268 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Dr. Kennerly met with these birds on the Little Colorado in New Mexico, 

 in December. He found them in great numbers soon after leaving the 

 Eio Grande, and from time to time on the march to California. They seemed 

 to live indifferently in the deep canons among the liills or in the valleys, 

 but were only found near water. 



• Dr. Newberry first met with these birds on the banks of one of the 

 tributaries of the Des Chutes, one hundred miles south of the Columbia, 

 afterwards on the Columbia, but nowhere in large numbers. He regards 

 them as much less gregarious in their habits than Pica nuttalli, as all the 

 birds he noticed were solitary or in pairs, while the Yellow-bills were often 

 seen in flocks of several hundreds. 



All accounts of this bird agree in representing it as frequently a great 

 source of annoyance to parties of exploration, especially in its attacks 

 upon horses worn down and galled by fatigue and privations. In the mem- 

 orable narrative of Colonel Pike's journey in New Mexico, these birds, ren- 

 dered bold and voracious by want, are described as assembling around that 

 miserable party in great numbers, picking the sore backs of their perishing 

 horses, and snatching at all the food they could reach. The party of Lewis 

 and Clark, who were the first to add this bird to our fauna, also describe them 

 as familiar and voracious, penetrating into their tents, snatching the meat 

 even from their dishes, and frequently, when the hunters w^ere engaged in 

 dressing their game, seizing the meat suspended within a foot or two of 

 their heads. 



Mr. Nuttall, in his tour across the continent, found these birds so familiar 

 and greedy as to be easily taken, as they approached the encampment for 

 food, by the Indian boys, who kept them prisoners. They soon became 

 reconciled to their confinement, and were continually hopping around and 

 tugging and struggling for any offtd thrown to them. 



Observers have reported this bird from different parts of Arizona and New 

 Mexico ; but Dr. Coues writes me that he never saw it at Fort Whipple, or 

 elsewhere in the first-named Territory. He found it breeding, however, in 

 the Eaton Mountains, in June, under the following circumstances, recorded 

 at tlie time in his journal. 



"Yesterday, the 8th, we were rolling over smooth prairie, ascending a 

 little the while, but so gradually that only the change in the flora indicated 

 the difference in elevation. The flow^ery verdure was passed, scrubby junipers 

 came thicker and faster, and pine-clad mountain-tops took shape before us. 

 We made the pass to-day, rounding along a picturesque ravine, and the 

 noon halt gave me a chance to see something of the birds. Troops of 

 beautiful Swallows were on wing, and as their backs turned in their way- 

 ward flight, the violet-green colors betrayed the species. A colony of them 

 were breeding on the face of a cliff, apparently like H. lunifrons, but the 

 nests were not accessible. Whilst I was watching their movements, a harsh 

 scream attracted my attention, and the next moment a beautiful Magpie 



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