I Vot.. VIII 
108 
A Nest of Empidonax difficilis in New Mexico 
BY FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY 
T HE nest of the western flycatcher shown in the accompanying figure was 
found by Mr. Bailey on the headwaters of the Pecos in the Rocky Mountains 
of New Mexico at an elevation of u,ooofeet. The upturned root of a 
large tree on the bank of a stream was taken advantage of for the the nesting site, 
and the nest was placed in a niche about half way up the vertical wall, six or 
eight feet high, composed of earth, roots and stones — a wall not particularly at- 
NEST AND YOUNG OF WESTERN FLYCATCHER 
From Biological Survey Collection (by Permission ) 
tractive to weasels and other four-footed egg hunters. When the photograph 
was taken on August 5, 1903, the four young were fully fledged and filled the 
nest too full for inspection, but on August 7 the brood had flown and the nest was 
carefully examined. It proved to be made of rootlets and grass stems, lined with 
finer grass, with green moss so mixed thru its walls that it had the appearance of 
an eastern phoebe’s nest. The nest seemed to be double, as if a second had been 
built over the first in the fashion sometimes adopted by the robin. 
Washington , D. C. 
