Page:Condor8(5).djvu/5

xo8 ] VoL. VIII A Nest of Empid0nax difi?cilis in New Mexico uv rLouesce .?aua?x.? uxxL?.v HE nest of the western flycatcher shown in the accompanying figure was found by Mr. Bailey on the headwaters of the Pecos in the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico at an elevation of i?,ooo feet. The upturned root of a large tree on the bank of a stream was taken advantage of for the the nesting site, and the nest was placed in a niche about half way up the vertical wall, six or eight feet high, composed of earth, roots and stones--a wall not particularly at- From Biological Su*z,ey Collectio? (by Permission) tractive to weasels and other four-looted egg hunters. When the photograph was taken on August 5, x9o3, the four young were fully fledged and filled the nest too full for inspection, but on August 7 the brood had flown and the nest was carefully examined. It proved to be made of rootlets and grass stems, lined with finer grass, with green moss so mixed thru its walls that it had the appearance of an eastern phoebe's nest. The nest seemed to be double, as if a second had been built over the first in the fashion sometimes adopted by the robin. I4/as/tington, Z). C.