262 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



sceniling tliey would alij,'lit in the top of some tree on the adjoining cliffs. 

 He compares its voice to that ul' the common Catbird. 



Dr. T. C. Henry also repeatedly noticed these birds in the vicinity of Fort 

 Webster, in Xevv ^Mexico. He first met with them near San Miguel, in 

 July, 1852, where he observed a party of about thirty Hitting through the 

 cedars along the roadside. They were chiefly young birds, and were con- 

 stantly alighting on the ground for the purpose of capturing lizards, which 

 they killed with great readiness, and devoured. After that he repeatedly, 

 in winter, saw these birds near Fort Webster, and usually in flocks of about 

 forty or fifty. They evinced great wariness, and were very difficult of ap- 

 proach. 



The flocks would usually alight near the summit of a hill and pass rap- 

 idly down its sides, all the birds keeping quite near to eacli other, and fre- 

 quently alighting on the ground. They appeared to be very social, and kept 

 up a continual twittering note. This bird, so far as Dr. Henry observed it, 

 is exclusively a mountain species, and never seen on the plains or bottom- 

 lands, and was never observed singly, or even in a single pah-, but always in 

 comi3anies. 



Dr. Newberry met with this species in the basin of the Des Chutes, in 

 Oregon. He first noticed it in September. Early every morning flocks of 

 from twenty-five to thirty of these birds came across, in their usual straggling 

 flight, chattering as they flew to the trees on a hill near the camp, and then, 

 from ti'ee to tree, they made their way to the stream to drink. He describes 

 their note, when flying or feeding, as a frequently repeated ca-ca-ca. Some- 

 times, when made by a straggler separated from mate or flock, it was rather 

 loud and harsh, but was usually soft and agreeable. When disturbed, their 

 cry was harsher. They were very shy, and could only be shot by lying in 

 wait for them. Subsequently he had an opportunity of seemg them feed, 

 and of watching them carefully as they were eating the berries of the cedars, 

 and in their habits and cries they seemed closely to resemble Jays. A spe- 

 cimen, previously killed, was found with its crop filled with the seeds of the 

 yellow pine. 



Dr. Cooper has seen specimens of this bird from Washoe, just east of 

 the California State line, and he was informed by Mr. Clarence King that 

 they frequent the junipers on mountains near Mariposa. 



From Dr. Coues we learn that this bird is verj' abundant at Fort ^liipple, 

 where it remains all the year. It breeds in the retired portions of the 

 neighboring mountains of San Francisco and Bill Williams, the young leav- 

 ing the nest in July. As the same birds are ready to fly in April, at Carson 

 City, it may be that they ha\e two broods in Arizona. During the winter 

 they collect in immense flocks, and in one instance Dr. Coues estimates 

 their number at a thousand or more. In a more recent contribution to the 

 Ibis (April, 1872), Dr. Coues gives a more full account of his observations 

 in respect to this bii'd. In regard to geographical range he considers its 



