PII.ENOrEPLA NITENS. 447 



Li.sf of itpccimenf!. 



ni.-), <? mi.; Dealing's Raiidi, Ui)i)or Ilmuholdt Valley, September 10, 1808. 7j\— 

 IH — (?) — .'!!. liill, tarsi ami toes, ileep blaek ; iris, pnriilislilirowii. 

 lUd, (? (id. Same date, locality, and remarks. 7| — 11 j] — (?) — 3. 



1 Pu^EXOrEPLA XITENS. 

 Shining: Pliiogonys. 



Ptiliogonys nlten.% Swainson, Auim. Alenag., 1838, 2Sr). 



Cichlopsis nitens, Baird, Birds N. Am., 1858, 320, 923. 



rhcviiiypepla nitens., Sclater, Proc. Zool. See. Lend., 1858, 513. — Baird, Cat. N. 

 Am. Birds, 1S59, No. 234; Review, 18615, 410.— Cooper, Oni. Cal., 131.— 

 CoUES, Key, 18/2, IIG; Check List, 1873, No. 120.— B. B. & R., Hist. N. 

 Am. Birds, I, 1874, 405, pi. xviii, figs. 3, 4.— Henshaw, 1875, 229. 



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

 the desert rang-es in western Nevada, a note so similar to the prolonged, 

 querulous, rattling- call of Nuttall's ^^^)odpecker {Pirns iiuttaUi), that we 

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

 species eastward of the Sierra. We conld 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 ravine of 

 that remarkable locality, the same familiar call and innnediately started in 

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

 npon the sunnnit of a large g-rease-wood bush, but at our approach 

 immediately took wing, and, notwithstanding every artifice and caution 

 on our part, kept out of gunshot range, although enticing us on by fre- 

 quent halts, during Avhich it perched iqion the topmost branch of the most 

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

 uttered, so that the bird so long sought 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 opi)ortunities, 

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

 certaint}'. The appearance of the bird was so remarkable that we are able 

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

 nitens, with the female or young male of which it corresponded in plumage. 



