Family AMPELIDÆ.—The Chatterers.

The South American genus, Dulus, probably forms the type of a subfamily Dulinæ, characterized by the much arched gape of mouth, the metatarsal scutellæ in two series, and the body streaked beneath, as in young Ampelis. The two other subfamilies may be defined as follows:—

Subfamilies.

Common Characters. Grape of mouth nearly straight. Metatarsal scutellæ in three series. Body plain beneath.

Ampelinæ. Wings very long and much pointed, longer than the short, even tail. First primary excessively rudimentary; the outermost about the longest. Gape without bristles. Frontal feathers extending forward beyond the nostrils.

Ptilogonatinæ. Horny appendages like red sealing-wax at end of shaft of secondaries. Wings rounded, shorter than the graduated tail. First primary nearly half the second. Gape well bristled. Frontal feathers falling short of the nostrils. No red horny appendage to wing-feathers.

Subfamily AMPELINÆ.

Char. Legs moderate. Nostrils elongated, linear, with the frontal feathers extending close to the edge and to anterior extremity, concealing them; these feathers short, velvety, and erect, with few bristles. Wings very long and acute; outer or first primary so much reduced as to be almost inappreciable; the second nearly the longest. Wing nearly twice the length of the short, narrow, even tail. Under coverts of tail reaching almost to its tip. Secondary quills with flat horny appendages at end of shaft like red sealing-wax. Young birds streaked beneath as in Dulus. Adults plain.

Of this family as restricted, we have but a single genus in America.

Genus AMPELIS, Linn.

Ampelis, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. I, 1766, 297. (Type, Lanius garrulus, L. Named Linnæus in 1735.)

Gen. Char. Tail even. Tertials and secondaries with horny appendages like red sealing-wax. A well-developed soft crest.

A more elaborate diagnosis of this genus could be readily given (see Rev. Am. Birds, 404), but the above characters, as entirely peculiar, will serve to establish it.

Common Characters. A lengthened crest of soft blended feathers. Colors, soft silky brownish becoming more vinaceous anteriorly, and ashy posteriorly above. A black stripe on side of head, from nasal feathers across lores through the eye and behind it beneath crest, and a patch of the same on chin, with a white streak between them, on side of lower jaw.

A. Wing variegated. Lower tail-coverts rufous. Crest much developed. Forehead and side of head bright purplish-rufous. Black patch covering whole throat, and sharply defined. No white line between black of lore, etc., and brown of forehead. Inner webs of primaries tipped narrowly with white.

a. Terminal band of tail red.

Sp. Char. Crest lengthened. Body generally soft, silky brownish-ashy, with a purplish cast, the wing-coverts and scapulars more brownish, becoming more reddish anteriorly and ashy posteriorly; the rump and upper tail-coverts, as well as the secondaries, being nearly pure ash. Anteriorly the color passes gradually into deep vinaceous-chestnut on the forehead to behind the eye and on the cheeks; abdomen yellowish-white. Lower tail-coverts deep chestnut. A stripe on side of the head, covering the lores and nasal feathers (scarcely meeting across the forehead), involving the eye and continued back toward the occiput and beneath the crest, with a large patch covering the chin and throat, deep black; a narrow crescent on lower eyelid, and a short stripe between the black of the throat and that of the chin at the base of the lower mandible, two very broad bars on the wing, one across ends of primary coverts, and the other across ends of secondaries (the first occupying both webs, and the latter the outer), white. Primary coverts, primaries, and tail slaty-black, the latter growing gradually ashy basally. A broad band across end of tail, and a longitudinal space along end of outer web of primaries, gamboge-yellow,—the marks on primaries, however, sometimes white, only stained with yellow. Each of the secondaries with an expanded continuation of the shaft, in form of flattened, very thin, somewhat elliptical appendages, of a bright vermilion-red resembling red sealing-wax. Male with the white of outer web of primaries continued around end of inner webs also. Female without white on terminal edge of inner webs of primaries, and with the “sealing-wax” appendages smaller. Young not seen. Length, 7.40; wing, 4.50; tail, 3.00.

Hab. Northern parts of Europe, America, and Asia. In America not hitherto found in the Pacific Province. In winter extending along the Rocky Mountains and the Plains as far south as Fort Massachusetts and Fort Riley; regular visitor to shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. East of this rarely seen along the United States border. Fort Mohave (???) (Cooper).

