A NOTABLE QUARTETTE 301 



that ■wonderful winged creature floated about in the 

 cerulean sky; how long I do not know, whether five 

 minutes, or ten, or twenty, but so long that at last I 

 flung myself upon my back and watched him until my 

 eyes ached. He kept his wings in constant motion, the 

 white portions making them appear filmy as the sun 

 shone upon them. Suddenly he bent his head, partly 

 folded his wings, and swept down almost vertically like 

 an arrow, alighting safe somewhere among the pines. 

 I have seen other birds performing aerial evolutions 

 accompanied with song, but have never known one to 

 continue so long on the wing. 



What was this wonderful bird? It was Townsend's 

 solitaire {Myadestes fozcnsendii) — a bird which is pecu- 

 liar to the West, especially to the Rocky IVIountains, 

 and which belongs to the same family as the thrushes 

 and bluebirds. No literature in my possession contains 

 any reference to this bird's astonishing aerial flight and 

 song, and I cannot help wondering whether other bird- 

 students have witnessed the interesting exploit. 



Subsequently I found a pair of solitaires on the 

 plains near Arxada. The male was a powerful singer. 

 , Many of his outbursts were worthy of the mocking-bird, 

 to some of whose runs they bore a close resemblance. 

 He sang almost incessantly during the half day I spent 

 in the neighborhood, my presence seeming to inspire 

 him to the most prodigious lyrical efforts of which he 



