Say's Phoebe, Sayornis saya Baird. This is a bird of the western part of the 

 country, from the Great Plains to the Pacific, and from the Saskatchewan south into 

 Mexico. Being the exact counterpart of the eastern Phoebe, I shall only say a few words 

 about it. It was met with by Mr. Robert Ridgway in the arid portions of the Great 

 Basin. In its natural state it prefers rocky shores of lakes and rivers, or similar places 

 in the canons of the mountains, where it attaches its bulky, down-lined nests to the inside 

 of small caves or recesses in the rocks, usually building them upon a small projecting shelf 

 Wherever man has erected a building in those desert wastes, — as on the stage-stations 

 along the road, or in the mining towns, — it immediately assumes the familiarity of our 

 eastern Phcebe, at once taking possession of any out-building or any abandoned dwell- 

 ing. Its .notes are said to differ widely from those of the eastern species, the common 

 one consisting of a wailing peer, varied by a tremulous twitter, and more resembling 

 certain tones of the Wood Pewee. — Dr. Elhott Coues found this Flycatcher common 

 throughout Arizona, and Dr. Heermann mentions it as abundant in southern California. 

 Dr. P. R. Hoy detected a specimen near Racine, Wis. 



DESCRIPTION : The color of the belly of this species is light cinnamon ; above, brownish-gray ; tail, black. 

 Length, about 8.00 inches. 



Black Phcebe, Sayornis nigricans Bonap. This is an inhabitant of Mexico, 

 northward along Pacific coast to Oregon. 

 DESCRIPTION: Color above, slate-black; belly and lower tail-coverts, white. 



Olive-sided Flycatcher, Contopus borealis Baird. This rather rare species 

 inhabits the higher mountain regions of our country, and coniferous forests of the low- 

 lands from the northern border of the United States northward, and south through 

 higher mountains to Colombia, South America. Nests have been found repeatedly in 

 Massachusetts, and it is said to breed in northern Wisconsin. Mr. Brewster found five 

 or six nests in the neighborhood of Cambridge, Mass., all of which were placed in the 

 extremity of some long horizontal branch, usually that of a pitch pine, but on one 

 occasion in that of an apple tree. 

 DESCRIPTION: The bird resembles the Wood Pewee, but on each side of the rump, generally concealed by 



the wings, is an elongated bunch of white, silky feathers. 



CouEs' Flycatcher, Contopus pertinax Cab., inhabits the highlands of Guatemala 

 and Mexico, north to southern Arizona. 



WOOD PEWEE, 



Contopus virens Cabanis. 



Plate XXXIII. Fig. 5. 



kPPOSITE my house in this city the grounds of the Milwaukee Hospital extend to 

 ' the westward. The building stands on a slightly sloping hill, and the ground 

 in front of my house had to be excavated in order to make a level street. Tht latter 

 lies about eight feet lower than my house, and the hospital grounds on the other side 