The specimen seen by Dr. Cooper, at Fort Mohave, if really of this species, fixes the most western locality on record.

Habits. The Waxwing is, in many respects, one of the most interesting and remarkable of the birds of North America. The roving character of its life, the mystery, still only imperfectly solved, of its habits and residence during its breeding-season, and its somewhat cosmopolitan residence in Europe, Asia, and America, impart to it an interest that attaches to but few other species. Though not common in any portions of the United States, and only appearing at all during midwinter, yet in the more northern States, in which it is occasionally found, it moves in such large flocks, and is so noticeable and conspicuous a bird, that it never fails to make a lasting impression, and hardly seems to us so very rare as it undoubtedly is.

In a single instance, in midwinter, somewhere about 1844, during a severe snow-storm, a large flock of these birds made their appearance in Boston, and alighted on a large horse-chestnut tree that stood in an open and retired place. There were at least twenty or thirty in the flock; they remained in their shelter undisturbed for some time, and their true specific character was plainly noticeable.

Several specimens were procured near Worcester, Mass., and given to Dr. Bryant. Eleven individuals of this species were shot in Bolton by Mr. S. Jillson, January, 1864, and others have since been noticed in Watertown by Mr. William Brewster. They have also been obtained near Hartford, Conn., by Dr. Wood.

Prior to this, as Mr. Audubon states, specimens had been procured near Philadelphia, and in the winters of 1830 and 1832 several of these birds were also shot on Long Island.

Mr. Boardman mentions that they are occasional, in winter, near Calais; and Professor Verrill, who did not meet with it in Norway, Me., cites it as accidental and rare in the State.

It is not common in the Arctic regions. Specimens of the bird were obtained on Anderson River, in 1862, by Mr. MacFarlane, but he was not able to find the nest. At Fort Yukon, July 4, Mr. Kennicott met with the nest of this species. The nest, which contained but one egg, was about eighteen feet from the ground, and was built on a side branch of a small spruce that was growing at the outer edge of a clump of thick spruces, on low ground. The nest was large, the base being made of small, dry spruce twigs. Internally it was constructed of fine grass and moose-hair, and lined thickly with large feathers. The female was shot, as she rose from her nest, by Mr. Kennicott’s hunter, who had concealed himself near the spot for that purpose. Mr. Kennicott had seen the nest and both parents near it before it was taken, and had thoroughly satisfied himself as to its complete identification.

Except in a few instances, where Dr. Cooper noticed this species, in September, at Fort Laramie, and also when he obtained an individual on the Colorado, none of these birds have been seen west of the Rocky Mountains. The bird obtained by Dr. Cooper was, in his opinion, a straggler from some neighboring mountain. It made its appearance January 10, after a period of stormy weather, and was shot while feeding on the berries of the mistletoe.

This bird was first noticed in America, in the spring of 1826, near the sources of the Athabasca River, by Mr. Drummond, and in the same season by Sir John Richardson, at Great Bear Lake, latitude 65°. In the latter region he states that they appeared in flocks about the 24th of May. At that time the spring thaw had exposed the berries of the Arbutus and the Vaccinium, that had been covered during the winter. It stayed only a few days, and none of the Indians knew where it bred, or had ever seen its nest. Afterwards, early in May, 1827, Sir John Richardson saw a large flock of three or four hundred individuals at Carlton House, on the Saskatchewan. They all alighted in a grove of poplars, on one or two trees, making a loud twittering noise. They stayed only about an hour in the morning, and were too shy to be approached within gunshot.

In England they have been known to appear as early as August. They are always shy, and not easily approached. In their activity and incessant change of position and place, they are said to resemble the Titmice. They feed on the berries of the mountain-ash, the hawthorn, and the ivy. They will also feed on insects, catching them as dexterously as Flycatchers. Their call-note is a single chirp, frequently repeated.

Mr. McCulloch, writing to Mr. Audubon, gives a touching account of the devotion shown by one of these birds to its wounded mate. The latter had been so crippled that it was hardly able to move. Its mate stationed itself on the top of the tree in which it had sought shelter, and with great vehemence continually uttered the notes tzee-tzee, in alarm and warning, and, when danger approached, flew against it and urged it on to flight, and stayed to share its fate, rather than leave its partner.

