjien co])ses, j\Ir. Eidgway found them to be so unsuspicious 

 that several were taken from the nest with his hand ; and one which was 

 shot at and slightly wounded returned to her nest and suH'ered herself to 

 be taken off without showing any alarm. 



A nest obtained by Mr. Eidgway near Austin, in Nevada, July 3, 1868, 

 was built in the crotch of a small aspen, about five feet from the ground. 

 This nest is a very neat, homogeneous, comi)act structure, cup-like in shape, 

 three inches in diameter, and two iind a half in heiglit. Its cavity is one 

 and a half inches in de])th, and three inches across the rim. It is com])osed 

 almost entirely of strips of soft and bleached fragments of the inner bark 

 of deciduous trees and shrubs, ajid hem]H'n fibres of various plants. The 

 inner nest is a lining made of finer materials of the same, with a few fine 

 roots and feathers. 



The eggs, three in number, are of a uniform creamy white, unspotted, 

 and not unlike the eggs of Eittpidomtx miainiiis. They measure .73 of an 

 inch in length, and .60 in breadth. 



