CASSIN'S KINGBIRD. 251 



could only be reached by placing a pole against the limb and ch'mbing to it. 

 They are fully as demonstrative as the Arkansas Kingbird when their nests are 

 disturbed, and are equally courageous in the defense of their eggs and young. 

 The nests are large, bulky structures, larger than those of the preceding species, 

 but composed of similar materials. An average nest measures 8 inches in outer 

 diameter by 3 inches in depth. The inner cup is Sy- inches wide by If deep. 

 Sometimes they are pretty well concealed to view from below, but they can 

 usually be readily seen at a distance. 



From two to five eggs are laid to a set. Sets of three or four are most 

 frequently found, while sets of two and five are rare, but I have found both, 

 incubation having already commenced in the smaller set. This lasts from twelve 

 to fourteen days, and is almost always, if not exclusively, performed by the 

 female. I have never noticed the male on the nest. The eggs are similar in 

 color and markings to those of the Kingbird and Arkansas Kingbird, and about 

 the same size as the latter, but on the whole they are not quite as heavily spotted. 



The average measurement of forty-four eggs in the United States National 

 Museum collection is 23.62 by 17.47 millimetres, or about 0.93 by 0.69 inch. 

 The largest egg of the series measures 27.94 by 19.30 millimetres, or 1.10 by 

 0.76 inches; the smallest 22.61 by 16.26 milhmetres, or 0.89 by 0.64 inch. 



The type specimen. No. 20413 (PI. 1, Fig. 18), from the Bendire collection, 

 was taken by the writer on Rillito Creek, Arizona, on July 15, 1872, and is a 

 rather large-sized egg, while No. 26146 (PL 1, Fig. 19) was collected by Dr. 

 Edgar A. Meams, United States Army, on the east side of the San Luis Moun- 

 tains, New Mexico, on June 17, 1892. The two specimens represent about 

 average-marked eggs of this species. 



92. Pitangus derbianus (Kaup). 



DERBY FLYCATCHER. 



Saurophagus derbianus Kaup, Proceedings Zoological Society, 1851, 44, PI. XXXVI. 

 Pitangus derbianus Sclateb, Proceedings Zoological Society, 1856, 297. 



(B _, C — , E 308, C 364, U 449.) 



GeoGtEAphical RANGE: North to the lower Eio Grande Valley in Texas; south 

 through Mexico and Central America to Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad, South 

 America. 



The Derby Flycatcher, also locally known as the "Bull-headed Flycatcher," 

 "Mexican Pitangus," and "Rio Grande Flycatcher," can only be considered as 

 a rather uncommon, summer visitor in the lower Rio Grande Valley, in southern 

 Texas, where it breeds in very limited numbers, though in the adjoining States 

 of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, in eastern Mexico, it appears to- be fairly 

 common, and it is equally so throughout the greater portion of the Mexican 

 Republic, both in hot and tesaperate zones, where it sometimes reaches an 

 altitude of 6,000 feet. It also breeds throughout Central America in suitable 

 localities. 