The Lapland nests were built on the branch of a tree, at a distance from the trunk, and stood up from it unsupported by the surrounding twigs, and at the height of from six to twelve feet from the ground. They were generally much exposed, and were, for the most part, built in the more open portions of the forests. The general number of the eggs was five, in one instance it was six.

The nest from the Yukon, obtained by Mr. Kennicott (S. Coll., 6,326), is smaller, and bears but little resemblance to the European. It is but five inches in diameter, of irregular shape. In height and cavity it nearly corresponds. In place of the lichens of the European, this nest is made of fine grass-stems, strips of bark, and a few feathers.

The eggs of this bird, the gift of Mr. Wolley, measure an inch in length, and from .70 to .67 of an inch in breadth. Their ground-color varies from a light slate to a yellowish stone-color. They are marked, blotched, and dotted with spots of various hues and size. These are chiefly of a dark purple, at times approaching black. Mingled with these are markings of a yellowish-brown. Nearly all these spots are surrounded by a peculiar penumbra, or shading, such as forms so marked a feature in the eggs of the common Cedar-Bird.

The egg obtained by Kennicott on the Yukon is smaller than the European specimen, measuring .90 by .65 of an inch. Its ground is more of a greenish-slate or stone-color, and the spots are of a dark brown, with a deep violet shading.

SOUTHERN WAXWING; CEDAR-BIRD.

Ampelis garrulus, var. β, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 297. Bombycilla cedrorum, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, 88, pl. lvii.—Ib. Galerie Ois. I, 1834, 186, pl. cxviii.—Cab. Jour. IV, 1856, 3 (Cuba).—Gundlach, Cab. Jour. 1861, 328 (Cuba; rare). Ampelis cedrorum, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1856, 299 (Cordova); 1858, 302 (Oaxaca; January); 1859, 364 (Xalapa; Cordova); 1864, 172 (City of Mexico).—Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, 1859, 13 (Guatemala).—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 318; Rev. 407.—Taylor, Ibis, 1860, 111 (Honduras).—March, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. 1863, 294 (Jamaica).—Lord, Pr. R. Art. Inst. Woolwich, IV, 116 (British Columbia; nesting).—Cooper & Suckley, P. R. Rep. XII, II, 187 (Washington Ter.).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 129.—Samuels, Birds N. Eng. 265. Ampelis americana, Wils. Am. Orn. I, 1808, 107, pl. vii. Bombycilla americana, Jones, Nat. Bermuda, 1859, 29 (winter).—Rich. Bombycilla carolinensis, Brisson, Orn. II, 1760, 337 (not binomial).—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 227, pl. xliii.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 165, pl. ccxlv.—Wagler. Ampelis carolinensis, Gosse, Birds Jamaica, 1847, 197 (January).—Bon.

Sp. Char. Crest moderate. General color soft vinaceous-cinnamon, deepest anteriorly, more olivaceous on back, scapulars and wing-coverts, passing into pure light ash on the rump and upper tail-coverts, and into dingy yellow on flanks and abdomen. Lower tail-coverts white. Whole of the wing posterior to the greater coverts slaty-ash, almost black along end of inner webs of primaries, the outer webs of which are narrowly edged with hoary whitish. Tail slate passing into black terminally, tipped with a broad, sharply defined band of gamboge-yellow. A broad stripe of intense velvety-black on side of head, starting from nostril, passing across lore, and involving the eye, continued from it beneath the crest to the occiput; chin dull black, blending gradually into the brownish of the throat. A narrow white line across the forehead and along side of crown, between brown of crown and black of lore, etc., a narrow crescent on lower eyelid and a stripe between black of lore and that of the throat, white. Male with each secondary quill terminated by a bright red horny appendage to the shaft. Female with these very small and few in number, or entirely absent. Young. In general appearance similar to the adult female. Colors more grayish, with obsolete concealed whitish streaks on nape and down back, these stripes becoming very conspicuous on the sides and flanks and across breast. No black on chin. Rump grayish-brown; abdomen and flanks dingy whitish. No appendages to secondaries, and the yellow band across end of tail narrower than in adult.

Hab. Whole of North America as far north as Lake Winnipeg and Hudson’s Bay, south branch of Saskatchewan, latitude 52½° (Richardson); south to Guatemala; Jamaica and Cuba in winter.

