Dr. Cooper found them quite numerous, in winter, near the Colorado. He also found them common, in December, about the Mohave River, and in summer, from Los Angeles to San Diego. They were found to prefer the trees in which the mistletoe grows, on the berries of which they largely feed, though they occasionally pursue insects in a zigzag course similar to that of the Sayornis nigricans.
They almost constantly utter a loud cry of alarm, and when pursued are very wild. When wounded, they conceal themselves so closely in the thick tufts of the mistletoe as to be found with difficulty. Many left the Colorado Valley in April, but a few remained. Their notes Dr. Cooper describes as similar to those of the Crested Flycatchers, but sweeter.
It was found by Feilner, at Fort Crook, in April, 1860, but has not been met with near the coast so far to the north.
A nest of this bird, obtained by Dr. Cooper, on the 27th of April, was built on a horizontal branch of the mezquite (Algarobia), twelve feet from the ground. It was found near Fort Mohave, on the Colorado River. The nest is a very flat structure, four inches in diameter, and less than two in height. The cavity is less than an inch in depth. The nest is made almost entirely of hempen or flax-like fibres of plants, interwoven with fine grasses, stems of plants, and stalks of a larger size. It is lined with a soft downy substance of a vegetable character.
The eggs, two in number, are of an oblong-oval shape, nearly equal at either end, and with a ground-color of a light slate, tinged with a yellowish-green. They are marked and blotched equally over the entire egg, with spots and blotches of various lines, from a light, faint, obscure purple to deeper tints of purplish-brown, even to black. It is a very marked egg, and unique in its appearance. They measure .90 by .60 of an inch.
Dr. Coues found this species a summer resident in Arizona, somewhat rare about Fort Whipple, but found very abundantly a little farther south, and a permanent resident in the southern portions of that Territory. It inhabits rather open country in preference to densely wooded regions. He
describes it as a shy, wild, and restless bird, with a superb song, powerful and finely modulated. Dr. Coues appears to think that this species has but little affinity with the forms with which it is usually grouped.
Section MYIADESTEÆ.
Char. Tarsus slender, longer than middle toe and claw; undivided as in Turdidæ. Toes deeply cleft. Wings more pointed; second quill much longer than secondaries. Lateral tail-feathers cuneate, or narrowing from base towards tip; generally whitish at end of inner web. Quills with their extreme bases, especially of inner webs, buffy yellow, showing a light patch inside. Head not crested, though the feathers sometimes full. In the young all the feathers with light rounded spots. Pre-eminent as melodious singers.
But a single genus of this group belongs to the United States, although two others (Cichlopsis and Platycichla?) occur in South America. As already stated, the affinities of Myiadesteæ are much closest to Turdidæ, and this would seem the proper family for it.