FRINGILLID.^ — THE FINCHES. 75 



served in the greatest numbers, in May, in the rich valley of the Truckee, in 

 company with Bullock's Oriole, tlie Louisiana Tanager, and other species, 

 feeding upon the buds of the "grease-wood." It principally inhabits the 

 willows along the rivers, and the shrubbery skirting the streams of the 

 mountain canons. In its manners and notes Mr. Eidgway regards this 

 bird as an exact counterpart of the eastern species, the Hedymeles ludovici- 

 anus, its song being by no means superior. The peculiar and very odd dick 

 of the ludovicianus is said to be equally characteristic of this bird. Mr. 

 Eidgway met with its nests in willows, about ten feet from the ground. He 

 had evidence that the male bird assists the female in the duties of incu- 

 bation. 



This bird, though a common summer resident in the Great Salt Lake Val- 

 ley, had all migrated, according to Mr. Allen, by the 1st of September. It 

 is well known there as the Peabird, from its fondness for green peas, of 

 which it is very destructive. 



According to Dr. Cooper, this Grosbeak arrives in California, near San 

 Diego, about April 12. It is numerous during the summer throughout the 

 mountains both of the coast and of the Sierra Nevada, and extends its mi- 

 grations at least as far as Puget Sound. It is often kept in confinement 

 on account of its loud, sweet song. In the Coast Mountains, in May, its 

 music is said to be delightful, the males vying with each other from the tops 

 of the trees, and making the hills fairly ring with their melody. 



Dr. Cooper found a nest of tins bird. May 12, at the eastern base of the 

 Coast Range. It was built in a low horizontal branch of an alder, and con- 

 sisted of a few sticks and weeds, very loosely put together, with a lining of 

 grass and roots. The eggs, three in number, he describes as of a pale bluish- 

 white ground, thickly spotted with brown, more densely near the larger end. 

 Their size he gives as .95 by .70 of an inch. 



Dr. Cooper also states that they frequent the ground in search of food, but 

 also live much on trees, feeding on their buds. They are not gregarious, 

 assembling only in family groups in the fall. They do not fiy high, nor do 

 they make any noise in flying. 



He has observed these birds at Santa Cruz April 12, or as early as he saw 

 them at San Diego, three hundred and fifty miles farther south, and has 

 found a young bird fledged as early as May 23. 



Dr. Coues speaks of this bird as an abundant summer resident of Arizona, 

 where it arrives by the first of May, and remains until the latter part of 

 September. He speaks of it as frequenting the thick brush of the ravines 

 and the cottonwood and willow copses of the ri\'er-bottonis. Its call-note 

 resembles that of Lopliortyx gamhcli. Its song, he says, is superb, — a 

 powerful, l)ut melodious succession of clear, rich, rolling notes, reminding 

 one somewhat of the Icterus haltimore. 



Dr. Suckley speaks of this bird being sparingly found in the vicinity of 

 Fort Steilacoom, Puget Sound, where he obtained two specimens. 



