308 LIFE HISTOEIES OP NOETH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



the 'willow thickets bordering streams and swamps/ but even here in the city, 

 in all large gardens, parks, orchards, pastures, cemeteries, etc. Trailli is not the 

 shy or retiring bird of some Eastern writers; its movements are not 'hidden by 

 the foliage of trees,' as its station is generally on a prominent point, often the 

 very top of a shrub or tree, or a telegraph wire, a fence, or a weed stalk." 



The Little Flycatcher, according to my observations in the West, is not 

 nearly as shy a bird as its eastern representative, and while on the whole it also 

 probably prefers moist situations, like Traill's Flycatcher, it seems to be equally 

 as well satisfied in rather dry country, where the other is apparently never found. 

 One of their common call notes sounds like " queet-queet," and the alarm note 

 uttered when the nest is approached is something like that of Traill's Flycatcher, 

 " whuish-whuish." When pursuing each other during the mating season, they 

 sometimes give vent to a twittering note, not unlike that of. the Arkansas Fly- 

 catcher, aild a sharp "qud^t-qud^t"is often heard while these restless little beings 

 flit about in the low willows, or when perched on some tall weed or coarse marsh- 

 grass stalk. They never remain long in one place, but move from perch to 

 perch, snapping up insects as they fly; they are pugnacious, quarrelsome little 

 creatures, making up in courage and determination what they lack in size. I 

 have seen one drive a Red-shouldered Blackbird away from the vicinity of its 

 nest, pitching down on it angrily and pecking at its head and neck in the man- 

 ner of its larger relatives when chasing Crows or Hawks. They do no harm 

 and deserve the fullest protection. 



Nidification always commences late, even in the more southern portions of 

 their range; in the Adcinity of Tucson, Arizona, for instance, I found two nests 

 with fresh eggs on June 16 and 20, 1872, which is about the time it begins nest- 

 ing at Fort Klamath and in the Willamette Valley, Oregon; and it is not unusual 

 there to find fresh sets of eggs during the first week in July. Lieut. H. C. 

 Benson, United States Army, took a nest of this species containing three fresh 

 eggs at Sequoia National Park, Tulare County, California, on July 13, 1892, in 

 a locality where it was not likely the bird had been robbed before. 



The description of the nest already given by Dr. Cooke applies to a typical 

 one, which is always built in a crotch or among young sprouts growing up from 

 the limb, at a height of 1 to 18 feet from the ground, averaging from 4 to 8 feet. 

 From their position these nests are usually cone shaped. Occasionally one is 

 found which is completely covered on the outside with plant down, probably of 

 one of the cottonwoods or some species of willow, while the inner cup of the 

 nest is lined with fine shreds of bark, plant fibers, and fine grasses. Where this 

 species nests in the vicinity of houses, as it frequently does in the eastern parts 

 of its breeding range, pieces of twine, rags, newspapers, and feathers are fre- 

 quently incorporated into the body and walls of the nest, while the inner cup 

 is generally lined with the tops of fine grasses, shreds of bark, hemp-like fibers, 

 especially those of the milkweed, horsehair, and occasionally feathers. A well- 

 preserved nest of this species, No. 24111, United States National Museum 

 collection, taken by Mr. Denis Gale, near Grold Hill, Colorado, on July 3, 1890, 



