494 ORNITHOLOGY. 



sliort distances at a time, over the bushes, flirting the expanded white- 

 tipped tail at each heavy beat of" the wings. 



Eastward of the West Humboldt Mountains, few Ground Robins were 

 observed until we arrived at Salt Lake City ; indeed, none were seen except 

 at our camp near Austin, in the Toyabe Mountains, and in the eastern cafions 

 of the Ruby range, at both of which places they were so extremely rare 

 that we could not determine the race.' At Salt Lake City, however, 

 we found the species again very aljundant, even more so than at Carson 

 City, and also inhabiting the cliaj)arral on the foot-hills, which in this 

 case consisted of scrub-oaks instead of manzanita, laurel, and wild-plum 

 bushes. It was noticed immediately, however, that w-liile to all appear- 

 ance they were the same birds a.s those found near Carson City, they 

 uttered totally different notes, whicli we found to agree perfectly with Dr. 

 Cones' description in his " Prodrome," a fact which impressed us at once, 

 for we had previously striven in vain to detect in the notes of the birds of 

 this species at Carson the remotest resemblance to an}- uttered by the Cat-bird 

 or the "Dickcissel" (Eusjnza)-; and since in their characters the sj)ecimcns 

 agreed perfectly with the diagnosis of mcgalomjx, we had considered the 

 descrijjtion of the notes above referred to as erroneous, and were thus glad 

 to find so satisfactory a, relief from our dilemma. Instead of the rude, rather 

 suppressed teisli with which we had been familiar, a sharj) mew was heard, 

 scarcely distinguishable from the notes of the Cat-bird, found in the same 

 locality; and the song was a very decided improvement on that of the west- 

 ern individuals, for, instead of a short, simple trill, apparently "strained 

 out" after considerable effort, these trills were uuiltiplied and connected by 

 other notes, so that a passable song resulted. There was still no approach to 

 the notes of P. crythrophthahnus, however, excepting a very slight one in the 

 song ; but the habits of the birds were nmch less shy, though they were 

 far fj-om being so confidingly familiar as the very tame eastern species. 



' jndging from tlic circumstance that accessions from tbe Rocky Mountain fauna 

 were first eiicounteriul at these two localities, it seems most probable that the frroiiiid 

 Robins met with were also the Rocky Mountain form — P. megalonyx. 



* "Ordinary call-note almost exactly like that of Mimus carolincnsis ; the song a 

 rather harsh and monotDnons repetition of four or six syllables, soaiething like that of 

 Euspiza americana." — Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci , 18ti(!, p. SO. 



