42 U. S. p. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA. 



This bird, thougli well known as a Mexican species, is now for the first time added to the 

 fauna of California. I first discovered it on the desert extending between the Tejon pass and 

 tlic Mohave river, where its purse-shaped nest, placed on the brandies of the cactus, at no great 

 height from the ground, is frequently to be met with. The nest, composed of grasses and 

 lined with feathers, has an entrance in the form of a covered passage, varying from six to ten 

 inches in length. The eggs, six in number, are of a delicate salmon color, very pale, and often 

 so thickly speckled with ash and darker salmon colored spots as to give a rich cast to the whole 

 surface of the egg. I sometimes stopped to open these nests, as the feathers with which they 

 were lined often indicated that certain species of birds were to be found in their neighborhood. 

 The naturalist, thus put on the alert, will more readily obtain such of those species as may 

 have escaped his eye. In this manner I discovered the uttermost western range of the blue 

 partridge, {Callipepla squamata, Vigors.) I obtained, at a later period, other specimens of this 

 wren in the valley of the San Fernando Mission, in San Bernardino valley, in the vicinity of 

 Fort Yuma, and finally in Texas^ in certain portions of which it is by no means rare. Its 

 habits are like those of the wrens, creeping into holes and under the leaves and grass in 

 search ol insects. It' wounded only it is easily lost, running or fluttering to a ground squirrel's 

 hole, or any other cavity, where it takes refuge. On the Mohave desert, having winged one 

 of these birds, it was discovered only on lifting a hollow log in which it had taken shelter and 

 throwing it several times violently on the ground, when it struggled out in vain endeavors to 

 escape. 



LOPHOPHANES INORNATUS, Gambel .— Plain Chicadee. 



Parm inarnalus, Gambel, Proceed. Acad. N. Scien. Phil. vol. II, p. 265. — 1b. Journal Ac. N. S. Phil. 2d series, 



vol. I, p. 35, pi. 8, 6g. 2. 

 Lc^hjphanes inornatus, Baird, Gen. I!ep. IX, 386. 



Abundant throughout the country, and possessing an almost endless variety of notes. 

 PARUS RUFESCENS, Towns .—Chestnut-backed Titmouse or Chicadee. 



Parus rtifescens, Towns. Journ. Acad. N. Scien. Phil. vol. VII, p. 190. — Ano. B. of A. Oct. vol. II, p. 158, pi. 129. — 

 Ib. Fol. pi. 353, figs. 1 and 2. 



This bird and its nestlings I found in the month of July frequenting the stunted oaks and 

 bushes covering the sand hills around San Francisco, where it appears not to be rare. I never 

 saw it in any other part of California, though said by Mr. Audubon to be an abundant species 

 in Oregon and on the Columbia river. 



PARUS MONTANUS, G a m b e 1 .—Rocky Mountain Chicadee. 



Parus montanuf, Gambel, Proceed. Acad. N. Scien. Phil. vol. I, p. 259. — Is. Journal Ac. N. S. Phil. 2d series, 

 vol. I, p. 35, pi. 8, fig. I. 



Dr. Gambel first brought from California a single specimen of this bird, which he presented 

 to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, but which by some mishap was lost soon after 

 the figure had been drawn for the journal of that institution. In 1851 I met with two small 

 flocks of these birds in company with the Psaltria minima, on the mountains surrounding the 

 volcano, in the southern mines, and again during the late survey on the summit of the Tejon 

 Pass, associated with several species of Sylvicola, which were th^n migrating south. In its 

 movements it is restless, diligently gleaning its food, consisting of insects, in the moss and 



