NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 313 



The Western representative of the Least Flycatcher from the Plains to the 

 Pacific. The nesting and eggs are said to be substantially like those of E. minimus. 

 On account of its general plain, soiled color it is called Dirty Little Flycatcher. A 

 -uet of four eggs was collected by Edmund Heller in San Bernardino county, Cali- 

 fornia, June 16, 1897. The female was shot and identification made certain. The 

 nest was placed on the horizontal branch of a fir tree, fifteen feet from the ground 

 and three feet from the trunk. It was composed of strips of bark and lined with 

 feathers; the outside diameter is 2.68 by 2.48 inches external depth. The eggs 

 measure .70x.53, .70x.53, .70x.52, .73x.54 inches; color creamy white, unmarked. This 

 nest and eggs are in Mr. Crandall's extensive collection. 



469. WBIGHT'S PLYCATCHEB,. Empidonax wrightii Baird. Geog. Dist. — 

 Western "United States, south to Southern Mexico, east to Rocky Mountains. 



The Gray Flycatcher is common to the woodland, groves and thickets of the 

 Western States and Territories. During the breeding season, in the region about 

 Fort Klamath, Oregon, Dr. Merrill usually found it in groves of aspens in company 

 w'th the Warbling Vireo; also among the pines with Cassin's Vireo and the West- 

 ern Wood Pewee. The nests were mgst frequently built in young aspens, at an: 

 average height of about six feet. They resemble nests of the Yellow Warbler, which 

 are found in the same localities; but all the nests of the Flycatcher were built against 

 the main trunk, while all of the Warbler were on branches and generally higher 

 from the ground. The nests are composed externally of strips of light gray bark of 

 about the same colors as the bark of the aspens, and partly on this account and 

 because of their location the nests are liable to escape notice if careful search is 

 not made. The lining is sometimes a smooth, felted mass of fur and horse-hairs, in 

 others feathers are used, and the nests 'are generally more deeply cupped than is 

 usual with this group. Pairs that are found among the pines usually place their 

 nests in an upright form of a manzanita or buck-brush that grow abundantly In such 

 localities. The eggs are dull, bufty-white; seven sets of twenty-seven specimens 

 average .68x.53, the extremes of the sets being .65x.50 and .72x.57.* 



469. 1. GRAY FLYCATCHEB. Empidonax griseus Brewst. Geog. Dist. — 

 Lower California and portions of Sonora (Arizona ?). 



In The Auk (Vol. VI, p. 87) Mr. William Brewster describes this new species 

 from specimens taken by Mr. M. Abbott Frazar near La Paz, Lower California, it 

 is a slightly larger and grayer bird than Wright's Flycatcher. Nothing has been 

 published concerning its nidiflcation. 



[470.] PULVOUS ELYCATCHER. Empidonax fulvifrons (Giraud.) Geog^ 

 Dist. — "Texas" (Giraud) and Eastern Mexico. 



Giraud in his monograph, published in 1841, "Sixteen Texas Birds," first describes; 

 thisspecles. It appears that noother specimens since that time have been taken along 

 our southern border along the lower Rio Grande in Texas nor in Eastern Mexico,, 

 and there is nothing known concerning its nests and eggs. 



470a. BTJEE-BBEASTED FLYCATCHER. Empidonax fulvifrons pygmwvs 

 Coues. Geog. Dist.— Western New Mexico and Southern Arizona, south. tatQ Western 

 Mexico. 



• .Auk. III. 2^8. 



