WRIGHT’S FLYCATCHER.
? Tyrannula obscura, Swainson, Syn. Mex. Birds, in Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 367. Empidonax obscurus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 200, pl. xlix, f. 3.—Ib. M. B. II, Birds 9, pl. xi, f. 3.—Scl. Catal. 1862, 230.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 329. Empidonax wrighti, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 200 (name proposed in case this should prove not to be the T. obscura of Swainson).
Sp. Char. Bill very narrow. Tarsi long. Wing rounded. Second, third, and fourth quills longest; first shorter than sixth, sometimes than seventh and eighth. Tail rounded. Above dull brownish-olive, paler on the rump, tinged with gray on the head. Loral region and space round the eye whitish. Throat and forepart of the breast grayish-white, slightly tinged with olive across the latter; the rest of the under parts pale yellowish. Wings and tail brown; the former with two conspicuous bands of brownish-white; the outer primary edged, the secondaries and tertials edged and tipped with the same. The outer web of the external tail-feather white, in strong contrast. Length, 5.75; wing, 2.75; tail, 2.55; tarsus, .70. Young. Wing-bands yellowish-gray, or grayish-buff (not ochraceous); upper parts with a brownish wash; abdomen tinged with dull buff.
Hab. Rocky Mountains and Middle Province of United States, and table-lands of Mexico. Localities: La Parada, Mexico (Scl. Catal. 1862, 230); Vera Cruz, winter, perhaps resident (Sum. M. B. S. I, 557); Fort Whipple, Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 63).
The most decided character of this species is seen in the combination of the narrow bill and the white outer margin of the external tail-feather, together with the long tarsi. The bill measured across opposite the middle of the nostrils is less than half its length from the forehead, instead of being considerably more, as in nearly all the other North American species, except hammondi. From this, however, the longer tail, edged externally with white; the longer bill and tarsus, the more rounded wings, the paler throat, etc., will distinguish it. Some specimens (spring and summer individuals) are very pale, showing scarcely any yellow beneath; the upper parts more tinged with gray. Sometimes there is a decidedly hoary frontlet.
A young specimen (53,303, ♀, Upper Humboldt Valley, Nev., September
16, 1868; C. King, R. Ridgway) is remarkable for its pale and unusually grayish colors. There is nowhere any tinge of yellow, and scarcely any of brown, the colors being simply clear ash and pure dull white, except the dusky of wings and tail. In these respects it differs from all others in the collection; there can be no doubt, however, that it is the same species as the brownish individuals obtained in the same locality.
Habits. This Flycatcher appears to have been first described as a Mexican species by Swainson in 1827. Since then it has been obtained by Sumichrast in the Department of Vera Cruz, but whether resident or only migratory he was unable to decide. Specimens were obtained at El Paso, in Texas, by Mr. C. Wright, on the Mexican Boundary Survey. Dr. Coues found this bird a summer resident in Arizona, but rare. It arrives there early in April, and remains until October. Dr. Cooper first observed this species at Fort Mohave about April 1, and a few afterwards until May 25. They kept among low bushes, were generally silent, or with only a single lisping chirp. Occasionally they flew a short distance after insects in the general manner of this genus. We are indebted to Mr. Ridgway for all the knowledge we possess in reference to the habits and nesting of this rare species.
He met with them in all the aspen groves and thickets of the high mountain regions, from the Sierra Nevada to the Wahsatch and Uintah Mountains. The aspen copses at the head of the cañons of the highest and well-watered ranges of the Great Basin were their favorite resort; but they were sometimes seen in the “mahogany” woods on the spurs, and occasionally, even, on the willows in the river valleys. Their common note was a weird sweer, much like the call of Chrysomitris pinus, but very often, especially when the nest was approached, they uttered a soft liquid whit. In the Toyabe Mountains, where these little Flycatchers were breeding abundantly in the aspen copses, Mr. Ridgway found them to be so unsuspicious that several were taken from the nest with his hand; and one which was shot at and slightly wounded returned to her nest and suffered herself to be taken off without showing any alarm.
A nest obtained by Mr. Ridgway near Austin, in Nevada, July 3, 1868, was built in the crotch of a small aspen, about five feet from the ground. This nest is a very neat, homogeneous, compact structure, cup-like in shape, three inches in diameter, and two and a half in height. Its cavity is one and a half inches in depth, and three inches across the rim. It is composed almost entirely of strips of soft and bleached fragments of the inner bark of deciduous trees and shrubs, and hempen fibres of various plants. The inner nest is a lining made of finer materials of the same, with a few fine roots and feathers.