A specimen from Guatemala (No. 50,455 ♂) is almost identical with examples from the United States, but differs in having a small spot of yellow at the tip of each primary; also there are red appendages on the tip of a few tail-feathers, as well as the longest feather of the lower tail-coverts. The colors, generally, are softer, the brown more purplish, and the ash finer and more bluish, than in a fine spring male from Washington, D. C.

There is so much variation in different specimens in regard to the red wax-like appendages, that the Guatemalan specimen mentioned above can hardly be considered as more than a very highly developed individual.

Habits. The habits of the common Cedar-Bird are eminently nomadic, and, so far as those of the Waxwing are known, correspond in all respects, except in the more general and especially the more southern distribution of the present species. They are found throughout North America at least so far as the wooded country extends, and they breed from Florida to the Red River country. They are a common bird in New England, and would be much more so but that their fondness for cherries and other small fruits, and their indifference to danger, makes them an easy and frequent mark for destruction. Their unpopularity has caused their numbers to be greatly reduced of late years in the thickly settled portions of the country.

In Southern Texas Mr. Dresser found these birds very common during the winter at San Antonio and Eagle Pass, but he observed none later than the middle of April. They were seen in Tamaulipas, by Lieutenant Couch, in March, and afterwards in April at New Leon, Mexico. Sumichrast states that these birds are found everywhere and in great abundance in winter throughout Vera Cruz. They are there known as the Chinito, and are highly appreciated by the Mexican epicures. They are equally abundant in northern parts of South America, and also throughout Central America.

In Washington Territory and in Oregon Dr. Cooper speaks of them as less common than in the Atlantic States, and he only met with a few, in single pairs, in the summer. Townsend states that he found them in Oregon, but Dr. Suckley never met with any west of the Rocky Mountains.

In California Dr. Cooper has seen small flocks in winter, as far south as San Diego, feeding on the mistletoe berries. He found their nests at Fort Vancouver, and has no doubt that they also breed in various parts of California.

Mr. Robert Kennicott states, among other memoranda of his route, that, May 31, on an island in Winnipeg River, he saw a large flock of these birds, numbering fifty or more.

The noticeable feature of the Cedar-Bird, its crest, it has the power to erect or depress at will. In confinement it generally keeps this depressed, only erecting it when excited from any cause, such as alarm, or desire to receive food.

Wilson states that in Pennsylvania they collect in August in large flocks and retire to the mountains, feeding on the fruit of the Vaccinium uliginosum, which grows there in great abundance. Later in the season they descend to the lowlands to feed on the berries of the sour-gum and the red-cedar. In confinement they are very fond of apples, bread soaked in milk, and almost any kind of soft food. They are also very fond of flies, and are expert flycatchers, snapping at all that venture within the cage.

In their migrations their flight is graceful, easy, and continued, and is performed at a considerable height.

It is unfortunate for the horticulturist that this bird has done so much to merit his prejudices and reprobation, and that he does not appreciate to the full the immense services it renders to him each spring in the destruction of injurious insects. A flock of these birds will, in a short space of time, devour an immense number of the larvæ of the destructive canker-worms (Phalænæ) that infest the apples and elms of Massachusetts, and, if permitted, would soon greatly reduce their numbers. But these prejudices cannot be softened by their good deeds, and the Cherry-Bird is still hunted and destroyed.

The eggs, usually five, sometimes six, in number, have a marked resemblance to those of the Waxwing, but are smaller. Their ground-color varies from a light slate-color to a deep shade of stone-color, tinged with olive. These are marked with blotches of a dark purplish-brown, almost black, lighter shades of a dark purple, and penumbræ of faint purple, sometimes by themselves or surrounding and continuing the darker spots. They vary in length from .80 to .88 of an inch, and average about .85. In breadth they are from .60 to .70 of an inch, and in shape they differ also from an oblong-oval to one of a quite rounded form.

Nests of these birds from the Arctic regions are more elaborately built and more warmly lined, being often largely made up of the fine dark-colored lichens that cover the forest trees of those regions.

Subfamily PTILOGONATINÆ.

Char. Legs moderate. Nostrils oval, with wide naked membrane above and to some extent behind them; the frontal feathers not reaching to their border, and rather soft. Wings graduated, shorter than the somewhat broad, fan-shaped tail; the first quill nearly half the second. Adults plain.

