THE OLIVACEOUS FLYCATOHEE, 271 



I suppose they breed in knot holes, Woodpecker's holes, etc., and I opened 

 many such where they were present, but found no eggs, and but one hole that 

 seemed to be occupied by them; tlais was an old Woodpecker hole well lined 

 with hair." 



Mr. William Brewster, in a paper on Arizona birds, based on material 

 collected by Mr. Stephens, makes the following observations: "This pretty 

 MyiarcMis, scarcely larger than our common Phoebe, was met with only among 

 the Santa Rita Mountains, where it was apparently not uncommon, although its 

 distribution seemed to be very local, most of Stephens's specimens being taken 

 in a single canyon. They haunted the banks of streams, perching on dead 

 limbs, and taking frequent flights after insects. The only note heard was a 

 short, mournful 'peeur.' No nests were found, but a female, shot May 17, was 

 laying." ^ 



Since then the Olivaceous Flycatcher has also been taken in the Huachuca 

 Mountains by Lieut. H. C. Benson, United "States Army, as well as by Dr. A. 

 K. Fisher, who tells me that they frequent the low sci'ub oaks in the canyon 

 bottoms, where they are moderately common in both these and the Chiricahua 

 Moimtains. Mr. W. E. D. Scott likewise obtained specimens in a canyon of 

 the Catalina Mountains, at an altitude of 5,000 feet, on June 13, 1884; and a 

 straggler has also been recorded from Colorado, taken by Capt. P. M. Thorne, 

 Twenty-second Infantry, United States Army, near Fort Lyon, May 11, 1884. 

 Its breeding range evidentlj^ extends through the mountain regions of southern 

 Arizona, where it appears to be confined to the numerous canyons, whose bot- 

 toms and sides are covered with low shrubbery; it seems to avoid the larger 

 river valleys and the open cactus and mesquite covered plains. 



The late Col. A. J. Grayson says : " This little Flycatcher is very abundant 

 in the Marias, where I met with them every day in all parts of the woods. 

 The islands must be their most natural and favorite abode."" 



Nothing positive seems to be known about the eggs of the Olivaceous Fly- 

 catcher. There is a set of four eggs in the United States National Museum 

 collection, No. 13327, taken by Dr. E. Palmer, near Camp Grant, Arizona, in 

 1867, entered as Myiarcliiis mexicanus, which I believe belong to this subspecies. 

 They resemble the eggs of the Ash-throated Flycatcher very closely, but are 

 somewhat smaller than the average egg of this species. 



' Bulletin Nuttall Ornitliological Club, Vol. VII, 1882, pp. 204, 205. 

 =< Proceedings Boston Society of Natural History, 1871, p. 278. 



