152 



ZOOLOGY BIRDS. 



one of the most numerously represented species. Their food at this season 

 is quite varied, and their habits differ to a corresponding degree. Daring 

 the summer, insects, worms, etc., constitute the bill of fare, and as a con- 

 sequence they spend much of the time on the ground, or in the low bushes, 

 though they are by no means inexpert in catching insects on the wing. 

 During the fall months, however, they seem to prefer the small fruits and soft 

 berries to all other food; and near Camp Bowie the bushes were crowded with 

 these birds, and one or two other species, and, by their combined numbers, the 

 fruit was stripped off as fast as it ripened, the greedy gluttons feasting till 

 they became fairly gorged with the fruit, and their feathers stained with the 

 juices. Later still, but not till this rich harvest is all exhausted, they retire 

 to the cedars, and subsist largely upon the berries. In nesting, they often 

 select one of the many species of cactus found through this region, particu- 

 larly the Choia cactus ; and the structure, composed of thorny twigs and 

 briers, and placed in one of these plants, is encircled on all sides by spear- 

 like points, impervious to all creatures unless provided with wings. To get 

 at their contents myself I have often been compelled to hew a path through 

 with my hunting-knife. By July 20 all the nests examined contained 

 young. 



GALEOSCOPTES CAROLINENSIS (L.). 

 Catbird. 



Muscieapa carolinennis, LINN., Syst. Nat., i, 170G, 328. 



Mimus carolinensis, BD., Birds N. A., 1858, 340. COOPEII, Am. Nat., iii, 18G9, 73 (coin- 

 mon across llocky Mountains to Coeur d'Alene Mission). SNOW, Birds Kan.. 

 1872, !). ALLEN, Bui. Mils, (lump. Zoo'!., iii, 1872, 174 (Eastern and Middle 

 Kansas; Colorado ; Ogden, Utah). COUES, Key N. A. Birds, 1872,74. 

 ALLEN, Proc. Host. Soc. Nat. Hist., June, 1874, 15, 17, 19. COUES, U. S. 

 Geol. Surv. Terr., 1874, 8. 



