THE WESTERN FLYCATCHER. 301 



Mr. R. S. Williams ou July 6, 1891, in Belt River Canyon, Montana, measures 

 4 inches in outer diameter by 2 inches in height. The inner cup measures 2\ 

 inches by 1% inches deep. It is a rather loosely built structure, and a good deal 

 of moss enters into its construction. Three or four eggs are laid to a set, usually 

 four; I know of a single instance only of five having been taken. 1 



The eggs vary in shape from ovate to short and rounded ovate; the shell is 

 smooth, close grained, and without luster. The ground color is usually dull 

 white or pale creamy white, and the eggs are blotched and spotted with cinna- 

 mon rufous and lighter shades of buff pink. In the majority of specimens these 

 markings are heaviest about the larger end, but in a few they are more evenly 

 distributed over the entire egg. While they resemble the eggs of the Yellow- 

 bellied Flycatcher considerably, and are of nearly the same size, the spots are, 

 as a rule, coarser and heavier. 



The average measurement of fifty-eight eggs in the United States National 

 Museum collection is 16.86 by 13.12 millimetres, or about 0.66 by 0.52 inch. 

 The largest egg of the series measures 18.80 by 13.72 millimetres, or 0.74 by 

 0.54 inch; the smallest, 15.24 by 12.45 millimetres, or 0.60 by 0.49 inch. 



The type specimen, No. 24960 (PI. 2, Fig. 24), from a set of four eggs, Ralph 

 collection, taken near Hay wards, California, June 4, 1882, represents one of the 

 smaller and lightly marked eggs, while No. 25072 (PL 2, Fig. 25), from a set of 

 three, taken by Mr. William G. Smith, near Pinewood, Colorado, June 12, 1890, 

 shows a larger-sized and heavier-marked specimen. 



in. Empidonax cineritius Bkewstek. 



ST. LUCAS FLYCATCHER. 



Empidonax cineritius Brewster, Auk, V, Jan., 1888, 90. 



(B — , C — , R — , C — , U 404, 1.) 



Geographical range: Lower California. 



Very little is yet known about this recently described species. It appears 

 to occur only in the Peninsula of Lower California. The type was obtained at 

 La Laguna, and since then specimens have also been taken on Santa Margarita 

 Island, Comondu, and San Benito. Mr. W. A. Anthony writes me that he found 

 the St. Lucas Flycatcher abundant along the willow-lined streams of the San 

 Pedro Martir Mountains in the spring of 1893, and quite rare in the mesquite 

 thickets in an arroya near the old mission of San Fernando, not far from San 

 Qnentin, Lower California, evidently nesting, but as no nests and eggs could 

 be found, they still remain unknown, and nothing farther has yet been recorded 

 about its habits, etc. 



'See Bulletin Nuttall Ornithological Club, Vol. VI, 1881, p. 119. 