Although we find it convenient for the present to retain the genera Ptilogonys and Myiadestes in the same subfamily, there seems little doubt that they belong to very different families, the latter being more properly placed in Turdidæ, as shown in Rev. Am. Birds. It is not necessary that the subject be discussed here, however, and we merely give the diagnosis of the two groups of which these genera are the types respectively:—

Ptilogonateæ. Tarsi scutellate anteriorly; not longer than middle toe and claw.

Myiadesteæ. Tarsi with a continuous plate anteriorly; longer than middle toe and claw.

Section PTILOGONATEÆ.

Char. Tarsus stout, shorter, or not longer than the middle toe and claw; conspicuously scutellate anteriorly, and frequently on one or other or on both sides; sometimes with a row of small plates behind. Wings much graduated; the second quill not longer than secondaries. Outline of lateral tail-feathers parallel or widening from base to near tip. Tail unvaried, or else inornate at end. Quills without light patch at base. Head crested. Young birds not spotted. Not conspicuous for song.

Crest narrow, pointed, its feathers stiff, their webs compact; outer primaries broad. Tail rounded … Phænopepla.

Crest broad, decumbent, soft, the feathers loose; outer primaries attenuated. Tail even or cuneate … Ptilogonys.

The genus Ptilogonys has two species, one Mexican, the other Costa-Rican, neither coming within the limits of the United States. The type is P. cinereus, Swainson (Baird, Rev. Am. Birds, 412), a species of the tablelands of Mexico, which may yet be found within the southern borders of the United States in New Mexico or Arizona.

Genus PHÆNOPEPLA, Sclater.

Phænopepla, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 543. (Type, Ptiliogonys nitens, Swains.)

Gen. Char. Crest narrow, pointed behind. Outer primaries broad, not attenuated nor pointed at end; the first half the second. Tail rounded, fan-shaped; feathers very broad, wider towards end. Bill feeble, rather narrow, well bristled; nostrils somewhat overhung by frontal feathers. Sexes dissimilar; male black; quills with median white patch on inner webs; tail not varied.

The single known species is glossy black in the male; the female brownish-ash.

Phænopepla nitens, Sclater.

SHINING-CRESTED FLYCATCHER.

Ptiliogonys nitens, Sw. An. in Menag. 1838, 285.—Bon. Consp. 1850, 335.—Heermann, Jour. A. N. Sc. Phila. II, 1853, 263.—Cassin, Ill. Birds Texas, etc. 1854, 169, pl. xxix. Cichlopsis nitens, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 320, 923. Phænopepla nitens, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 543; 1864, 173 (City of Mexico).—Baird, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 416.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 131. “Lepturus galeatus, Less.”

Sp. Char. (No. 8,275 ♂.) Tail broad, almost fan-shaped; graduated slightly; not at all emarginate, and longer than wing. First quill broad, slightly falcate, scarcely attenuated; more than half the second, which about equals the tenth; sixth longest; third equal to seventh. Feathers on nape rather full, with a lengthened, pointed, narrow, occipital crest.

Male (No. 8,275) entirely glossy greenish-black; the inner webs of all the primary quills with a large, lengthened patch of white, which does not reach the inner margin; their outer webs very narrowly edged with ashy, as are also lateral tail-feathers externally.

Female (No. 8,274) brownish-ash, paler below; the white of inner webs of quills obsolete; the greater coverts and quills edged externally with whitish, the anal and crissal feathers edged and tipped with the same; the outer tail-feather with narrow edge of white externally towards end.

Immature birds show every gradation of color between the two extremes described above.

Hab. Mountainous region of the southern portions of Western and Middle Provinces of United States, and south to Orizaba; Cape St. Lucas; Plateau of Mexico (resident, Sumichrast).

Habits. So far as known, this bird occurs in the mountainous portions of the United States, from Fort Tejon, Cal., to Mexico, and from the Rio Grande to San Diego. It is closely allied, in its appearance, as also in many of its habits, both with the Waxwings and the Flycatchers.

