322 OltNITIIOLOGY. 



as tlieir favorite haunt. These sliruhs are of various species, different ones 

 of wliich predominate in different locahties, the more common kinds being 

 Cornus piihescens, iipon the berries of which many birds feed almost exclu- 

 sively in the fall, Sambucus glauca, Prunus dcmissa, Bibes irrigimm, Alnus 

 mcana, and, more rarely, CraUegus rivularis, while in many localities species 

 of Sal'ix are also a common component of the thickets along the canon 

 streams.^ The birds particularly characteristic of this section are: — 



1. Psaltriparus iilnmbeus. 



2. Geotblypis macgillivrayi. 



3. Ileil.ymeles inelaaocephahis. 



4. Cyaiiospiza amcena. 



5. Melospiza fallax. 



C. Cyaiiocitta woodliousii. 



7. Empidouax pii.sillns. 



In addition to these, Tardus sivaimoni,- Galeoscoptcs carolinensis, Seto- 

 pliaga riiticilla,^ and PassereUa schistacea were found in the Wahsatch region. 



5. The Birds of the ivooded river-valleys. — As a rule, the valleys of the 

 rivers in the Great Basin are destitute of trees, like the adjacent mesas ; but 

 in the " western depression" are two notable exceptions in the Truckee and 

 Carson Rivers, both of which are bordered along the lower portion of their 

 course by inviting groves or scattered clumps of large and beautiful cotton- 

 wood trees {Bopulus monilifcra) and dense copses of a smaller species, 

 B. iyicltocarpa. Tlie buftalo-berry {Shephcrdia argcntett) and willows {Salix, 

 species) form the greater part of the shrubbery, but they are associated 

 with numerous other woody plants. In the possession of these features 

 the lower portions of the valleys of both the above-named streams share 

 in common, but the timber along the latter is less regularly distributed, 

 although in places equally extensive. 



I^ocalities so inviting as these being extremely rare and distant from 

 each other, it follows as a natural consequence that the birds are found 

 greatly multiplied both in species and individuals in these restricted oases. 



'lu the East Iluraboldt Mountains, but more especially in tbe Wahsatch, other 

 species, belonging to the Rocky Mountain region, are added, the number being small 

 iu the first-named range, but in the latter very considerable, and embracing several 

 eastern species. In the caQons of the Wahsatch, for instance, are found Betula occi- 

 (lentalis, Rhus aromatica, B. glabra, Acer grandidoitatnm, Negundo aceroides, and *S'r(?H- 

 bucus racemosa. [See Watson, Botanical l!ei)ort, p. xsxvii.] 



^ Found also as far west as the East Humboldt Mountains, in September. 



^Noticed only in the lower portion of the caQons, and more commonly in the 

 valleys, as was also the case with Galeoscoptcs carolinensis. 



