26 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 I'abt i 



the Arizona bii'd. He says that this race, in comparison with sinuaia, 

 is shghtly smaller, with "paler and more fulvous coloration, and a 

 virtual absence of black intermixture in the red of the face and crest 

 of the males * * *." In rearrangement of the races found within the 

 United States, he assigns P. s. sinuata (Bonaparte) to the "Lower 

 Austral Zone of southern and southeastern New Mexico, southeast- 

 ward across Texas and south through Mexico to Puebla and Zaca- 

 tecas." He gives the T&ngeoi P.s.fulvescens y&n'Rossem.&s: "South- 

 central Aiizona, from the vicinity of Tucson south, through the Lower 

 Sonoran and Arid Tropical Zones of Sonora, Sinaioa, western Du- 

 rango and Naj^arit." 



If one takes Mr. Bent's comments literally, this statement of the 

 range of the Arizona bird is somewhat inaccurate. There are large 

 areas of the Lower Sonoran Zone where no pyrrhuloxias are to be 

 found. It is a bird of the mesquite edge, and this edge is usually the 

 border of a large arroyo, or a remnant of mesquite forest on the bank 

 of an eroded river vaUey, or the thorny brush at the lower, widened 

 portion of a mountain canyon. The deeper river bottom growth of 

 cotton woods and willov/s and the fringe of Baccharis and Hymenoclea 

 in the sands may harbor a few cardinals, but seldom pyrrhuloxias. 

 On adjacent farmlands on the benches above the larger intermittent 

 rivers, man has created a most favorable habitat. His fences, over- 

 grown untidily with mesquite, hackberry, and elder, furnish shelter, 

 nesting sites, and food; there is food, too, in the cultivated fields 

 nearby. 



The pyrrhuloxia is common to abundant along the Santa Cruz 

 River from Tucson southward; it follows the San Pedro River from 

 Aravaipa Creek to the Mexican border. Sutton and Phillips (1942) 

 reported it from various points in the Papago Indian Reservation 

 westward as far as the border of the Organ Pipe Cactus National 

 Monument. It ranges to the live oak edge of the Upper Sonoran 

 Zone at Oracle, at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains, and in 

 the Santa Rita Mountains. Bailey (1923) reported it as found "in 

 Madera Canyon at 4,900 feet, where there was a patch of Lower 

 Sonoran mesquite." Swarth (1929) found it at the "north end and 

 along the western base of the Santa Ritas." Phillips (1933) found it 

 at the Fresnal ranch at 4,000 feet in the Baboquivari Mountains. 

 Brandt (1951) thought they were more numerous along the San Pedro 

 River than along the Santa Cruz. 



No migration has been observed, although concentrations of birds in 

 the winter, probably near plentiful food supplies, sometimes give the 

 impression of group wanderings. Christmas bird counts are revealing 

 in regard to abundance. In most localities in Texas, P. s. sinuata is 

 far outnumbered by the cardinal. Near Tucson P. s. Julvescens is 



