Jan., 1901 I 
THK CONDOR 
7 
owner, but she had wisely disappeared. 
We collectors know how to wait, as 
well as to labor; and so I en.sconsed 
myself in a convenient place and waited. 
Presently the owner appeared, uttering 
a somewhat harsh but subdued “quit,” 
flipped her tail nervously to inform me 
that she was a flycatcher, and dodged 
behind an adjacent clump. However, 
at length I captured her (my Audubo- 
nian spirit prevents my saying that I 
shot her); nest and eggs were soon 
packed in my basket, and another find- 
ing recorded in my note-book. 
This nest stands three inches in 
height, the exterior diameters averaging 
two and three-fourths inches. The rim 
of the cavity averages one and thirteen- 
sixteenths in diameter, the depth 
being one and three-fourths inches. 
The structure is made of gray vegetable 
fibers, such as soft strippings from 
weed-stems, with which are interwoven 
cottony vegetable materials and bits of 
gossamer. The lining is delicate grassy 
fibers, used sparingly, and small, downy 
feathers which project from the well. 
The illustration shows the position of 
the nest better than we can describe it. 
It may not be amiss to say here that 
while my business in the Flathead 
region in July and August was to assist 
in biological work for the Montana State 
University, my purpose there in June 
was to pick up a few sets of eggs for my 
own little collection. You will therefore 
understand that when I became awake 
to what a treasure a common maple 
clump might contain, few of them 
escaped my earnest glance. The first 
nest of E. tvrightii was taken on June 
15; it was not until the i8th that I 
chanced upon my second nest. The 
locality was a high ridge east of 
the lake near our camp. I had wan- 
dered aimlessly onward and upward, 
allured by the clumps of maple that 
dotted the hillsides and intermediate 
valley. Clump after clump was exam- 
ined; but at length I spied a nest that 
seemed promising. It was ten feet 
from the ground, in an upright crotch 
near the top of the clump. To reach it 
safely I had to strap together a bundle 
of the light sprouts. This ne.st contained 
five eggs, somewhat advanced in incuba- 
tion. In structure and appearance, it is 
a counterpart of the one first described. 
The collector can give little excuse 
for taking a series of eggs and nests of 
Empidonax wrightii, upon the ground 
of variation, as the eggs are practically 
all alike except deviations in size, and 
the nests look much alike exteriorly. I 
just wanted more eggs, I suppose, (you 
understand the feeling, Mr. Editor), so 
I kept scanning the maple clumps, and 
on June 20 I found my third nest. It 
was on the same ridge where I had 
taken the second one. This third nest 
was only four feet from the ground, 
situated as usual in an upright crotch of 
maple sprout. It stands two and one- 
half inches high, the interior dimensions 
being the same as those given for the 
first nest. There were three fresh eggs 
in this nest. 
What, another nest? Yes, back in 
the margin of the swamp-woods. Four 
days of further search netted nothing in 
the way of flycatcher’s eggs, though I 
managed to get fair returns for the time 
in other ways; but on June 25 I chanced 
upon my last nest of Empidonax 
wrightii, which contained four eggs in 
which incubation had well begun. It 
was eight feet from the ground, in a 
crotch in an oblique stem of a maple 
sprout. The nest stands three inches 
high, the cavity averaging two and one- 
eighth inches in diameter at the rim. 
This nest is somewhat different from 
the others in its large and shallow 
cavity, and in the amount of felted 
material used in the inner wall. All 
the nests of this flycatcher have a con- 
siderable amount of loose material at the 
bottom, as an exterior foundation. 
Theodore J. Hoover is spending the Christ- 
inas vacation with Dr. J. P. Smith among fossil 
beds near Independence, Cal. From force of 
habit, Mr. Hoover took a gun with him! 
