FLYCATCHERS: OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER 
445 
On the Gila River, where Mr. Ligon found the Wood Pewee abun¬ 
dant, its favorite nesting tree seemed to be the walnut, growing along 
creeks and canyons; but in Chloride Canyon he found a nest in a box 
elder, made of dead grass and lined with the yellow tops of fresh grass. 
One that we found on the edge of the plains was in a sapindus tree, 
and lined with feathers and wool. The depth of the nest Mr. Hen- 
shaw attributed to the high winds of its breeding grounds, and he calls 
attention to the fact that while placed in a conspicuous position, it has 
concealing materials like the bark of the tree. At Mesilla Park, Pro¬ 
fessor Merrill found the birds nesting mainly in flat forks of the smaller 
limbs of big cottonwoods, but he found a nest with young in an ash in 
Soledad Canyon. 
Along the Rio Grande at Socorro, Major Goldman found the Pewees 
abundant in the timber, and heard their note all through the day. On 
August 19, 1909, he wrote: “A female was found brooding two half- 
fledged young in a nest placed in an exposed situation between two fork¬ 
ing cottonwood branches. It was a hot day and the mother bird was 
standing over the young which were panting with heat. On climbing up 
I found the nest was composed almost entirely of fine shreds of cotton¬ 
wood bark” (MS). 
OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER: Nuttallomis borealis (Swainson) 
Description. — Length: 7.1-7.9 inches, wing 3.9-4.5, tail 2.8-3.5, bill .5-.7, 
tarsus .5-.6. Adults: Upperparts dark olive-gray , darker on crown; wings and tail 
blackish, wings with inconspicuous lighter edgings; sides of rump with patches of 
white or yellowish white cottony feathers , usually concealed but sometimes spreading 
over closed wing; underparts with white throat and median tract often tinged with 
pale yellow, between olivaceousj indistinctly streaked sides. Bill, black above, mostly 
yellowish below. Young: Similar but more brownish or sooty, wing edgings buffy 
or brownish. 
Range. —Breeds in Canadian and Transition Zones from central Alaska, southern 
Mackenzie, southern Keewatin, central Quebec and Cape Breton Island south to 
Massachusetts (in mountains to North Carolina), northern New York, Michigan, 
western Kansas, and in the coniferous forests of the western United States to New 
Mexico, Arizona, and California; migrates through Mexico and Central America; 
winters from Colombia to Peru. 
State Records. —No nests of the Olive-sided Flycatcher have been taken in 
New Mexico and its usual inclusion in the list of the breeding birds of the State 
rests on its presence during the time that would naturally be considered as the 
nesting season. It is one of the latest migrants and often remains until .June in 
places where it does not breed. [At about 7,500 feet, 35 miles northeast of Silver 
City it was found April 19, 1919 (Ligon)]. At Hachita Grande Mountain it was 
taken May 18-19, 1892 (Mearns); at Silver City it was seen May 20-29, 1884 
(Marsh); at Cloudcroft, May 29-June 2, 1900 (Bailey); at Shiprock May 19-June 
16, 1907 (Gilman); at Willis, May 23, 1900 (Birtwell); at Rinconada, June 1, 1904 
(Surber). Part of these records undoubtedly represent individuals in migration. 
Probable breeding records come from the headwaters of the Pecos River where 
they were seen from July 15, 1903, near Willis at 7,500 feet to July 25; and at 11,600 
