Part 121

=Melospiza lincolni= (II, 31). Dr Cooper writes that in July, 1870, he found this species numerous at and near the summit of the Central Railroad in an elevation of from 7,000 to 9,000 feet. They were always about marshy thickets, often close to fields of perpetual snow. They had there raised their young, which were mostly fledged. He found a nest with one egg on the ground. As he found this July 27, he thinks that without doubt it raises two broods in a season even in that subalpine region. The song he found quite different from that of the other Melospizæ, being fainter, more lively and continuous, like that of some Wren or Warbler.

=Melospiza palustris= (II, 34). Collected in Southern Utah (Washington), October 23, 1872, by Mr. Henshaw. (Mus. S. I., No. 63,500.)

=Peucæa æstivalis=, var. =arizonæ= (II, 41). First described in Am. Nat. VII, October, 1873, p. 616.

=Peucæa carpalis.= An additional species of Peucæa has been discovered in Arizona by that diligent collector, Lieutenant (now Captain) Charles Bendire, U. S. A. It has been described (Am. Nat. VII, June, 1873, p. 322) by Dr. Coues as Peucæa carpalis. Its characters are as follows:—

Peucæa carpalis, COUES. Rufous-shouldered Sparrow.

SP. CHAR. Resembling in general appearance a large Spizella pusilla, but with rufous lesser wing-coverts, and blackish rictal and infra-maxillary streaks. Above grayish earth-brown, each feather with the medial portion dusky, forming conspicuous black streaks on the dorsal region, and dusky centres to the wing-coverts and tertials. Nape and rump plain, and more ashy. Crown and lesser wing-coverts plain rufous, the former divided anteriorly with a whitish medial line. Beneath ashy-white, including a well-defined superciliary and maxillary stripe, which have a slight buffy tinge. Throat nearly pure white, bordered on each side by a conspicuous narrow streak of black; whitish maxillary stripe bordered above by a dusky rictal streak. Bill reddish, darker on the culmen. Tarsi dilute brown; toes horn-brown. Wing, 2.50; tail, 2.75; culmen, .45; tarsus, .80; middle toe, .55.

Hab. Tucson, Arizona. (No. 62,372. September, 1872, Captain C. Bendire, U. S. A.)

Another specimen, supposed to be a female, in winter plumage (Tucson, January 10, 1873) differs quite appreciably in its markings and colors. The crown is more streaked, every feather being edged laterally with ashy-gray; the blackish streaks on the back and scapulars are more distinct, and the inner web of the lateral tail-feather is broadly bordered with white terminally. It measures, wing, 2.50; tail, 2.90; culmen, .45; tarsus, .70. “Length, 5.75; stretch, 7.80.”

Captain Bendire informs me that he found this species rather common in the vicinity of Tucson. It was generally seen in company with Poospiza bilineata. Its usual call-note resembled the syllables zib-zib-zib. He believed it to be a resident of Arizona throughout the year. It commences nesting early in June, generally building in the small mesquite bushes, sometimes not over six inches, seldom more than four feet, from the ground. The nests are composed of fine dry grasses and rootlets, and lined with the fine, slender seed-tops of the secatow or rye-grass, and sometimes with a few hairs. The nest is very deep, and is firmly fixed into a fork of the bush in which it is built. The eggs, when fresh, are of a pale green color, and average .73 of an inch in length by .58 in breadth, are unspotted, are generally four, seldom five, in a nest. One nest with four eggs was found September 11, 1872.

=Passerella= (II, 49). The capture of a specimen exactly intermediate between P. iliaca and P. townsendii, at Saticoy, California, December 14, 1872, by Dr. Cooper, renders it extremely probable that all the known forms of this genus are but geographical races of one species. The characters of this specimen (No. 63,651) are as follows: Most like iliaca in reddish tints and coloration of the head, with occasional nearly pure ashy lights, but with the suffused pattern of townsendii. Wing, 3.60; tail, 3.60; culmen, .50; tarsus, 1.00.

