Vo ] s * UI ] MERRIAM, Some Birds of Southern California. 121 



Thrush, his song excels that of any bird I have ever heard. It is 

 singular in its exquisite finish, and remarkable for its rich musical quality. 

 It is a long song, greatly varied. It begins with the ordinary Grosbeak 

 swinging pendulum phrase which is followed by a soft low measure, after 

 which the pendulum and the low phrase are repeated. Then come a 

 series of thrills preluding the most beautiful part of the song — a clear 

 tender whistle, each note of which is drawn out so slowly and is so liquid 

 and well rounded that it seems as if the bird were consciously perfect- 

 ing it. Sometimes after this the Grosbeak, with a grace note, goes on to 

 a final low trill and whistle: and then, after a momentary pause, begins all 

 over again. 



Passerina amoena. Lazuli Bunting. — April 30, 1804, I found a pair 

 building in the mallows. May 12, the female was brooding. May 29, the 

 male was feeding the young. May 30 the nest was empty. June, 1894, 

 I found a Lazuli's nest, made largely of oat stalks, in a tree in a 

 eucalyptus grove, a great contrast to the gray nest in the weeds out in 

 the fields. 



Petrochelidon lunifrons. Cliff Swallow. — Saw a large number of 

 them getting mud from a temporary pond early in April, 1SS9. 



Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides. White-RUMPED Siirikk. — April 

 10. 1889, there was one egg in a nest made in a clump of willows. June 

 1, 1894, a P au " were feeding young in a nest made in a ball of mistletoe in 

 the top of an oak. June 16, I found a family of young being fed in the 

 chaparral. 



Helminthophila celata lutescens. Lutescent Warbler. — A very 

 quiet minute workman, hunting among the golden tassels of the oaks 

 with whose color it harmonizes perfectly. It will lean over the tip of 

 an oak bough to examine a tassel, stretch up to reach a blossom hanging 

 over its head, hop along a twig, and then flit up to cling head down to a 

 spray of leaves, or flutter like a Hummingbird under a yellow- tassel. 



Dendroica auduboni. Arm ijon's Warbler. — One of the most abun- 

 dant birds in March. It is as restless and active as the eastern D. coronata. 



Harporhynchus redivivus. California Thrasher. — April 29, 1889, 

 1 found a family of young, three quarters grown. In song and general 

 habits the Thrasher is much like our eastern //. rufus. The bird uses 

 its curved bill most skilfully. Instead of scratching with its feet as the 

 Chewinks and Sparrows do, it uses its bill almost exclusively. I once 

 watched one hunt for food. It cleared a space by scraping the leaves 

 away, moving its bill through them rapidly from side to side. Then it 

 made two holes in the earth, probing deep with its long bill, and after 

 taking what it could get from the second hole returned to examine the 

 first one as if to see if anything had come to the surface there. 



Thryothorus bewickii spilurus. VlGORs's Wren. — April 18, 1889, a 

 pair of these Wrens had young in an old nose bag hanging on a peg in a 

 shed. April 23 a Linnet's nest with one e^;g was in the nose bag on top 

 of the dead nestliny Wrens. 



