1 70 ZOOLOGY. 



Nuttall,) liorn color, darker at the tip. Lining membrane of the mouth, yelloiv orange; feet and 

 legs, black; iris, hazel. Tail extends about Ij inches beyond the folded wings." This skin 

 was unfortunately lost in my missing collection of July and August, 1856. 



This bird is not abundant on Puget Sound, and it is but seldom that a specimen can be 

 obtained. But this is partly owing to the preference it has for shady thickets and dense 

 foliage, where it is with difficulty shot. — S. 



EMPIDONAX PUSILLUS, Cabanis. 



Th/rannula pusilla, Sw. F. B. Am. II, 1831, 144; pi.— Kich. App. Rick's Voyage, 1834-'36, 144.— Gambel, Pr. A. 



N. Sc. m, 1847, 156. 

 Muscicajia jmaiUa, AcD. Om. Biog. V, 1839, 288 ; pi. 434 — Ib. Birds Amer. 1, 1840, 236 ; pi. 66. 

 Tyramms jnmlla, Nuttall, Man. I, 2d ed. 1840. 

 ? "Empidanax pmillus, Cab." Baleb, Gen. Kep. Birds, p. 194. 



Sp. Ch. — Second, third, and fourth quills longest; first shorter than the sixth. Tall even. Tarsi rather long. Above 

 dirty olive brown, paler and more tinged with brown towards the tail. Throat and breast white, tinged with grayish olive 

 on the sides, shading across the breast ; belly and under tail coverts very pale sulphur yellow. Wings with two dirty narrow 

 brownish white bands slightly tinged with olive ; the secondaries and tertials narrowly and inconspicuously margined with 

 the same. First primary faintly edged with whitish ; the outer web of first tail feather paler than the inner, but not white. 

 Under wing coverts reddish ochraceous yellow. A whitish ring round the eye. Length, 5.50 inches; extent, 8.50; wing, 

 2 80; tail, 2.75. Iris, brown; bill and feet, black; lower mandible, pale flesh color. 



Hab. — High central plains to the Pacific. Fur countries. Southward into Mexico. 



The little pewee of Nuttall is one of the few birds that frequent the dark and gloomy spruce 

 forests, which it seems to prefer to more open places. It is most abundant near the coast, but 

 I have seen a few at Puget Sound, where they arrived about the 25th of April. It is difficult 

 to get a sight of this small musician as it flits through the upper branches of the tall spruces, 

 uttering constantly its monotonous but lively ditty. Its colors make it almost invisible in the 

 shade. 



It is also a common species about Puget Sound in summer. I could not discover its nest. 

 I observed that one of them kept constantly on the border of a small pond, and drove the 

 kingbird away from the place. It has a peculiar short and lisping song of three notes in 

 summer, very difi'erent from other species. In fall the young birds make a very different loud 

 call as they wander about the woods. 



I did not find the nest of this bird. By the first of September they have all retired southward. 



Note. — The difference in color of lower mandible observed in this and some other western 

 birds may be of value as a specific distinction in connexion with other points stated by Prof. 

 Baird.— C. 



Quite abundant in the vicinity of Fort Steilacoom, where it arrives early in May. It seems 

 to prefer the vicinity of bushes and low trees at the edges of dense forests. In 1856 I obtained 

 at Fort Steilacoom the following: No. 396. May 19. 6J, 9.— No. 421. June 3. 6, 8|.— 

 No. 443. June 18. 6^ 8|. 



I found this bird rather less pugnacious than others of the group, and in habits generally 

 more resembling the Vireo family. Its notes are short but sweet, and just after sundown on 

 warm summer evenings particularly low, plaintive, and soothing. — S. 



