The Vermilioti Flycatcher 
No. 179 
Vermilion Flycatcher 
A. O. U. No. 471 . Pyrocephalus rubinus mexicanus Sclater. 
Description. —Adult male: Top of head and broad occipital crest intense scarlet- 
red or scarlet; entire underparts bright scarlet, grenadine red, or flame-scarlet; sides of 
head narrowly and sides of neck broadly and upperparts nearly uniform brownish 
dusky; tail deeper dusky; a little faintly rufescent light edging on wing-coverts, tertials, 
and outer edge of outer pair of rectrices. Bill and feet black. Adult female: Red 
confined to wing-linings and posterior underparts, where much lighter than in male 
(peach-red and strawberry-pink, grenadine pink, etc.); anterior underparts white, 
breast broadly, streaked with brownish; upperparts warm grayish brown to fuscous, 
lightening on forehead, blackening on tail; pileum with mesial dusky streaks; a vague 
supraloral and superciliary line of whitish; upper plumage and streaks on breast more 
or less edged with faint rufescent. Yearling males are like the adult females, but the 
red of posterior underparts is lighter, more orange or salmon-pink. Young birds of 
both sexes are much like female, but without red and with much lighter edging of upper 
plumage. Length 127-152.4 (5.00-6.00); wing 78 (3.07); tail 56 (2.20); bill 12.5 (.49); 
tarsus 15.7 (.62). 
Recognition Marks. —Warbler size; brilliant red of male unique for size; pale 
red belly of female, distinctive. 
Nesting. — Nest: A neat cup settled into crotch of large horizontal limb ofmes- 
quite, willow, hackberry, or other tree; at moderate heights—10 to 40 or even 60 feet; 
composed externally of straight twigs laid log-cabin fashion, bound together by copious 
cobwebs; internally of fine grasses, weed-bark, and other vegetable substance, lined 
with fine grasses, horsehair, or feathers. A typical nest is two inches across the hollow, 
and one and a quarter inches deep. Eggs: 3; dull white, pale creamy white, or pale 
cartridge buff, boldly and handsomely spotted and blotched, chief!}- in broad belt 
about larger end, with brownish black, sepia, and tawny olive (according to dilution) 
and light violet-gray (violet-gray to pale violet-gray, according to depth of limy over¬ 
lay). Av. of 101 eggs in the M. C. O. coll.: 17.2 x 13.1 (.675 x .515); index 76; range 
15.75-18.5 x 12.45-14 (.62-.73 by .49-.55). Season: c. May i-June 10; one brood; 
(Colorado River, opposite Cibola, April 2, 1910, by Grinnell, probably very exceptional). 
General Range. —Resident in Lower Sonoran zone from southeastern California, 
southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, western and southern Arizona, southern New 
Mexico, and southern Texas, south to Lower California and central America. 
Distribution in California. —Resident in valley of the Colorado River north 
to Needles, more sparingly in Imperial Valley, northwest at least to Torres (Grinned), 
and on the Colorado-Mohave deserts west at least to the Cushenberry Ranch (Hoff¬ 
mann). In winter visits lowlands of the San Diego district, irregularly and in small 
numbers, north at least to Santa Barbara (March 15, 1907, by Bradford Torrey). 
Authorities.—Baird (Pyrocephalus rubineus ), Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. ix., 
1858, p. 201 (Ft. Yuma); Bendire, Life Hist. N. Am. Birds, vol. ii., 1895, p. 322, pi. 11, 
figs. 34, 35 (eggs); Willett, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 7, 1912, p. 65 (status in s. Calif.); 
Grinnell , Univ. Calif. Pub. Zool., vol. xii., 1914, p. 153 (Colorado Valley, habits, nesting, 
etc.); Hoffmann, Condor, vol. xxiii., 1921, p. 166 (east base San Bernardino Mts., June). 
