J ^ . BIRDS : GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



and moderate elevation, might reasonably be expected to occur. 

 Though some of these deficiencies are doubtless, in part, due to 

 causes other than those acting directh' on the physical organization, 

 they furnish the investigator entering the region the first insight into 

 its true faunal character. 



Passing along the Big Indian Valley, among the songs of the com- 

 mon birds along the way there were missed the notes of such famil- 

 iar species as : the Brown Thrush, the Warbling, Yellow-throated, 

 and White-eyed Vireos, the Chewink. the Meadow Lark, the Great- 

 crested Flycatcher, and the Orioles and Cuckoos. Some of these 

 species were sparingly represented in the main valley, but none ap- 

 peared to regularly extend into the secondary valleys at this portion 

 of the region. Other familiar species, of which mention is made 

 beyond, although somewhat generally distributed were not abundant 

 and were rather restricted in their local distribution. Of the familiar 

 birds, one only, the Cliff Swallow, seemed to be more abundant 

 than in the region with which I have compared this. This bird, from 

 its numbers and domestic habits, was conspicuous and well-known 

 all along the valley, and far outnumbered the Barn Swallow, the only 

 other species which occurred. 



Another feature to be noticed in this hasty comparison was a local 

 variation in the habits of some of the birds between this and other, 

 more settled, districts. Certain species which, closer to civilization, are 

 more or less familiar and confiding in disposition, often making their 

 abode in the close vicinity of man, here were rarely found about hu- 

 man habitation, although well represented in the wilder portions of 

 the valleys or even in the mountains. This was very noticeable in the 

 cases of the Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, and Golden-crowned 

 Thrush; and less so with the House Wren, Purple Finch, Least Fly- 

 catcher, and other species. In the case of the Wood Thrush these 

 habits seemed to be quite general throughout, but with most of the 

 other species appeared to be more or less local, seeming to be di- 

 rectly dependent on the extent* of settlement. Thus about the vil- 



