316 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Mr. H. W. Henshaw says: "Hammond's Flycatcher, in the west, is one of 

 the most silent and retiring of birds, leaving the low country entirely in summer, 

 and finding in the glens and recesses of the pine woods of the mountains or the 

 alpine streams, with their fringes of alders, its chosen retreats. As I have noticed 

 them, nearly all of the dash and spirit characterizing this group is wanting, 

 though, of course, the difference is merely one of degree. After snapping up a 

 passing insect it resumes its perch upon some low limb and remains nearly 

 motionless for a time, giving an occasional listless jerk of the tail. The notes 

 are very feeble, the most so of any Flycatcher I am acquainted with, and 

 consist of a soft 'pit,' varied Avith a low, lisping whistle." 1 



Mr. Denis Gale, of Gold Hill, Colorado, kindly sent to the United States 

 National Museum a handsome nest and four eggs (No. 24112) of this species, 

 taken near the above locality, at an altitude of 10,000 feet, on June 27, 1890. 

 These eggs were slightly incubated; the female was also secured, and is now 

 in the same collection. The nest was saddled on a horizontal limb of a spruce 

 tree, 3 feet from the trunk and 14 feet from the ground. It is outwardly com- 

 posed of old weed stems, decayed plant fibers, shreds of bark, and a little plant 

 down, and is lined with fine grass tops, shreds of bark, plant down, hair, and a 

 few feathers. The outer diameter is 4^ inches by 1| inches deep; the inner 

 cup measures 2 \ inches in width by 1\ inches in depth. It is a compact and 

 well-built structure, and does not resemble any of the nests of the other mem- 

 bers of this genus. It was placed among a lot of smaller twigs growing out of 

 a limb, among which it is well secured. From its position and general make-up 

 it resembles a nest of the genus Contopus much more than one of Empidonax. 

 Another nest, also from Mr. Gale (No. 23695), containing young when found 

 on July 24, 1888, and taken in the same locality, was placed near the top of a 

 tall spruce, about 30 feet from the ground, and was not concealed. The nest is 

 a compact one and saddled on a fork; it is composed externally of decayed 

 vegetable fiber, and lined with finer materials of the same description, plant 

 down, and fur. It is shallow, being about If inches deep by 2£ inches wide; 

 the inner cavity is very large, while the sides of the nest are exceedingly thin; 

 it is fully 2 inches wide inside by 1 inch deep. 



Mr. L. Belding, writing of this species, says: "By no means rare during the 

 migrations. Instead of being a common summer resident of the pine forests of 

 the Sierra, as I stated in the ' Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 

 1879,' I now think it a rare summer resident. The only nest I found was on 

 June 6, 1880, at Big Trees, Calaveras County, California. This was on a hori- 

 zontal limb of a living pine, 40 or 50 feet from the ground and partly hidden 

 by foliage. It was very wide in proportion to its depth. By shooting it down 

 the eggs were destroy ed. The female was shot as she flew from the nest, and 

 was sent to the Smithsonian Institution. A few remain in this latitude as late 

 as September 15, arriving from the South about May l." 2 



'Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, Vol. V, 1875, p. 302. 

 -Land Birds of the Pacific District, 1890, p. 103. 



