THE ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER. 267 



The Ash-throated Flycatcher is quite expert on the wing, but never indulges 

 in protracted flights if it can help it. It seems to be rather quarrelsome and 

 intolerant in its disposition toward other birds, and will not allow any to nest in 

 close proximity; in fact, I am inclined to believe that it not infrequently dispos- 

 sesses some of the smaller Woodpeckers, like Dryobates scalaris bairdi, of its 

 nesting sites, as I have found its nests on two occasions in newly excavated 

 holes, the fresh chips lying at the base of the tree, showing plainly that they 

 had only recently been removed. 



Its food consists mainly of beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers, flies, moths, 

 and occasionally of berries, especially those of a species of mistletoe (a parasitic 

 plant) growing abundantly on many of the trees found in southern Arizona. 



By the beginning of May most of the birds are mated, and nidification 

 begins shortly afterwards. The nests are usually placed in knot holes of mes- 

 quite, ash, oak, sycamore, juniper, and cotton wood trees, as well as in cavities of 

 old stumps, in Woodpeckers' holes, and occasionally behind loose pieces of bark, 

 in tlie manner of the Creepers. On two occasions, near Tucson, I found the 

 Ash-throated Flycatcher using abandoned nests of the Cactus Wren, and Mr. A. 

 W. Anthony found them nesting in the dry blossom stalks of the yucca and Agave 

 americana in southwestern New Mexico. They also nested in similar localities in 

 Lower California, in the San Pedro Martir Mountains, where he observed them 

 at altitudes of 9,000 feet. In a letter dated July 8, 1894, he informs me that this 

 Flycatcher was the most common species about his camp south of San Quentin, 

 Lower California, and that many nested there, as well as about the Mission of San 

 Fernando, in holes made by Woodpeckers in the giant cactus. Mr. H. P. Attwater 

 reports this bird as common about San Antonio, Texas, and in this locality it 

 reaches about the eastern limit of its range in the United States. Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway met with it in various places in Nevada, and as far east as the Wasatch 

 Mountains in Utah. 



The Ash-throated Flycatcher nests at various heights from the ground, 

 rarely, however, at greater distances than 20 feet. The nest varies consider- 

 ably in bulk according to. the size of the cavity used. Where this is large, 

 the bottom is filled up with small weed stems, rootlets, grass, and bits of dry 

 cow or horse manure, and on this foundation the nest proper is built. This 

 consists principally of a felted mass of hair and fur from different animals, and 

 occasionally of exuviae of snakes and small lizards; but these materials are not 

 nearly as generally used as in the nests of our eastern Crested Flycatcher — in 

 fact, it is the exception and not the rule to find such remains in their nests. 

 Among about fifteen nests of this species examined by myself I only found it in 

 three cases. As nearly as I have been able to observe, I think the female does 

 most of the work on the nest, but the male follows her around while in search of 

 material, and apparently guards and sings to her. I have known a pair of these 

 birds to finish a nest in one day. This was placed in a knot hole in a mesquite 

 stump, about 8 feet from the ground, and composed entirely of deer hair. Some of 

 my Indian guides had dressed a couple of skins near by, and this furnished the 



