In California Dr. Cooper found this species rather common in the Coast Range towards Santa Cruz, where they had nests in May; but as these were built in high inaccessible branches, he was not able to examine them. He also found it at Lake Tahoe in September.
This species was only met with by Mr. Ridgway in the pine woods high up on the East Humboldt, Wahsatch, and Uintah Mountains. There it was breeding, but was nowhere abundant, not more than two pairs being observed within an area of several miles. They preferred the rather open pine woods, and were shot from the highest branches. Their common note was a mellow puer, much like one of the whistling notes of the Cardinal Grosbeak (Cardinalis virginianus).
Mr. Dresser states it to be not uncommon near San Antonio in the winter season. Dr. Heermann mentions that two specimens of this species were obtained, to his knowledge, on the Cosumnes River, in California. It has been taken in winter, in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, by Mr. Boucard, and has been met with at Jalapa, and even as far south as Guatemala.
A single specimen of this bird was taken, August 29, 1840, at Nenortalik, Greenland, and sent to Copenhagen.
The eggs of this species measure .86 of an inch in length by .62 in breadth, and are rounded at one end and sharply tapering at the other. The ground-color is a rich cream-color with a roseate tint. They are beautifully marked around the larger end with a ring of confluent spots of lilac, purple, and red-brown. These vary in number and in the size of this crown, but the markings are invariably about the larger end, as in Contopus virens.
Contopus pertinax, Cabanis & Heine.
MEXICAN OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER.
Contopus pertinax, Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. II, p. 72.—Sclater, Catal. Am. B. 1862, 231.—Coues, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1866, 60.—Elliot, Illust. B. Am. I, pl. viii.—Cooper, Geol. Surv. Calif. Orn. I, 324.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 324. Contopus borealis, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 301; 1859, 43; Ibis, 1859, 122, 440.
Sp. Char. Nearly uniformly olive-gray, lighter on the throat and abdominal region, where is a strong tinge of ochraceous-yellow; feathers of the wings with faintly lighter
edges. Length about 8.00; wing, 4.45; tail, 3.90; depth of its fork, .35; culmen, .92; tarsus, .70. Rictal bristles long, about half the bill; lower mandible whitish. Young. Similar, but with a stronger ochraceous tinge on the abdomen and lining of the wings, and two distinct ochraceous bands across the wing.