This species was first detected within the United States by Colonel McCall, who obtained it in California in 1852. Its habits, as he observed them, partook of those of the true Flycatcher. They are said to be remarkable for their slender, active form, in which their long and ample tail, and the elongated feathers of their head, capable of being erected into a crest, are conspicuous features. Colonel McCall first met with them in a clump of trees on the borders of a mountain brook, between Valliecita and El Chino. A number of them were together actively engaged in the pursuit of insects. They were light and graceful on the wing, though less swift and decided in their motions than the true Flycatchers. In these evolutions the bright white spot on the wing, visible only when the wing is spread, was quite conspicuous, and in fine contrast with the glossy black of the general plumage. In his journey Colonel McCall afterwards met this bird several times, either in small companies or singly. They were always either on mountain sides, or in the timbered borders of mountain streams.

Mr. Dresser obtained two specimens of this species at Eagle Pass. One of these had its stomach filled with the berries of a species of mistletoe that grows abundantly on the mezquite-trees. He noticed that it carries its crest erect and much recurved, after the manner of the European Parus cristatus.

Sumichrast states that this species, called Reyecito, is well distributed throughout the Plateau of Mexico, but only ranges in the valley of the Orizaba, to the height of about 1,500 metres, rarely coming as far as that. It is also common at Tehauntepec and other places.

Dr. Cooper found them quite numerous, in winter, near the Colorado. He also found them common, in December, about the Mohave River, and in summer, from Los Angeles to San Diego. They were found to prefer the trees in which the mistletoe grows, on the berries of which they largely feed, though they occasionally pursue insects in a zigzag course similar to that of the Sayornis nigricans.

They almost constantly utter a loud cry of alarm, and when pursued are very wild. When wounded, they conceal themselves so closely in the thick tufts of the mistletoe as to be found with difficulty. Many left the Colorado Valley in April, but a few remained. Their notes Dr. Cooper describes as similar to those of the Crested Flycatchers, but sweeter.

It was found by Feilner, at Fort Crook, in April, 1860, but has not been met with near the coast so far to the north.

A nest of this bird, obtained by Dr. Cooper, on the 27th of April, was built on a horizontal branch of the mezquite (Algarobia), twelve feet from the ground. It was found near Fort Mohave, on the Colorado River. The nest is a very flat structure, four inches in diameter, and less than two in height. The cavity is less than an inch in depth. The nest is made almost entirely of hempen or flax-like fibres of plants, interwoven with fine grasses, stems of plants, and stalks of a larger size. It is lined with a soft downy substance of a vegetable character.

The eggs, two in number, are of an oblong-oval shape, nearly equal at either end, and with a ground-color of a light slate, tinged with a yellowish-green. They are marked and blotched equally over the entire egg, with spots and blotches of various lines, from a light, faint, obscure purple to deeper tints of purplish-brown, even to black. It is a very marked egg, and unique in its appearance. They measure .90 by .60 of an inch.

Section MYIADESTEÆ.

Char. Tarsus slender, longer than middle toe and claw; undivided as in Turdidæ. Toes deeply cleft. Wings more pointed; second quill much longer than secondaries. Lateral tail-feathers cuneate, or narrowing from base towards tip; generally whitish at end of inner web. Quills with their extreme bases, especially of inner webs, buffy yellow, showing a light patch inside. Head not crested, though the feathers sometimes full. In the young all the feathers with light rounded spots. Pre-eminent as melodious singers.

But a single genus of this group belongs to the United States, although two others (Cichlopsis and Platycichla?) occur in South America. As already stated, the affinities of Myiadesteæ are much closest to Turdidæ, and this would seem the proper family for it.

Genus MYIADESTES, Swainson.

Myiadestes, Swainson, Jard. Nat. Library, XIII. Flycatchers, “1838,” 132. (Type, M. genibarbis, Sw.)

Gen. Char. Occipital feathers full and soft. Plumage rather loose. Bill weak, much depressed. Commissure nearly straight. Hind toe longer than inner lateral. Toes deeply cleft. Closed wing externally with an exposed light band across the base of the quills, and another nearer the end, separated by a darker one. Tail somewhat graduated on the sides.

The only two species closely related to the M. townsendi are the M. unicolor and M. obscurus, which belong to Mexico. They may be distinguished as follows:—

An ochraceous band across base of secondaries and upper primaries, conspicuous on outer surface.

1. M. townsendi. Generally dull ashy, paler beneath. Throat and abdomen whitish. Hab. Middle and Pacific Provinces of United States only.

