252 LIFE HISTORIES OP ISTORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Mr. Gr. B. Sennett, to wliom we are indebted for a great deal of valuable 

 inforraation about the birds of the lower Rio Grande Valley, added tliis large 

 and conspicuous Flycatcher to our fauna, and says: "On April 23, 1878, a male 

 and female of this species* were shot at Lake San Jose, a few miles from Lomita. 

 Both were shot about 4 feet up on the trunks of small retama trees standing in 

 the water, and were clinging to them and working their way down to the water, 

 2)ossibly to di-ink. They were not particularly shy. On May 3 another female 

 was shot in a tree bordering the lake, yet not over the water. One or two more 

 were observed in timber about water holes. In flight this Flycatcher resembles 

 the Kingfishers. Dissection indicated the approach of the breeding season, and 

 it undoubtedly nests in the large trees of the locality."^ 



Mr. E. W. Nelson writes me that he found the Derby Flycatcher rather 

 common about reed patches bordering the salt lagoons, near Manzanillo, in 

 Colima, Mexico. They usually perched on the tops of dead bushes or stout 

 reeds, from which vantage points they made exciu'sions in various directions 

 after passing insects. He also met with them near Jalapa, Vera Cruz, where 

 they frequented the scattered bushes on the borders of fields and along streams 

 flowing' through cultivated or inclosed lands. 



Mr. Charles W. Richmond has kindly furnished the following notes on this 

 large Flycatcher, as observed by him in Nicaragua: 



"The name given this bird in Nicaragua refers to its note, which sounds 

 like 'kiskadee,' several times repeated. They have another note, Avhich they 

 utter on some occasions, and also a note of distress, very different from either 

 of the others. Although the food consists of insects, I have seen one specimen 

 that had its mouth and throat full of ripe banana. The Derby Flycatcher is 

 common along the streams, and almost invariably travels in pau's. The bird 

 appears to be evenly distributed along the water courses, and two or three pairs 

 mayocciipy pei'haps a mile along the river front, which territory they go over 

 every day. At the International Planting Company's Headquarters, where I 

 collected for over eight months, there were two pairs on the rivei', one on each 

 side, and another pair located on a creek close by. After shooting the two pairs 

 on our side of the river, no others came about for a long time, although the pair 

 on the opposite side of the river (about 300 yards wide at this point) passed up 

 and down each day on their roimds. Their flight ordinarily is short, the birds 

 stopping a short time in each place, picking up food as they move along." 



The most complete and interesting account of the general habits of the 

 Derby Flycatcher is that published by the late George N. Lawrence, based upon 

 collections and notes on the "Birds of Western and Northwestern Mexico," 

 made by the late Col. A. J. Grayson, and published in the "Memoirs of the 

 Boston Society of Natural History" (Vol. II, p. 286). These are as folio avs: 



"This is a common and abundant species, inhabiting the western and north- 

 western parts of Mexico ; I found it equally as common in Tehuantepec as in 

 the region of Mazatlan, where its loud, shrill notes of 'hip-se-dee, hip-se-dee' 



' BuUetiu of the U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey, Vol. V, No. 3, 1879, pp. 407, 408. 



