800 LIFE HISTOEIES OP NOETH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Colorado. A nest and four fresh eggs, kindly presented by him to the United 

 States, National Museum collection, were found at an altitude of 9,500 feet, 

 on June 27, 1889. It was placed in dense woods, 30 inches from the ground. 

 Mr. A. M. IngersoU reports finding a nest of this species at the bottom of a hole 

 5 inches deep, made by a Red-shafted Flicker in a live oak; nests have also been 

 taken in piles of driftwood, on beams under bridges, etc. Dr. C. T. Cooke also 

 found several of their nests and eggs near Salem, Oregon, in willow and cotton- 

 wood thickets. 



The Western Flycatcher usually arrives in the more southern parts of its 

 breeding range about April 1 , and correspondingly later farther north. In the 

 southern half of California it nests sometimes as early as the last ten days in 

 April, but more frequently during the first week in May, while in the mountains 

 of Colorado and Montana it delays nidification until the last half of June, and 

 occasionally even later. I believe that in California two broods are sometimes 

 raised in a season, and this Flycatcher will lay as many as four sets of eggs in 

 a year, if those previously laid are taken. 



A correspondent of the Nidiologist, writing from Alameda, California, and 

 signing himself D. A. C[ohen], makes the following interesting statement in the 

 December number, 1893, p. 51: 



"In May of 1886 I found a nest of the Western Flycatcher, Empidonax 

 difficilis, situated on a rafter in a cow barn and only 4 feet from the ground. As 

 I approached closely to the nest four young birds of this species fluttered down 

 to the ground and shuffled along and out of sight. In the bottom of the nest 

 was a set of four eggs, which, upon being blown, showed that incubation had 

 begun at different periods for each egg, but the embryos had not formed yet 

 in any of them. Had the young birds not been disturbed they would have 

 remained in the nest two or three days longer. The mother had deposited the 

 eggs so the heat from the nestlings would save her about a week's time sitting 

 on the eggs." 



In the southern portions of their breeding range they rarely leave for their 

 winter homes before the latter part of October. Mr. L. Belding states that he 

 saw a specimen in San Diego County, California, in December, and thinks a few 

 remain there during ordinary winters. 



From what has already been stated it will be seen that the Western Fly- 

 catcher is not at all particular in the selection of a nesting site; it may be on the 

 ground, well hidden from view, or in a tree, in a more or less exposed situation 

 from 5 to 20 feet up. 



The nest is composed of weed stems, dry grasses, plant fibers and down, 

 strips of the inner bai-k of the redwood, fine rootlets, dead leaves, and bits of moss. 

 It is usually lined with finer materials of the same kind, and occasionally with 

 horse and cattle hair or a few feathers. The outside of the nest is usually coated 

 with green moss when obtainable, but some nests before me show no trace of 

 this in their composition. They are generally placed not far from water, but 

 there are exceptions to this. A well-preserved nest now before me, taken by 



