The Wright Flycatcher 
State, save in the more humid coastal sections, and from the upper limits of Tran¬ 
sition to the limit of trees. 
Authorities.—Cooper {Empidonax obscurus), Orn. Calif., 1870, p. 329 (Colorado 
R.) \Bendire, Life Hist. N. Am. Birds, vol. ii., 1895, p. 318, pi. 11, fig. 33 (eggs); Grinnell, 
Univ. Calif. Pub. Zool., vol. v., 1908, p. 78 (San Bernardino Mts.; habits, desc. nest 
and eggs, etc.); Grinnell and Swarth, LTniv. Calif. Pub. Zool.. vol. x., 1913, p. 256 (San 
Jacinto Mts.; breeding; crit.); Ray, Condor, vol. xx., 1918, p. 78, fig. (Lake Tahoe, 
breeding.). 
IT WOULD be impossible to 
convey to the novice a sense of the 
mingled awe and reluctance with 
which the author approaches a 
declaration as to the appearance, 
voice, whereabouts, and general 
characteristics of this will-o-the-wisp 
of the mountains. Wright’s Fly¬ 
catcher, early dubbed the obscure 
{Empidonax obscurus ), is likely to 
remain such in spite of our manliest 
endeavors. Its various obscurities 
have been apostrophized, anathema¬ 
tized, confused, misapprehended, 
misrepresented, and lied about, until 
one shudders upon entering the 
smoke-laden arena. And all because 
My Lady is so gentle,—gentle and 
most modest of the gentle, as soberly 
clad as a mouse and as timid, having 
a soft voice and a single liquid note, 
“pit” or “ swit ,” with which she asks 
most devoutly to be let alone. It is 
somewhat otherwise with Sir Donax 
Wrighti, M. P., but of that anon. 
As for my lady, I have known her 
so well that to refuse testimony to 
her many excellencies would be a 
sort of treason, and—might reflect 
upon the Platonic qualities of our 
relationship. 
It befell on a July day, the 5th 
it was, near Skiddooheim Camp, 
A MIGRANT EMPIDONAX 
Photo by the .4 uthor 
Taken in Santa Barbara County 
891 
