102 BULLETIN 197, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



A bird banded at Modesto, Calif., on February 17, 1935, was killed 

 on January 8, 1938, at Phoenix City, Ala., and another banded at the 

 same place on April 14, 1935, was killed at Meridianville, Ala., on 

 March 29, 1937. Both of these records were carefully verified. An- 

 other Modesto bird banded on April 23, 1939, was killed the following 

 fall at Holden, Utah. One banded at McMillan, Mich., on the Upper 

 Peninsula, on July 2, 1936, was found dead on March 19, 1937, at 

 Muscogee, Fla. 



Casual records. — Early in 1850 two specimens were collected at 

 Stockton-on-Ties, England. 



On September 19, 1925, a young cedar waxwing came on board a 

 ship at latitude 41°58' N., longitude 59°34' W. ; this was more than 

 300 miles from the nearest land. 



Egg dates. — New York: 65 records, June 2 to September 27; 36 

 records, June 15 to 24, indicating the height of the season ; 14 records, 

 July 2 to 30. 



Illinois : 11 records, June 7 to August 19. 



Maine : 14 records, June 11 to August 7 ; 9 records June 19 to 28. 



Oregon : 12 records, June 6 to July 28 ; 7 records, June 20 to 28. 



Family PTILOGONATIDAE : Silky Flycatchers 



PHAINOPEPLA NITENS LEPIDA Van Tyne 

 PHAINOPEPLA 

 , nABITS 



Contributed by Robert S. Woods 



On the deserts of the Southwestern United States, the glossy black 

 phainopepla, with its arboreal and aerial habits, contrasts strikingly 

 with its prevailingly tawny or grayish neighbors, which scurry over 

 the sun-baked soil or seek the shelter of the sparse shrubbery. The 

 phainopepla, however, also finds congenial surroundings in parks and 

 estates whose semiti'opic verdure somehow seems a more appropriate 

 setting for the bird's graceful, refined beauty and gentle manner. 



The range of this subspecies extends from central California, 

 southern Utah, and central western Texas southward through Lower 

 California and northwestern Mexico, the typical form occurring far- 

 ther south in Mexico. Some of the birds winter locally within the 

 United States, principally in the southern deserts of California and 

 Arizona. On the coastal slope of southern California the phainopepla 

 is ordinarily found neither in the mountains nor in the lower valleys, 

 but rather on the oak-covered mesas near the foothills and long water- 

 courses where arborescent shrubs are common. It has, however, been 

 reported by James Stevenson (1933) from an altitude of 6,200 feet 

 near Mount Pinos, on June 12, 1932, and, more surprisingly, a female 