=Passerella megarhynchus= (II, 57). Dr. Cooper found this species common between 5,000 and 7,000 feet elevation, on the Central Pacific Railroad line, where most of the country was still covered with snow. One or two were to be found in every thicket at distances of a quarter of a mile, already paired and having selected their summer residence, having remained in close proximity to the snowy region all winter. In July, on a second visit to the mountains, he observed them still singing occasionally, at Truckee, near 6,000 feet altitude, on the east slope.

=Euspiza americana= (II, 65). According to Mr. Allen this species is abundant at Denver, Colorado, being found entirely across the Plains to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains.

=Guiraca cærulea= (II, 77). Has been obtained in El Paso County, Colorado, by Mr. Aiken.

=Cardinalis virginianus=, var. =igneus= (II, 103). Has been found in El Paso County, Colorado. Specimens from Eastern Kansas, collected by Mr. Allen, seem also to be referrible to this form.

=Pipilo erythropthalmus= (II, 109). Specimens collected by Dr. Coues at Pembina, Minnesota, in June, 1873, have (both males and females) a greater or less number of minute white specks more or less distinctly indicated on the portion where the large white spots of the western forms are located. This points to the probability that all the black races ranged in the synopsis under maculatus (including the latter itself) must be referred to erythropthalmus.

=Pipilo mesoleucus= (II, 125). Captain Bendire found this species breeding in Southern Arizona, in the neighborhood of Tucson. One nest was found August 2, another September 4, 1872. Both were built in mesquite-trees, and were six feet from the ground,—an unusual position in birds of this family. The eggs are also peculiar, and differ from any of this genus I have ever met with, having more resemblance to eggs of Sturnellæ, especially to the militaris of South America. The eggs from one nest are one inch in length by .73 in breadth, have a bright white ground, with a slight tinge of bluish, and are boldly plashed, especially around the larger end, with distinct deep dashes of reddish and purplish brown. A few of these blotches are scattered irregularly over the entire egg, but the greater portion are grouped around the more obtuse end. The eggs are of oval shape, both ends rounded, one slightly less than the other. The eggs in another nest are more nearly spherical, with less difference in the ends; the ground-color is more distinctly white; the spots, of reddish-brown, are finer and more concentrated about the larger end; and the faint markings of purplish are much more numerous. These measure .74 by .90 of an inch.

This species has also been found resident in El Paso County, Colorado, by Mr. Aiken.

=Pipilo aberti= (II, 128). Captain Bendire found this species breeding abundantly in the vicinity of Tucson, in Southern Arizona. The nests were not on the ground, as is usual among the more northern forms of Pipilos, but in trees and in bushes at the height of several feet from the ground. One nest was taken July 28, in a small ash-tree, and another was found on the same day in a willow-tree, more than eight feet from the ground. The eggs bear a close resemblance to those of Pipilo fuscus and to those of P. albigula, having a ground-color of very light blue, marked almost exclusively around the larger end with a wreath of irregular blotches of dark purplish-brown. They are of a rounded oval shape, are quite obtuse at one end, and vary in length from .97 of an inch to .88, and in breadth from .76 to .75.

=Pipilo chlorurus= (II, 131). Dr. Cooper met with none of this species in the Sierra Nevada between 3,000 and 7,000 feet elevation in April, 1870, when they were leisurely working their way up from the lower country; but in July he found them from Truckee, 6,000 feet on the east slope, up to the summit, 7,000 feet, but not higher. They were then feeding half-grown young. Dr. Albert Kellogg found a nest on the ground, with four eggs, spotted near the larger end on a bluish ground. The males were still singing occasionally and very melodiously, and had the same cry of alarm or anger as the Pipilo erythropthalmus. Dr. Cooper also met with this species at Clear Lake, near the end of September, showing that they probably breed in the northern Coast Range.

