PILENOrUPLA NITENS. 447 



Li.sl of sprcinienn. 



91o, <J ad.; Deal ilia's Uaucb, Upper IliiiultoUU Vallev, Septeiiiber 10, 1SG8. 7^',.— 

 11. i — (?) — ;ij. Hill, tarsi and toes, deep black ; iris, pnrplisii-lnown. 

 'JIG,. i ad. Same date, locality, ami remarks. 7^ — lljj — (?) — :i. 



? PlI.ENOPEPLA NITENS. 

 83iiciBii;; I'lilo^fOBiys. 



PliUogony.rni(e)is, SWAINSON, Aiiiin. :Menag:., 1838, 285. 



Cichhqmis nitcii.i, Baiiu), llirds N. Am., 18.38, .'5'JO, !»2.'3. 



rhcciiopepla nitens, 8CLATEB, Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1858, 54.'!. — IJaiud, Cat. N. 

 Am. Birds, 18.")9, No. 2M; Kiiview, 180(5, 4l(>.— CooPKil, Oni. Cal., l.Jl.— 

 CoUES, Key, 18/2, lUi; Check List, 1873, No. 12t).— B. B. & It., Uist. N. 

 Am. Birds, 1, 1871, 105, pi. xviir, ligs. 3, 4.— IIensuaw, 187.">, 22!). 



On several occasions we heard, among the cedar and pinon woods of 

 the desert ranges in western Nevada, a note so similar to the prolonged, 

 querulous, rattling call of XuttuH's Woodpecker (Picits nutlaUi), that we 

 entered the fact among our notes as evidence of the occurrence of that 

 species eastward of the Sierra. We could never see the author of these 

 notes, however, until, on the 27th of June, 1868, when exploring the 

 Soda Lakes of the Carson Desert, we heard near by, in a raviiu^ of 

 that remarkable locality, the same tamiliar call and immediately started in 

 search of the bird which produced it. It was soon discovered, perched 

 upon the sunmiit of a large grease-wood bush, but at our approach 

 immediately took \ving, and, notwithstanding every artilice and caution 

 on our i)art, kept out of gunshot range, although enticing us on by fre- 

 quent halts, during which it perched upon the topmost branch of the most 

 prominent bushes. At each flight the peculiar rattling call referred to was 

 uttered, so that the l)ird so lontc sou"-ht was at last before us. We were 

 greatly surprised, however, to find that It was not the species we had sup- 

 posed, but one we had never seen before. 



Several shots were fired at it during the most favorable o]iportunities, 

 but it escaped miscathed, and we were therefore unable to identify It with 

 certainty. The appearance of the bird was so remarkable that we are able 

 to refer it to only one known North American species — the Pluciinpepla 

 iiitcna, with the female or young male of which it corresponded in phunago, 



