AMPELID.E — THE CHATTERERS. 411 



Dr. Cooper, in his Birds of California, dwells with much emphasis upon 

 the delightful melody of this species. Having always found them silent, and 

 with haljits like the Flycatchers', he was quite unprepared to hear them sing- 

 ins in tlie Sierra Nevada, and, if he had not obtained the bird, would not 

 have believed that one of this family was capable of singing with such 

 power. Their song, he says, can be compared with nothing uttered by any 

 other bird he has ever heard in the United States ; for, he adds, it excels that 

 of the Mocking-Bird in sweetness, besides being entirely original. 



He met with only a few of this species among some junipers on the west- 

 ern slope near the summit, in September, 1863. He has always met with 

 them nearly singly. Dr. Henry found them at Fort Webster, New Mexico, 

 in large numbers, both in fall and in winter. Their home. Dr. Cooper thinks, 

 seems to be in the viciidty of the great deserts of the central regions, or the 

 cedar-covered mountains that intersect them. 



Dr. Woodhouse obtained several specimens on the Zufii Mountains in 

 New jMexico, and from there westward found it exceedingly abundant. Its 

 food seemed to be exclusively berries, and chiefly those of the cedar. 



Dr. Coues also found these birds rare summer residents in Arizona, and 

 confirms its jDossession of rare local i^owers, producing a rich, sweet, and 

 finely modulated song. 



Mr. Eobert Eidgway, in accompanying Mr. King's party of explorations, 

 writes that he found this curious bird only occasionally, most frequently 

 among tlie pines of the Sierra Nevada, and only once or twice among the 

 mountains east of that range. In July, 1867, he found a nest of this bird. 

 It was in a deep ravine on the western slope of the Sierras, at an altitude of 

 five thousand feet. It was placed in a cavity of tlie rocks forming the per- 

 pendicular upper bank of a sluice constructed for mining purposes, through 

 whicli ran the waters of a considerable mountain stream. The nest was about 

 a foot above the water, and was as bulky as that of the Harporlujiichus rufus, 

 and similarly constructed, being composed almost entirely of sticks. It con- 

 tained four young. When he approached, the female was nuich excited, fly- 

 ing before, or running on the ground in the manner of a true Thrush. IMr. 

 Eidgway makes no mention of its song. 



Mr. Lord met with these birds only once, and then at Colville, towards the 

 end of November. All the leaves had fallen, the ground was deeply covered 

 with snow, and the cold was intense. His attention was first attracted by 

 hearing a low sweet song, not unlike that of the Song Thrush of Europe, 

 which at that season was a most unusual sound. On looking around he 

 saw about twenty of these birds perched on the top sprays of some white 

 thorn-buslies. In their mode of darting off and returning again they re- 

 minded him of a Shrike. He shot six, and could detect no material 

 difference in plumage between males and females. In the stomaclis of 

 those he opened were the remains of small coleopterous insects and a few 

 haws. 