=Dolichonyx oryzivorus= (II, 149). Specimens from every portion of the Plains, and west to the Great Basin, have the black intenser and more continuous, the nuchal patch clear ochraceous-white, the scapulars and rump unshaded white, and the white of the back confined to a median line. The bill and feet are also jet-black, instead of horn-color. They constitute var. albinucha, Ridgway.

=Icterus cucullatus= (II, 193). Except in the materials, which difference may be more local than specific, the nests of this species are hardly distinguishable from those of I. spurius. A nest from Cape St. Lucas (S. I. No. 4,954), collected May, 1860, by Mr. Xantus, is basket-shaped and pendulous, suspended on two sides to the numerous twigs of each fork of a drooping branch. In structure it is exactly like that of I. spurius, and is composed of dry wiry grasses, lined scantily with vegetable down. The length is six inches, lower side of aperture only two and a half inches from the bottom. Another (S. I. No. 1,940) taken May 20, 1859, at San José, Lower California, by Mr. Xantus, is a very elaborately wrought basket-shaped nest. The circumference of the circular rim is much less than the greatest girth of the nest. The lower walls and base of the nest are very thick. The whole is composed of fine wiry grasses and scantily lined with vegetable down and soft flaxy fibres. The external diameter is 5.00 inches, the internal 2.10, height about 3.00, and the depth of the cavity 2.80.

Captain Charles Bendire met with this species in Southern Arizona. It was first noticed by him on the 15th of April, but he thinks they had arrived nearly ten days previously, and that the date of their coming may be given as during the first week of April. He describes it as a shy, active, and restless bird, generally frequenting the extreme tops of the tallest cottonwood-trees near the borders of the watercourses, which, however, are usually dry. There the bird flutters through the dense foliage in search of insects, and is scarcely ever seen for more than an instant at a time. It commences building about the first of June. The nest is suspended from the extremities of the lower branches of an ash, walnut, mesquite, or cottonwood tree, and is exclusively composed of fine wire-like grasses, which are made use of while green and pliable, and sparsely lined with the silky fibres of a species of Asclepias. These grasses are interlaced in such a complicated manner as to form, even when dry, a very strong structure. The dimensions of a nest are: Inner diameter, three inches; inside depth the same; outside from five and a half to four inches wide and about four deep. The eggs are from two to four in number, usually three, are of a pale bluish-white ground, spotted with dark lilac and umber-brown about the larger end. The largest eggs measure one inch by .64. Captain Bendire adds that he cannot regard this Oriole as a fine singer. Besides a usual chattering note resembling the syllables char-char-char, frequently repeated, it has a call-note something like hui-wit, which is also several times repeated.

=Icterus baltimore= (II, 195). Extends its range westward to the Rocky Mountains. Collected in El Paso County, Colorado, by Mr. Aiken.

=Icterus bullockii= (II, 199). Extends eastward to Eastern Kansas, where it is not uncommon. (See Snow’s Catalogue of the Birds of Kansas, 1873.)

=Corvus cryptoleucus= (II, 242). According to Mr. Aiken this species is abundant, and nearly replaces C. carnivorus along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, as far north as Cheyenne.

Captain Bendire found this a resident species in Southern Arizona, and met with two nests at the base of the St. Catharine Mountains, near Tucson. One of these contained three, the other four eggs. These he described as very light colored, so pale that if mixed with hundreds of others of this family they could be picked out without difficulty. Their ground-color is said to be a very pale green, with darker markings running more into lines than spots; in fact, very few spots were found on either set. The size of the largest was 1.85 inches by 1.33, that of the largest 1.70 by 1.19. They were not common in the vicinity of Tucson.

=Cyanura= (II, 271). For a special treatment of the races of C. stelleri, see Am. Journ. Science and Arts, January, 1873.

=Cyanocitta californica= (II, 298). Dr. Cooper has ascertained that this species does occur on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, but lower down than the region he visited in 1863. He found a few at Verdi, close to the eastern boundary-line of California, at about 4,500 feet elevation, in July, 1870. He saw none elsewhere.