392 ORNITHOLOGY. 



the Sierra Nevada, where the first individuals of the species were noticed 

 among the scattered pines which formed the outposts of the continuous 

 forest of tlie mountains. From the Sierra Nevada eastward, however, it 

 was continually met witli in all wooded localities, the aspen groves of the 

 higher caflons being its favorite resort during the summer, while in winter 

 it descended to the lower valleys, and passed the season among the willows 

 or cotton-woods and attendant shrubbery along the streams. In the vicinity 

 of Carson City it was extremely abundant from the middle of March until 

 the middle of April, and assembled in large -flocks among the scrubby 

 thickets of dwarf-plum bushes along the base of the Sierra. In Aiiirust 

 they were quite plentiful in the valley of the Truckee, below the "Big Bend," 

 being attracted thither by the abundance of fruit of the buffalo-berry bushes 

 {Shepherdia argentea), which at this time formed an important portion of their 

 food ; and later in the season they were observed feeding on service-berries 

 (the fruit of Amelanchier canadensis) along the foot-hills of the eastern ranges. 

 In their manners and notes we could not detect the minutest difference 

 between the western and eastern Robins, although climatic or other 

 geographical influences have perceptibly modified their plumage.^ In all 

 respects it seems the same bird, the song and other notes being identical. 



tioiis, No. 3, U. S. Gi'olojjioal Survey of tbe 'IViritories, F. V. Hayileu, U. S. Geologist- 

 ill charge. Wasliiugton: (ioveraiiieiit Printing Oni(;e, 1874. 



(8.) "Cooper, Orn. Gal., I."— [Reports Geological Survey of California. J. D. 

 Whitney, State Geologist.] Ornithology. Vol. I. Land Hirds. Kilited by S. F. Baird, 

 from tlie manuscript and notes of .1. (i. Cooper. I'nijlislied by authority of tlie Legis- 

 lature. Cambridge: [Printed by Welch, Bigelow & Co.,] 1870. 



(9.) " EIenshaw, 1875."' — Report upon (Jeographical and Geological Explorations 

 and Surveys west of the One Hundredth .Meridian, in cliarge of First Lieut. Geo. .M. 

 Wheeler, Corps of lOngineers, U. S. Army [etc.]. Chapter III, Vol. V. — Zoology. 

 Wa.sliiiigton : Government Printing Oftice, 1875. 



[Note. — In the History of North American Birds, Birds of the Northwest, and 

 other recent publications, occasional reference is made to a " Zoology of the 40tli 

 Parallel [in press]," or " Rep. iOth Parallel [in i)ress]." It is to be understood that 

 these citations do )int apply to the present leport, but t(» the original one, stereotyped 

 in 1870, but suppressed on account of unavoidable delay in its imblication. In its 

 present form the rei)ort is substantially the same, but the changes necessary to bring 

 it up to date reuder the citations of pages and names frequently iiuipplicable.] 



'The western birds of this sjx'cies may be distinguished as a geographical race, 

 for which the name Tardus migratorius propinqnus, Ridgway, is proposed. See [Uidle- 

 tin of the Ntittall Ornithological Club, Vol. II, January, 1877, p. 9.] 



