386 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



468. Hammond^s Flycatchee — Empidonax hammondi 



Xantus. 



Erom an article published in Volume II. of the " Pro- 

 ceedings of the United States National Museum, 18Y9," by 

 the late eminent and well-known oologist, Dr. Brewer, of 

 Boston, I find a reference to some eggs of this flycatcher, 

 obtained from " Anderson Eiver," which I conclude were 

 sent to the Smithsonian Institution among a number of 

 unidentified specimens, as I can discover no specific record 

 thereof, nor of an example of Myiodioctes pusillus, entered 

 in the Eeceipt List of Birds under either heading in my 

 field-notes. Major Bendire writes: "Hammond's flycatcher 

 is evidently a very common summer resident in central Brit- 

 ish Columbia, where Mr. E. MacFarlane took a number of 

 its nests in the vicinity of Stuart's Lake, in June, 1889, and 

 the United States National Museum was favoured with 

 several sets of eggs, nests, and the parents belonging to them, 

 all of which proved to belong to this species. Some of these 

 nests were apparently placed in upright crotches of willows, 

 and others on horizontal limbs close to the trunks of small 

 conifers, at no great distance from the ground. The earliest 

 -of six breeding records from this vicinity is June 4th ; the 

 -latest, 22nd June. The nests differ somewhat from those 

 , previously described as far as the inner lining is concerned. 

 In three of these the bottoms are covered with scales of buds 

 of conifers, ' and the sides are lined with fine plant fibres, 

 shreds of bark, plant down and bits of hypnum moss in fruit. 

 In the set of four eggs taken by Mr. Dennis Gale, of Gold 

 Hill, Colorado, every egg is marked, and the same is the 

 case with a set of three eggs taken by Mr. MacFarlane, 

 The number of eggs laid to a set is usually three or four. 

 The shell is strong, close-grained, and without lustre. They 

 vary in shape from short ovate to elongate ovate. The 

 ground colour is pale creamy white, and the majority of the 

 eggs are unspotted. In the small series before me there are, 

 -however, two sets which are spotted. The spots or specks on 



