1923 BIRDS OF THE SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS 35 



over the dry river bottoms, one flock of thirty or forty talking softly with a 

 continuous croaking kackack-kackack, as they rose higher and higher, perhaps 

 to 600 or 700 feet; when they gradually drifted off until only ten were left 

 overhead. On March 4, a hundred and twenty White-necks w^ere counted, 

 luulling in the sky. On February 28, a Turkey Vulture was driven off and 

 on March 4, a Red-tailed Hawk that had joined the flock in the sky was 

 chased by a Raven. On March 9, they were noticed flying in twos as if the 

 breeding season were approaching. 



After the middle of February a feAV questionable birds were seen between 

 Continental and the Nicholson Ran'^h, and on Ai)ril 1, five with the undoubted 

 voice of cryptoh'Kviis passed by oin camp at 4,000 feet. On April 5, after the 

 snowstorm, fifteen were seen gathering to roost in the timbered bottom of the 

 gulch below camp. On April 11, at sunset, over sixty were counted flying up 

 the gulch toward camp, where they gathered in the mesquites for their sum- 

 mer roost. On April 15, when disturbed there they rose with an actual roar, 

 and we were told by the Nicholsons that during the previous summer when 

 they had been roosting in the same place they made so much noise that their 

 suffering neighbors finally broke up the roost. On April 20. at sunset, we 

 found about twenty of the birds perching on the pasture water tank and 

 standing around on the ground below. When the wind l)lew u}) the neck 

 feathers of one the white showed well underneath. 



Molothrus ater obscurus. Dwarf Cowbird 



One Avas taken by Stephens, May 20, 1881. in Madera Canyon, and others- 

 by Nelson, June 24 and 26, 1884, at Gardner's Rar.eh. It was found by Swarth 

 in June, 1908, "fairly abundant, though not nearly so common as in 

 the lowlands.'' One young lurd wavS being fed by a Plumbeous Gnatcatcher. 

 One or tAvo small flocks were seen by Howell, August 15-19, 1918, on their 

 way to the milo patch, nepr C*ontinental. 



Tangavius aeneus aeneus. Bronzed Cowbird 



One visited our bird table on May 1, 1921, when he ate and drank and 

 then disappeared. 



Sturnella magna hoopesi. Rio Grande Meadowlark 



Specimens were taken by Stephens, Jul}' 22 and 24, 1884, at Camp Crit- 

 tenden. 



Sturnella neglecta. Western Meadowlark 



MeadowUirks of one or the other species were seen by us on the o})en 

 grassy slopes of the foothills, on the Santa Rita Range Reserve and sometimes 

 on the mesquite slopes, from December 4 on, during the winter of 1920-1921. 

 Nine were seen January 15, and a flock of at least twenty-five on February 

 4. Tn the warm, irrigated Santa Cruz bottoms near Continental they Avere 



