LOCAL AVIFAUNA OF TOE GREAT BASIN. 323 



Indeed, to realize how attractive the river-valleys must be to the feathered 

 tribe, one has but to cross the almost Hmitless desert on either side, with a 

 scorching sun overhead and little else than glaring, heated sand beneath 

 his feet, and after thus suffering all day come suddenly to the verge of 

 one of these lovely valleys, with the fields and groves of verdure close 

 by, while the refreshing breeze brings to the ear the rippling of cooling 

 waters and the glad voices of the birds ! The meny little Wood- Wrens 

 {Troglodytes parkmanni) gabble and chatter among the trunks and massive 

 branches of the old cotton- wood trees ; black-and-orange orioles {Icterus 

 hullocki) and crimson-headed linnets {Carpodacus frontalis) whistle plaint- 

 ively or chant a cheerful ditty as they sport among the leafy branches, 

 while from the willows or the more open thickets is heard the mellow flute- 

 like song of the Black-headed Grosbeak {Hedymeles melanocephalus). 



The birds most characteristic of the wooded river-valleys are the 

 following: — 



1. Sialia mexicana. 



2. Troglodytes parkmauui. 



3. Dendrceca iestiva. 



4. Geothlypis tricbas. 



5. Icteria longicauda. 

 C. Myiodioctes pusillus. 



7. Tachycineta bicolor. 



8. Vireosylvia swainsoni. 



9. Carpodacus frontalis. 



10. Chrysomitris tristis. 



11. Cyanospiza amcena. 



12. Pipilo oregonus. 



13. Icterus bullocki. 



14. Pica biulsoDica. 



15. Tyrannus caroliuensis. 



16. Tyrannus verticalis. 



17. Myiarclius cinerascens. 

 IS. Coutopus ricbardsoni. 



19. Eiupidonax pusillus. 



20. Coccyzus ainericanus. 



21. Nepbcecetes borealis. 



22. Obstura vauxi. 



23. Otus wilsonianus. 



24. Falco sparveriiis. 



25. Zenaedura carolinensis. 



6. Birds of the sage-brush. — The term "sage-brush" is the western 

 vernacular for that shrubby growth which prevails over the valleys, mesas, 

 and desert mountain-slopes of the Great Basin to the utter exclusion of all 

 other vegetation, except in isolated and extremely restricted places. One 

 species, the. "everlasting sage-brush" {Artemisia tridmtata), composes by 

 far the larger part of that growth, "covering valleys and foot-hills in broad 

 stretches farther than the eye can reach, the gi-owth never so dense as to 

 seriously obstruct the way, but very uniform over large surfaces, very 

 rarely reaching to the saddle-height of a mule, and ordinarily but half that 



