THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



vol. ii. July, 1885. n . 3. 



NOTES OF AN ORNITHOLOGICAL TRIP IN 

 ARIZONA AND SONORA. 



BY F. STEPHENS. 



In March, 1S84, Mr. C. G. Pringle, of Charlotte, Vt., made a 

 journey by wagon from Tucson, Arizona, southwest to the Gulf 

 of California, collecting botanical specimens ; on this trip he was 

 so successful as to wish to make another. Early in August he in- 

 vited me to accompany him on a second journey over the same 

 route, art invitation I very gladly accepted. The route lay over 

 deserts most of the way, and as horse-feed and water had to be 

 carried in some of the most interesting portions of the route, I 

 took but a light 50-cal. gun instead of my 12-bore, — a mistake I 

 afterwards regretted. 



I did not intend making many skins, partly because I wished to 

 add as little as possible to the material necessary to carry, and 

 partly because the birds were now moulting and in poor condi- 

 tion. Therefore this must be a record more of what I saw than of 

 what I got. As the country traversed is almost a terra incognita 

 I will describe some of its principal features, to give a better un- 

 derstanding of its bird life. 



Leaving Tucson August 7, 1884, we drove up the valley of the 

 Santa Cruz a few miles and turned to the southwest over a gap in 

 the low Sierra de Tucson, and emerged on a plain. Along the 

 higher edge of the plain are many giant cactuses ( Cerezis gigan- 



