14 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 2 



admirable bravery, it snaps its little bill at 

 him. Even the swift Mocker never dares 

 to touch it. 



Still another jjeculiarity is the childish 

 persistence with which it insists on going 

 to rest at night always on the same perch. 

 Having free range of the room, it chose 

 the leather side of a common wall-pocket 

 as its perch, and now it will not be content 

 anywhere else, but flies about and cries 

 till allowed to go to its chosen place, when 

 it settles down with contented whisper- 

 ings. After dark it is taken on a finger 

 and put in its cage in satisfied peace. 



Though professedly a warbler, it sings 

 but very little. In the morning when 

 coffee is being ground for breakfast, the 

 music of the coffee-mill always charms it 

 into song, and at other times it occasion- 

 ally warbles a little, the notes being always 

 low and sweet, and sung in a quiet, happy 

 way, yet as a singer it is not conspicuous. 

 But as a loving little pet, whose perfect 

 love for its master and mistress has cast 

 out all fear, and yet whose brave heart 

 fears no other bird, it is a pronounced suc- 

 cess. — W. Gf. Wright, San JBernardino, 

 Cal. _ 



Traill's Flycatcher. 



(Empidonax pusillus Trailli.) 



Previous to 1878, when I found its nest, 

 this bird was unknown to me. I continued 

 to find one or two nests yearly up to 1882, 

 when I found eleven, and in 1883, three, 

 in all twenty nests. Three was the pre- 

 vailing number of eggs, but one nest con- 

 tained four. Several of the nests when 

 found contained but one or two eggs, so 

 they were left that the sets might be com- 

 plete ; but it often happened upon a second 

 visit that one or two, and sometimes all 

 the eggs would be broken. I am satisfied 

 that they were broken by the birds them- 

 selves, as the Flycatcher disposition is well 

 developed in this species. The ground 

 color of the eggs is creamy white. The 



markings vary much in different sets • 

 some have large blotches, spots and mi- 

 nute dots, others have small spots and mi- 

 nute dots. The markings are sparingly 

 scattered, principally at the larger end, 

 and present many shades of red — brick- 

 red, reddish-brown, and sometimes a faint 

 lavender tint. 



Three sets measure as follows: .77 X 

 .56, .77X-55 ; .70X.56, .75X.54, .77X.55; 

 .77X.55, .72X.56, .70X-52. June 13, 

 1879, is the earliest date I have found a 

 nest containing eggs, and July 30, 1883, 

 the latest. The eleven sets obtained in 

 1882 were taken between June 20th and 

 July 8th ; the three sets obtained in 1883 

 were taken between July 14th and 30th. 



The nests, although lacking the solidity 

 and durability of those of Empidonax 

 minimus, are very pretty and interesting ; 

 outwardly composed of dried grasses — 

 slightly agglutinated to the forked twigs 

 which support them, bits of cobweb, and 

 rarely a dried leaf or bit of lint. The 

 lining of fine dried grass, and rarely a 

 horse-hair, is very neatly arranged. From 

 most of the nests there was hanging from 

 five to twenty spears of dried grass, vary- 

 ing in length from three to ten inches, 

 which evidently were left hanging at the 

 commencement of building. An average 

 nest measures as follows : Diameter, three 

 and one-half inches ; height, two and one- 

 half inches ; depth of cavity, one and one- 

 half inches ; diameter, two inches. The 

 site of the nest was invariably the upright 

 fork of a small bush, varying from eighteen 

 inches to three feet from the ground. 

 Their favorite nesting localities are low 

 grounds, usually near a stream. A notable 

 exception was a nest found on the top of 

 a high hill, one and one-half miles from 

 a stream. It was in the centre of a large 

 tract, covered with a growth of briers, 

 bushes, and scattering trees. The nests 

 found one-half mile from a stream in a 

 hill sheep pasture, differed from the others 

 in having an abundant supply of wool 



