THE WESTERN WOOD PEWEE. 293 



known, differs very remarkably from that of Contopus virens, being almost inva- 

 riably placed in the crotch between nearly upright forks, like that of certain 

 Empidonaces, as Empidonax minimus and Empidonax dbscurus, instead of being 

 saddled upon a horizontal branch, etc." 1 



My observations regarding the position of the nest of the Western Wood 

 Pewee are radically different from the above, and all that I have seen, some 

 twenty in number, were saddled directly on limbs, or at points where branches 

 forked, and never in crotches; and the seventeen specimens now before me 

 were all similarly placed. Among these is one collected by Mr. Ridgvvay 

 himself, No. 15200, United States National Museum collection, collector's No. 

 1282, from Parley's Park, June 25, 1869, which is catalogued in the above- 

 mentioned report as "Nest in crotch of a dead aspen along stream," but which 

 shows distinctly that it was saddled on a horizontal fork and not in an upright 

 crotch. If the Western Wood Pewee places its nest occasional^ in a crotch, 

 which I do not deny, it is exceptional and not the rule, and the many records 

 I have of its nesting from Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, California, 

 and Oregon confirm my assertions fully, and show conclusively that this species 

 does not differ in this respect from the Wood Pewee. The nests, however, do not 

 resemble those of the former; they are better and more solidly constructed, and 

 are usually deeper. The outer protective coating consisting of bits of lichens 

 is dispensed with; decayed grass, wood, plant fibers, down, fine strips of the inner 

 bark of juniper and sage, as well as the tops of wiry grasses, enter largely into 

 their composition. These materials are compactly interwoven, and the outside 

 of the nest is occasionally well covered with spider webs. They are usually 

 lined with fine grass, down, and plant fibers, and rarely with a few feathers. 

 A handsome nest, No. 24285, United States National Museum collection, taken 

 May 31, 1891, by Capt. W. L. Carpenter, United States Army, near Prescott, 

 Arizona, containing two eggs of this species and one of the Dwarf Cowbird, 

 measures 2 J inches in outer diameter by If inches in depth; the inner cup is 2 

 inches wide by 1J inches deep. Although the walls of this nest are very thin, 

 it is a well-built structure, and apparently stronger than many bulkier nests. 

 It was placed on a limb of a cottonwood tree, about 10 feet from the ground. 



Nests of this species may be looked for in pine, cottonwood, tamarack, 

 aspen, alder, maple, oak, hackberry, ash, and orchard trees, from G to 40 feet 

 from the ground. In the vicinity of Fort Klamath, Oregon, where it is a 

 common summer resident, the nests were usually placed on horizontal limbs of 

 black pine trees, both on live and dead ones, and in a single instance I found 

 one in a small aspen. Among curious nesting - sites the following are worth 

 mentioning : 



Mr. W. E. D. Scott found a nest and three eggs near Twin Lakes, Colorado, 

 on July 11, 1878. The nest was built where three branches crossed, in a brush 

 heap, 2 feet from the ground. 2 



7 



1 Explorations of the 40th Parallel, Vol. IV, 1877, p. 537. 

 2 Bulletin Nuttall Ornithological Club, A r ol. IV, 1879, p. 94. 



