408 ornithology. 



Family SYLVIID^— True Waeblees. 

 Myiadestes townsekdi. 



Tovvnseiid's Ptilogonys. 



Pfilmjontjn toiCHntndi, AUDUBON, Om., Biog., V, 1839, 20G, pi. 419, fig. 2. 

 Myiadentes townsendi, Oabanis, Weigm. Archiv, I, 1847, 208. — Baikd, Birds N. 



Am., 1858, 321 ; Cat. N. Am. B., 1859, No. 235 ; Review, 18G6, 429.— Cooper, 



Om. Cal., 134.— CoUES, Key, 1872, 117, fig. 57; Check List, 1873, No. 121; 



Birds N.W., 1874, 93.— B. B. & R., Hist. N. Am. Birds, I, 1874, 409, pi. 



xviir, figs. 5, 6.— Henshaw, 1875, 231. 



AVe first met with tins curious species on the western slope of the Sierra 

 Nevada, in a dense pine forest, at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. The 

 first individual seen was one which had a nest near by, as was apparent 

 from its anxious manner, for as we walked along the embankment of a 

 mining-sluice it flitted before us, now and then alighting upon the ground, 

 and, with drooping and quivering wings, running gracefully, in the manner 

 of a Robin, then flying up to a low branch, and, after facing about, repeat- 

 ing the same maneuvers — e\'idently trying to entice us away from the spot. 

 So much were its actions like those of various Thrushes under similar 

 circumstances that not once did we suspect the species, although perfectly 

 familiar with it in museums, but immediately concluded that a new species 

 of Thrush had been found. Indeed, many times afterward, when an indi- 

 vidual would be seen to glide noiselessly before us, in the characteristic 

 manner of the Thrushes, displaying the ochraceous mark across the wing, 

 was the same illusion entertained. Patient watching and a careful search 

 finally revealed the nest, which was built in the upper bank of the sluice, 

 a foot or two above the water, and in a recess of the rocks. The nest was 

 bulky for the size of the bird, being nearly as large as that of Harporhjnclms 

 rufus, which it nearly resembled, and was composed externally of coarse 

 sticks, laid in a mass upon the floor of the cave. It contained four half- 

 fledged young, and was consequently left undisturbed. 



The species was afterward seen, at various times, among the cedar 

 groves of the interior ranges, but it was nowhei'e. common. It appeared to 

 feed largely on tlie ])crrios of tlie Juniinrus occidentalis, and lived mostly 

 among these trees, where, as observed, it combined the manners of the 

 Thrushes and Blue-birds. Its song was not heard, or else it was confounded 



