THE CRESTED FLYCATCHER. 263 



The type specimen, No. 20436 (PL 2, Fig. 8), from a set of four eggs, Ben- 

 dire collection, was taken in Black Hawk County, Iowa, June 19, 1876; and 

 No. 26262 (PI. 2, Fig. 9), also from a set of four, near Richmond, Virginia, June 

 7, 1879, by First Lieut. Wirt Robinson, United States Army. The first represents 

 one of the heavier, the latter one of the least marked types. 



96. Myiarchus mexicanus (Kaup). 



MEXICAN CRESTED FLYCATCHER. 



Tyr[annula] mexicana Kaxjp, Proceedings Zoological Society, 1851, 51. 

 Myiarchus mexicanus Lawrence, Annals Lyceum, New York, IX, May, 1869, 202. 

 (B 132, C — , R 311, C 374, U 453.) 



Geographical rang-e: Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas; south through eastern 

 and soiithern Mexico, and in -winter to Guatemala and Salvador, Central America. 



The Mexican Crested Flycatcher is a common summer resident of the 

 table-lands of eastern and southern Mexico, and reaches the northern limits of 

 its breeding range in the lower Rio Grande Valley, in Texas, beyond which it 

 apparently does not pass, but here it is not at all rare in suitable localities. 



Dr. James C. Merrill, United States Army, while stationed at Fort Brown, 

 Texas, first discovered this species as a summer resident of our fauna, and 

 described its nest and eggs in the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club 

 (Vol. Ill, 1878, p. 100), from specimens taken on May 10, 1877. The nest was 

 placed in the end of a broken branch of an anacahuite tree, about 10 feet from 

 the ground. It was made of locks of wool and hairs, and contained five eggs, 

 slightly advanced. He informs me that there is but little difference in the gen- 

 eral habits, food, and call notes of this species from those of the better-known 

 Crested Flycatcher of the eastern United States. Like this, it is only a summer 

 resident within our border, arriving in the lower Rio Grande Valley about 

 the beginning of April and returning to its winter home in Central America the 

 latter part of September. It nests mainly in natural cavities in mesquite trees 

 or in old rotten stumps, and occasionally in abandoned holes of some of the 

 larger Woodpeckers, in telegraph poles, and in open woods, from 5 to 20 feet 

 from the ground. The nests, according to Sennett, are composed of a matted 

 felt consisting of soft strips of bark, feathers, hair, and wool, with sometimes 

 bits of snake skins intermingled, but this material is apparently not nearly as 

 generally used by this species as seems to be the case with our eastern bird. 



Nidification commences sometimes before the middle of April and lasts 

 through May. The latest date I have is June 5; the earliest, April 18, when a 

 set of five fresh eggs was taken. Probably but one brood is raised in a season. 

 Mr. G. B. Sennett flushed a male from a nest containing six eggs on May 16, 

 1878, which shows that it assists, occasionally at least, in the duties of incubation. 

 The number of eggs laid to a set varies from four to six, sets of five being most 

 frequently found. They resemble the eggs of the Crested Flycatcher very 



