THE OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER, 283 



Washington, writes me: "This Flycatcher may be called common around 

 Seattle as a summer resident, arriving about May 1 and remaining into Septem- 

 ber. It is very evenly distributed, not indiscriminately scattered, as are some 

 species, but along the shores of Lake Washington about every one-half to 

 three-fourths of a mile you can hear these birds and find a pair. They evince 

 a fondness for the watered regions in preference to the high lands, not necessarily 

 along the water's edge, but only a short way back in the woods, and prefer 

 the rather open timber where most of the original forest has been cut away." 



In northern and central California it appears to be moderately common 

 throughout the mountainous portions, judging from the numerous records. Mr. 

 L. Belding found it breeding in Calaveras County, and took a nest and three 

 eggs on June 17, 1883, these being now in the United States National Museum 

 collection; while from Bouthern California Mr. F. Stephens writes me: "It is a 

 somcAvhat rare summer resident in coniferous forests, seeming to prefer the firs. I 

 found a nest on June 5, 1889, in a large fir, at about 7,500 feet altitude in the 

 Cuyamaca Mountains; it was placed about 40 feet from the ground and 8 feet 

 from the trunk, near the extremity of a limb. It consisted of little more than a 

 lining of stiff moss, laid in a thick bunch of living leaves, and contained three 

 eggs. While taking these the parent came repeatedly, almost within reach of 

 my hand, snapping her bill and scolding me. Lower down in the same tree 

 was a nest of the Louisiana Tanager containing young." 



There are also records from Arizona and New Mexico showing that the 

 Olive-sided Flycatcher breeds, to some c-xtent at least, in the higher mountain 

 I'egions there, and in Colorado it may be called fairly common. Mr. Denis 

 Grale writes me from Gold Hill, Colorado, in 1889: "I have found a nest or 

 two of Contopiis borealis almost every season, but always with young, until this 

 year. Their nests are very small and fragile in appearance for so large a bird, 

 but the wiry character of the material used in their composition is so deftly 

 fitted and fastened to and about the rasping sprays of our spruce trees that you 

 could scarcely displace the nest if you should thrash the ground with the bough 

 upon which it is placed." A nest with three eggs, taken on July 3, 1889, was 

 kindly presented to the United States National Museum collection by Mr. Gale, 

 and this is the frailest-built structure I have yet seen of these birds. In 

 Colorado the Olive-sided Flycatcher reaches an altitude of 9,000 or 10,000 feet 

 in summer. In the San Pedro Martir Mountains, in Lower California, Mr. A. 

 W. Anthony informs me that this Flycatcher was occasionally observed by him 

 up to 11,000 feet, and evidently nesting. 



I have met with this species in the pine forests of the Bitter Root Mountains 

 in Montana and Idaho, in the numerous parks in the Blue Mountains, and at Fort 

 Klamath, Oregon, where several pairs nested within a couple of miles from the 

 Post, in large spruce and pine trees which were practically inaccessible. In 

 suitable localities in the southwestern parts of the Adirondacks, in Herkimer 

 County, New York, they are not uncommon, and I observed several pairs in 

 this vicinity. Their habits seem everywhere to be alike. 



