80 ZOOLOGY. 



forests of yellow pine, where animal life was almost wholly wanting, and where no sounds, 

 except those made hy our party, or the mournful sighing of the wind in the tops of the pine 

 trees, ever fell upon our ears. Through extensive districts, even the flutter and chirp of the 

 omnipresent creeper was wanting ; not even the hum of a solitary insect was heard ; hut every- 

 where a death-like monotony, a solitude and silence most depressing to the spirits and barren 

 of results. 



TROGLODYTES PALUSTRIS. 



Marsh Wren. 



We found the nests of this bird in the rushes on the shores of Rhett lake, and the hird in 

 several marshes in California and Oregon. 



TROGLODYTES BEWICKII. 



Bewick's Wren. 



Not uncommon in hushes and among fallen logs between Fort Reading and the Columbia. 

 The "fallen timber" of the Oregon spruce forest districts, covered with the huge interlocked 

 trunks of fallen trees, is a favorite habitat of this wren. 



TROGLODYTES OBSOLETUS. 

 The Rock Wren. 

 This wren we found inhabiting piles of broken trap rock on the shores of the Klamath lakes, 

 and on the Des Chutes river. 



SIALIA OCCIDENTALS. 



The Western Blue-bird. 



This interesting bird, one of the most striking of the many representative species which the 

 eastern naturalist finds at the west, is nearly as abundant on the Pacific coast as the common 

 blue-bird (S. Wilsonii) is in tbe valley of the Mississippi. It fills a corresponding place in the 

 western fauna, and in all its habits is the counterpart of its eastern relative. The note and 

 plumage are, however, slightly different, and yet so like, that, when camping on the Des Chutes, 

 for months without a word from friends or home, I used to watch the blue-birds with peculiar 

 interest as they came with characteristic familiarity about our camp ; when all was quiet, drop- 

 pino' down from a hanging branch within ten feet of us, to pick up the crumbs scattered about 

 the camp-fire, in all their movements and their soothing note recalling vividly the scenes of 

 other years and distant lands. 



CINCLUS AMERICANUS. 

 The American Dipper. 



This singular little bird I found only in the rapid and shallow streams in the Cascade moun- 

 tains. It was always flitting along in the bed of the stream, from time to time plunging into 

 the water and disappearing, but soon reappearing across or up or down the stream, skipping 

 from stone to stone, constantly in motion, jerking its tail and turning its body with much the 

 manners of the wrens, occasionally uttering a short and sharp chirp. 



The only specimen I obtained was killed September 12, and in my notes I find the following 



