1887.I Scott on the Birds of Arizona. 2"? 



three young about ready to fly. I must so far modify my former views as 

 to state that I find fully as many of the birds breed on the arid plains and 

 mesas, at an altitude between 3000 and 8000 feet, as seek a nesting site 

 near water. I have found them with nests at least six miles from the 

 nearest water that I knew of. 



Young taken from the nest when about ready to leave it become very 

 tame and familiar, and one that I took in this way began to sing before a 

 year old, and was so, tame as to be allowed the run of the house. It was 

 very intelligent and inquisitive, and would frequently alight on my chin 

 or head and strive to open my lips with its bill, or in the same way my 

 eyes if I closed them. 



[The young in nestling plumage are scarcely different in color from 

 young birds in fall plumage. 



As noted above, a female in the collection has the throat and breast 

 black, and the whole head blackish, as in ordinary yearling males. There 

 is also another female (No. 2414) which has the throat and breast black, 

 but less intensely so than in the last, while the head is as in the ordinary 

 adult female. — J. A. A.] 



134. Icterus cucullatus nelsoni. Arizona Hooded Oriole. — The 

 earliest notes I have of the arrival of this species in spring is March 2S, 

 1885, and in a week they were common. This was in the Catalinas at an 

 altitude of 4000 feet. At the same point a few remain till late in Septem- 

 ber. The birds are common throughout the area under discussion, are 

 absent from the region as a whole only about four months in the colder 

 part of the year, and range in summer up on the mountain sides to nearly 

 6000 feet. For a discussion of the breeding habits in detail see Auk, Vol. 

 II, April, 1885, pp. 159-165. 



[On comparing Mr. Scott's series of 25 adult males of this newly de- 

 scribed form (see Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., VIII. 19 April, 1885) with a 

 similar series of true cucullatus from the Lower Rio Grande, Texas, in Mr. 

 Sennett's collection, the difference in color claimed by Mr. Ridgwav for 

 these two forms proves to be well sustained. The palest specimen in Mr. 

 Sennett's series is but little more deeply colored than the brightest exam- 

 ples in the Arizona series, but the average difference is striking and well 

 maintained. The difference, however, seems to be mainly limited to in- 

 tensity of color, although the Arizona form shows a rather broader edging 

 of white on the remiges and wing-coverts. — J. A. A.] 



135. Icterus bullocki. Bullock's Oriole. — This species, though not 

 uncommon about Tucson and Florence, where it probably breeds rarely, 

 is rare in the Catalina Mountains, where I have met with it but twice, as 

 follows: No. 233, Catalina Mountains, alt. 4500, $, May 12, 1884; 

 No. 671. Catalina Mountains, alt. 4500, $ juv., July 31, 18S4. On the 

 strength of this last record is based the conclusion that the bird some- 

 times breeds in this region. 



136. Scolecophagus cyanocephalus. Brewer's Blackbird. — An abun- 

 dant winter resident at and about Tucson, Florence, and Riverside; in 

 fact almost anywhere in the region below an altitude of 3000 feet, where 



