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ZOOLOGY BIRDS. 



They are quite common, in the fall, in Eastern Arizona and Western 

 New Mexico. Having reared their young, these birds appear to forsake the 

 pine woods, which constitute their summer abode, and appear lower down 

 on the hill sides, covered with pifion and cedars. Their food at this season 

 appears to consist almost exclusively of berries, particularly from the pinons 

 and cedars, and the crops of many examined contained little else save a few 

 insects. The habit of catching insects on the wing, after the manner of the 

 Flycatchers, which is attributed to this bird, appears to be not a common 

 one, or, as is likely the case, the bird varies its habits in different localities, 

 as, of hundreds I have seen at different seasons, none were ever thus engaged, 

 nor have I ever seen them searching among the leaves for insects, like the 

 thrushes. In their usual manner of procuring food, as in their habits and 

 motions generally, they have always seemed to me nearly allied to the Blue- 

 birds. Though in summer a bird of retiring and unsocial habits, and never 

 more than a single pair being found in a locality, in the fall they are to a 

 considerable extent gregarious, associating usually in small companies of 

 from five to ten. At the Old Crater, forty miles south of Zufli, N. Mex., 

 they had congregated in very large numbers about a spring of fresh water, 

 the only supply for many miles around ; and hundreds were to be seen sit- 

 ting on the bare volcanic rocks, apparently too timid to venture down and 

 slake their thirst while we were camped near by. Their song is occasionally 

 heard even in November and December, and is very sweet, but not so full 

 and varied as during the vernal season. 



