Curious Situation for Nest of Ash-Throated Flycatcher
Curious Situation for Nest of Ash-throated Flycatcher.
In June, 1903, I found a pair of Myiarchus c. cinerascens which had taken up quarters in the stub of an old willow, some sixteen inches in diameter and three feet high, which stood at the end of a watering-trough for cattle. I would not have taken any notice of it if the bird had not flown from the nest, which was situated in the hollow stump about eighteen inches deep and was made wholly of cows’ hair. The eggs were within about two days of hatching. The top of the stub was about twenty inches above the trough and the end of it had been polished to a glossy smoothness where cattle had used it as a scratching post. This did not apparently alarm the flycatchers, as I spent sometime watching them fly in and out. I pulled the stump off and it now acts as a wren’s home in one of our garden pepper trees.
W. OTTO EMERSON
Haywards, Cal.
