BMPIDONAX ,HAMMONDII, HAMMOND's FLYCATCHER. 257 



Var. difficilis is generally dispersed in the West in all suitable wooded 

 places. It reaches the mountainous parts of Arizona by the middle of 

 April, and remains through most of September, inhabiting the more 

 open j)ine woods, the brush of ravines, and the mixed timber along 

 streams.. Dr. Cooper observed its arrival at San Diego, April 15th. 

 Mr. Allen took it at Ogden, Utah, along with obscunis and hammondii. 

 Dr. Hayden did not observe it in the Missouri region, where, however, 

 it unquestionably occurs and doubtless breeds. 



The egg of flaviventris is pure white, unmarked, and not distinguish- 

 able from that of -B. minimus. 



EMPIDONAX HAMMONDII, (Xantus) Bd. 

 Hnmmond's Flycatcher. 



Tjjrannula TiammoncUi, Xantus, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1858, 117. 



Empidonax hammondii, Bd., B. N. A. lf?38, 199, pi. 76, f. 1.— SCL.. Cat. 1863, 230.— COUES, 

 Pr. Phila. Acad. 1866, 62 (Arizona).— Sumich., Mem. Bost. Soo. i, 1869, 557 (Vera 

 Cruz).— Coop., R. Cal. i, 1870, 330.— Allen, Ball. M. C. Z. 1872, 179 (Utah 

 and Wyoming).— CouES, Key, 1872, 176.— B. B. & E., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 383, 

 pi. 44, f. 7. 



Sah, — Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, United States, from British to Central America. 

 Later Expeditions. — 60707, Pacific Springs, Wyoming. 



This appears to be, in effect, the western representative of minimus ; 

 and in spite of the tolerably well-marked characters, my present im- 

 pression is, that it will prove to be a geographical race of the species 

 just mentioned. Originally described from Southern California, its 

 range has latterly been extended, as above. Specimens were taken by 

 the late regretted Kennerly, upon the northwest boundary of the United 

 States and British America. 



My personal acquaintance with its life-history is limited to finding it 

 a rather rare summer visitant in Northern Arizona, where it arrives 

 late in April, arid remains until the third week in October. Dr. Cooper 

 noted its arrival at Santa Cruz, March 13, 1866, and found it numerous 

 during the summer. " April 27th," he writes, " I found the first nest, 

 built on a horizontal branch of box-elder {Jfegundo), about eighteen feet 

 from the ground ; but in pulling down the branch the eggs were broken. 

 I found four others afterward, from four to ten feet high, either on hori- 

 zontal branches or in forks of small trees, and containing three or four 

 eggs or young. The last found with eggs was as late as June 29th — 

 probably a second attempt of a pair before robbed. All were thick 

 walled, composed externally of dry moss and downy buds, with a few 

 leaves and strips of bark, then slender fibres of bark, a few hairs and 

 feathers often lining the inside. The size outside was about four inches 

 wide, two and a half high; the cavity two iuches wide, one and a half 

 deep ; the walls nearly one and a half thick. The eggs were white, with 

 brown blotches and specks near the large end, mostly in a circle. They 

 measured 0.68 by 0.52 inch." Dr. Cooper's next paragraph, however, 

 should be reproduced with the above : " These birds frequented only 

 the darkest groves along the river, had very few simple calls of two or 

 three monotonous notes, and were so shy that I did not get near enough 

 to determine the species positively." Under these circumstances, it is 

 almost unnecessary to add, the above description of the nest and eggs 

 must be taken subject to confirmation. As the eggs of hammondii are 

 pure white, unmarked, like those of minimus, the whole account prob- 

 ably refers to var. p-usillus of trailli. 

 17 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



