TYRANNIDj®. 
i 6 i 
Like the general character of those of all our Empidonaces, each 
utterance was of two distinct but connected notes, though lacking 
the abrupt vigor of the other species, and at a little distance the louder 
and more prolonged final note was often the only one heard. 
In view of our very deficient knowledge of the breeding range of 
this bird, and the short time that we have known anything positive 
regarding its nidification, the discovery of its breeding in the Catsk ill 
Mountains is of interest, not only as greatly extending the area with- 
in which its nest has actually been found* but also as assisting to 
render clear the apparently misunderstood subject of its precise 
faunal relationship. 
Close to the summit of Slide Mountain, on June 26, 1882, its nest, 
containing four fresh eggs was discovered by Dr. Fisher At the 
outset it may be said that the eggs were spotted, and generally sim- 
ilar to those of authentic sets which have recently been described. 
On the slope whereon the birds had made their home an abundant 
growth of bright green moss invested the rugged configuration of the 
surface and enfolded the scattered remains of trees, ancestors, per- 
haps, of the young growth of balsams which clustered about the spot 
and afforded seclusion to the little pair that had come among them. 
The nest was built in a cavity scooped in a bed of moss facing the 
side of a low rock. The cavity had been excavated to a depth of 
two and a half inches and was two inches across. The opening, but 
little less than the width of the nest, was nine inches from the ground 
and, partially hidden by overhanging roots, revealed the eggs within 
only to close inspection. 
The primary foundation of the nest was a layer of brown rootlets; 
upon this rested the bulk of the structure, consisting of moss matted 
together with fine broken weed stalks and other fragmentary material. 
The inner nest could be removed entire from the outer wall, and was 
composed of a loosely woven but, from its thickness, somewhat dense 
fabric of fine materials, consisting mainly of the bleached stems of 
some slender sedge and the black and shining rootlets of, appar- 
ently, ferns, closely resembling horsehair. Between the two sec- 
tions of the structure, and appearing only when they were separated, 
was a scant layer of the glossy orange pedicels of a moss ( Polytrichum ') 
not a fragment of which was elsewhere visible. The walls of the 
internal nest were about one halt an inch in thickness, and had doubt- 
less been accomplished with the view of protection from dampness. 
Professor Daniel C. Eaton, of New Elaven, very kindly assumed 
the task of determining the different species of moss which entered 
into the composition of the nest and of the moss-bed in which it 
* All records of the nests and eggs of this bird prior to 1878 are here ignored as being too dubious 
to be entertained. 
