68 



OKOTTHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 5 



infoiinatioii that the place was scourged with 

 small-pox and was under no sanitary regu- 

 lations, made us more than ever enjoy looliing 

 for birds among tiie green trees along thebanlis 

 of the river. The Magdalena river is a stream 

 of varying dimensions wiruli flows by tlietown, 

 and by means of irrigation from its water sup- 

 ))ly, very fertile gardens are maintained in tills 

 vicinity. 



VVlien we tirst saw this stream in the morn- 

 ing we could almost step across it. At 3 p. m., 

 it was a seethirig torrent over three hundred 

 yaids wide, and by eight o'clock the next 

 morning, it was again a quiet, muddy stream, 

 perhaps thirty feet wide. 



Along its banks were willows of considerable 

 size, and many smaller bushes, maliing in 

 many places veiitalile thickets, wliich, with tlie 

 gardens, made the home of many birds, which 

 in the nioiiiing made the air ring with song. 



About twenty-live species of birds were seen 

 here, viz. : 



1. Ganibel's Partridge, {Callipepla gambcli). 



2. Mourning Dove (Zenaidura macroura). 



3. White-winged Dove (Mc.lnpetia leucoptera) . 



4. Ground Dove ColumbUjaUina passi-rina). 



5. Buzzard (('atliiirti's nura). 



6. Texas Kingfisher (Ccri/lf. cabanisi). 



7. Vellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus umeriiytn- 

 us). 



8. llumnungliird, s p? 



9. Crow, s p? 



10. Dwarf Cowbii'd (Mdlathrus ater ohscurus) . 



11. Home Finch {Carpodacus mezicanus fron- 

 talis) . 



12. Arizona Goldfinch (iSjiiniis psaUria arizo- 

 ncc). 



13. Song Spariow, s p? 



14. Arizona Cardinal {Cardinalis cardiiialis 

 superbus). 



15. Black-headed Grosbeak? (Habia melano- 

 cephala). 



16. Blue Grosbeak {Guiraca carulea). 



17. Coopei-"s Tanager {Piranga rubra cooperi). 



18. Cliff'Swallow (Pctrochelidon lunifrons). 



19. Barn Swallow {Chididim erythraijaster). 



20. Bank Swallow (Clivicola rijxiria). 



21. Western Warbling Vireo (Virco ijilvus 

 stvaiiisoni). 



22. Western Yellovv-tliroat {Genthhjins trirhas 

 orcidentalis). 



23. Long-tailed < 'bat (Irteria virciis longirau- 

 da). 



24. Mocking Bird {MimnspohjijInUns'). 



2.5. Baird's Wren {Thnjuthdrus hcu-ickii bairdi) . 



Perhaps the most noticeable of all these were 



the Long-tailed Chat and the little Wliite Dove. 



These were both quite (common, the Dove often 

 coming within a few feet of the train, search- 

 ing about over the sandy ground very much as 

 do our Mourning Doves. Walking about among 

 the bushes near the depot (which, fortunately, 

 is almost a mile from the odorous town;, we 

 saw many Chats, and were most surprised and 

 l)leased to find that the nesting season was not 

 yet over. .Several nests containing fresh eggs 

 of the Chat were found. 



The number of eggs vaiied from one to five, 

 and all were fresh. Two nests of the Wliite- 

 winged Dove were found, with but one egg in 

 each. One set of two of the Mourning Dove 

 and one of two of the Ground Dove were taken. 

 These also were fresh. .Ml these were iilaced 

 at three to ten feet from tlie ground among the 

 willows. 



Two eggs of the Yellow-l)illed Cuckoo were 

 found, fine fresh eggs of Cooper's Tanager, in a 

 nest fifteen feet up in a tall willow, and a 

 Vireo's nest with three eggs, on a limb over- 

 hanging tile Magdalena River. Besides these, 

 several other nests which we were not able to 

 identifj' were found. Several of these were 

 brought to us by the little Mexican boys, who, 

 seeing tliat we cared for such things, were not 

 slow to avail themselves of tlie opportunity to 

 maliC "duo centavos" 1)}' bringing us speci- 

 mens. 



By Thursday morning (Tth), the road ahead 

 of us had been temporarily repaired for a few 

 miles, and our train started on. We would go 

 ahead until we caught up with the work-train 

 (which consisted of about 150 Yaqui Indians), 

 when we would stop until tliey got a few miles 

 and then we would pull forward again. In this 

 way, during the day, we traveled forty-nine 

 miles, and reached (^)ncrobabi where we spent 

 tlie night. During the next day (Friday), we 

 traveled in tlie same waj' )3ut twenty-seven 

 miles, and reached a station called Carbo. This 

 verj' slow traveling afforded us opportunities' 

 for many a reconoitre among the cactus, nies- 

 quite, palo verde, and other scant vegetation 

 along the route. 



These wei-e two very interesting days to us. 

 The vegetation and nearly everything else were 

 new and novel. Several l)irds we had never 

 seen before were found. Among these was the 

 curious little Verdin (Anripanis flavicrps). Its 

 peculiar globular nests were often found, but 

 none contained anything. Palmer's Thrasher 

 was seen occasionally, and a set of three fresh 

 eggs was taken near Querobabi. 



A pair of Vermilion Flycatcbei-s ( Vijrorcphal- 

 us riibini'us iiwxicanug)^ wei'e shot, after we 



