I2o Batchelder. Winter Notes from New Mexico. [April 



preference or to a scarcity of suitable insects is a question for the 

 entomologists. 



On the top of one of the smaller hills one day (December 20) 

 I came upon a small flock of Crossbills. They were scattered 

 about among the upper branches of the pines, where they were 

 busily feeding among a flock of Nuthatches and Chickadees. 

 I secured one bright male, but the others took fright and were 

 off, and I did not see them again. This one proves on compari- 

 son to be Loxia curvirostris bendirei, and doubtless his com. 

 panions were of the same race. 



I was following up one day the side of one of the ravines that 

 run from the main canon back among the hills, when, as I came 

 to a point where the increasing steepness of its sides showed 

 that I had nearly reached its head, I had my first sight of that 

 strange and interesting bird, Townsend's Solitaire (Myiades- 

 tes toivnsendi). He was sitting motionless on one of the lower 

 branches of a pine close to the trunk, and was singing. As he 

 sat there he had somewhat the air of a Hermit Thrush. I could 

 not long resist the desire for a closer acquaintance, and when I 

 shot him he flew, wounded, and sailed with outstretched wings 

 for some distance along the hillside. On the wing he bore such 

 a striking resemblance to a Mockingbird, that my companion was 

 completely deceived, and exclaimed in surprise. "You've shot a 

 Mockingbird." 



Their song I heard several times. It is not loud and striking, 

 but is clear, sweetly modulated, and full of expression, and is 

 long, sustained. In its character it reminded me of the Blue- 

 bird's (Slalt'a stalls) warble, while occasional notes were sug- 

 gestive of the Thrushes' songs. It sounds as if it came from a 

 distance even when the singer is quite near. Almost all that I saw 

 or heard were high up on the steep sides of the ravines where they 

 were narrow and deep. The steep slopes were covered with 

 loose stones and gravel, with occasional ledges of rock, and bore 

 scattered pines and patches of scrub oak. and near the top, 

 pifions and occasional cedars. 



Higher up on the top of the hills are the favorite haunts of the 

 Spurred Towhees {Pipllo maculatus mega/onyx), a species 

 which occurs in but small numbers. Those I found were in 

 large clumps of almost impenetrable scrub oaks, where they kept 

 on or near the ground and were consequently not easy to obtain. 



• ( To be continued. ) 



