130 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



inch by .70. One of the nests was in a low mesquite-tree, another in a dense 

 cluster of dead twigs hanging from a cottonwood. The time required for 

 hatching was twelve or thirteen days, and in a fortnight more the young left 

 the nest. Dr. Cooper found nests with eggs as late as May 25, and had no 

 doubt that they raise two or more broods in a season. He adds that tlie 

 song of the male, throughout April and May, is precisely like that of P. fics- 

 cus, and also reminded him of the notes of F. oregonus and of the eastern 

 Black-throated Bunting {Euspiza americana). 



Dr. Coues has kindly supplied me with the following interesting sketch of 

 this species, as observed by liim in Arizona : — 



" This species appears to have a remarkably restricted geographical distri- 

 bution. I never saw it at Fort Whipple, but on the Colorado bottom in the 

 same latitude, and thence along the river to Fort Yuma, I found it to be one 

 of the most abundant and characteristic birds of all. At the time I observed 

 it, in September, it was generally in small flocks, and proved rather difficult 

 to capture, partly because the dense underbrush it inhabited was almost im- 

 penetrable, and partly on account of its natural timidity. Everything along 

 the river-bottom is scorched with the heat, and the dry dead twigs constantly 

 snap at a touch, with such noise that it is almost impossible to force a pas- 

 sage through the underbrush without alarming all its inmates. The bird 

 occurs everywhere along the river-side, but is particularly numerous on the 

 patches of mesquite, and the extensive areas grown up to young willows and 

 cotton woods, and tlie arrow wood {Tessaria horcalis). Its ordinary cry of 

 alarm, if not its call-note, is a loud, clear chirp, very different from the mew- 

 ing sound made under similar circumstances by its congener, the P. mcga- 

 lonyx. The latter, as is well known, is almost exactly like that of a Catbird. 

 I never heard the song of this bird, which appears to sing only during the 

 breeding-season, but Dr. Cooper says it reseml^les that of the western Black 

 Pipilos, and I can indorse his observation, that this is curiously like the mo- 

 notonous notes of the Black-throated Bunting, — Chip, chip, chce-chce-chee ; 

 the Hrst two syllables deliberately pronounced, the others more rapidly enun- 

 ciated, with greater emphasis. The associates of this species seem to be few, 

 if indeed they be not confined to the P. mesolcucus, a very near ally. The 

 moult seems to me unusually protracted, as many September specimens were 

 still in poor plumage. 



" Excepting my experience with this bird on the Colorado, I only met with 

 it on the Hassayampa, a small stream a few miles from Fort Whipple, yet in 

 a somewhat different region, across a slight mountain-ridge, lower and warmer. 

 Two specimens were secured, adult and young, the first week in August." 



Dr. Coues, on his way from Arizona to the Pacific (Ibis, 1866, p. 261), 

 mentions that he was often startled by the loud, clear, sharp chirp of this 

 bird, which, though fringilline in character, is more than usually powerful, 

 and is its alarm-note. Everywhere in the Colorado A^alley this was one of 

 the most characteristic birds. Fort Yuma seemed to be its head-quarters. It 



