The eggs, three in number, are of a uniform creamy white, unspotted, and not unlike the eggs of Empidonax minimus. They measure .73 of an inch in length, and .60 in breadth.
The nest and eggs of this species were also found by Mr. C. S. McCarthy, in Dodge Valley, July 2, 1859. The nest was in a low flowering bush, and was a few feet from the ground. It was likewise found breeding at Camp Grant, Arizona, by Dr. Palmer.
Empidonax hammondi, Baird.
HAMMOND’S FLYCATCHER.
Tyrannula hammondi, De Vesey (Xantus), Pr. A. N. Sc. May, 1858. Empidonax hammondi, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 199, pl. lxxvi, f. 1.—Sclater, Catal. 1862, 230.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 330.
Sp. Char. Tail moderately forked; the feathers acutely pointed. Third quill longest; second and then fourth a little shorter. First much shorter than fifth, a little longer than sixth. Bill very slender; dark brown. Above dark olive-green, considerably darker on the head. Breast and sides of the body light olive-green, the throat grayish-white; the rest of under parts bright sulphur-yellow. A whitish ring round the eye. Wings and tail dark brown; the former with two olivaceous gray bands across the coverts; the latter with the outer edge a little paler than elsewhere, but not at all white. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.80; tail, 2.50; tarsus, .67.
Hab. Mexico and Western Province of United States (Clark’s Fork; Fort Laramie; Fort Tejon, Orizaba, and numerous intermediate points). North to Lesser Slave Lake, where breeding abundantly (S. Jones, Mus. S. I.). Localities: Vera Cruz, winter, perhaps resident (Sum. M. B. S. I, 557); W. Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 62).
In this species the olive-green on the sides is scarcely distinguishable from that on the back, although becoming more yellow on the middle of the breast. There is a decided ashy shade on the whole head. The only light edging to the quills is seen on the terminal half of the secondaries. The upper mandible and feet are black; the tip of the lower (and in one specimen the whole) dark brown. The fork of the tail measures a quarter of an inch in depth; the longest quill exceeds the first by .40.
This species is at once distinguishable from all the North American Tyrannulas, except obscurus, by the extreme narrowness as well as shortness of the bill. This is only .25 of an inch wide at the posterior angle of the mouth, and only .19 at the nostrils. Its colors above are those of acadicus, while the general effect is much more that of flaviventris, although less brightly olive. The throat is grayish, not of the same yellow with the belly; the ring round the eye white, not yellow; the olive of the breast much more continuous and distinct; the bands on the wings dull grayish instead of clear greenish-yellow. The tail, instead of being nearly even, is quite deeply forked. The bill is scarcely half as wide, and brownish, not yellow, beneath. The tarsus has the same peculiar scutellation.
The differences from T. obscurus are less easily expressed. It is, however, considerably smaller, and more olivaceous above and below, the tarsi very much shorter; the most tangible character is seen in the absence of the