No ochraceous on outer webs of secondaries and primaries.

Dr. Newberry, in his report on the Zoölogy of Lieutenant Williamson’s explorations, mentions finding this bird very abundant in the Des Chutes Basin. It did not frequent either dense forests or prairies destitute of trees, but seemed to select surfaces covered with a scattered growth of pine and cedar. His party first met with it at the base of Mount Jefferson, in the cañon of Mpto-ly-as River. In picking his way with infinite difficulty down this gorge, his attention was drawn by its new and attractive song. There were several of them in the pines and cedars growing on the face of the cliff. He describes its song as clear, full, and melodious, like that of a true Mimus. The next day, as he followed down the river, in the bottom of the cañon the deep gorge was filled with a chorus of sweet sounds from thousands of these birds. He describes them as having a habit of sitting on the branch of a tree projecting over a stream, or hanging from some projecting crag, and at times flying out in narrow circles, after insects, precisely in the manner of Flycatchers.

Afterwards, in another cañon, the terraced banks of which were sparsely set with low trees of the Western cedar, he again found these birds quite numerous, and had every opportunity both of hearing and of seeing them, watching them for hours while feeding and singing. They began their songs with the first dawn of day, and at sunrise the valley was perfectly vocal with their music. He describes their song as not greatly varied, but speaks of all their notes as particularly clear and sweet, and with strains of pure gushing melody that were both spontaneous and inspiring. At that time, September 30, they were feeding on the berries of the cedar. They were very shy, and could only be obtained by stratagem.

Dr. Kennerly, in his Report on the birds observed in the explorations under the charge of Lieutenant Whipple, speaks of meeting with these birds in the Rocky Mountains, in the vicinity of the Pueblo of Zuñi, in New Mexico. Thence, westward, he occasionally met with it, and usually in the cedar thickets.

Dr. Suckley mentions, in his Report on the Zoölogy of Washington Territory, obtaining a specimen of this species at Fort Steilacoom, April 28, 1856. It was very wild and difficult of approach. It was the only specimen obtained, and he considered it accidental west of the Cascade Mountains. Dr. Cooper, in the same Report, speaks of obtaining a specimen near Fort Laramie in October, where it seemed to be not uncommon.

He met with only a few of this species among some junipers on the western slope near the summit, in September, 1863. He has always met with them nearly singly. Dr. Henry found them at Fort Webster, New Mexico, in large numbers, both in fall and in winter. Their home, Dr. Cooper thinks, seems to be in the vicinity of the great deserts of the central regions, or the cedar-covered mountains that intersect them.

Dr. Woodhouse obtained several specimens on the Zuñi Mountains in New Mexico, and from there westward found it exceedingly abundant. Its food seemed to be exclusively berries, and chiefly those of the cedar.

Dr. Coues also found these birds rare summer residents in Arizona, and confirms its possession of rare local powers, producing a rich, sweet, and finely modulated song.

Mr. Robert Ridgway, in accompanying Mr. King’s party of explorations, writes that he found this curious bird only occasionally, most frequently among the pines of the Sierra Nevada, and only once or twice among the mountains east of that range. In July, 1867, he found a nest of this bird. It was in a deep ravine on the western slope of the Sierras, at an altitude of five thousand feet. It was placed in a cavity of the rocks forming the perpendicular upper bank of a sluice constructed for mining purposes, through which ran the waters of a considerable mountain stream. The nest was about a foot above the water, and was as bulky as that of the Harporhynchus rufus, and similarly constructed, being composed almost entirely of sticks. It contained four young. When he approached, the female was much excited, flying before, or running on the ground in the manner of a true Thrush. Mr. Ridgway makes no mention of its song.

Mr. Lord met with these birds only once, and then at Colville, towards the end of November. All the leaves had fallen, the ground was deeply covered with snow, and the cold was intense. His attention was first attracted by hearing a low sweet song, not unlike that of the Song Thrush of Europe, which at that season was a most unusual sound. On looking around he saw about twenty of these birds perched on the top sprays of some white thorn-bushes. In their mode of darting off and returning again they reminded him of a Shrike. He shot six, and could detect no material difference in plumage between males and females. In the stomachs of those he opened were the remains of small coleopterous insects and a few haws.