^c8 Anthoixy, Birds of Sffuthwesfern Ne-w Mexico. [Octobei 



breaking away into the plain again ; few of them have ele- 

 vations of over 1500 teet above the surrounding countrv, the 

 Animas and Sierra Hachita or Big Hacbita ranges being notable 

 exceptions to this rule. The former is the longest and most ex- 

 tensive range in this part of the country, being about forty miles 

 in length and having peaks of perhaps Sooo feet elevation, while 

 the vSierra Hachita extends itspeaUs to about 7000 feet. 



Most of my observations were made in a small range of low 

 mountains, known as the Apache Hills, lying Hve miles north of 

 the national boundary. A description of these hills would 

 answer for any of the ranges within a radius of torty miles. 

 Lying with their greatest extent north and south, like nearly all 

 of the ranges in this region, the Apache Hills cover an area of 

 about thirt}' square miles, their highest elevation being about 

 1500 feet above the surrounding plain. The lower slopes are 

 covered with a scattered growth of yucca, agave, and ocotillo, — 

 a species of BupJiorbia^ — the dry blossom stalks of the two 

 first-mentioned furnishing the only nesting sites for Dryobates 

 scalaris bairdi and Alyiarchus cinerascens. 



Along the dry arroyos a few dwarfed mesc|uite bushes were 

 found, with an occasional thorny shrub, none reaching a height 

 of over six or seven feet. A few solitary dwarf junipers struggled 

 for life on some of the highest slopes, and in one valley on the 

 northern side of the range a dozen or more stunted evergreen 

 oaks drew a miserable existence from the scanty soil. Even the 

 various species of cactus usually so abundant in arid regions 

 seemed to be less abundant and hardy than usual ; a few chollas 

 were found in nearly all of the arroyos, and small patches of 

 Opuntia giew in several places on the lower slopes. 



Water was not to be found in the entire range, our supply for 

 camp use being drawMi in wagons from a small spring in the 

 Little Hachita mountains, ten miles west of Apache. During 

 the winter season water was sometimes caught in small basins in 

 the limestone, forming tanks which held more or less water for 

 perhaps three months after a very wet winter, but during the re- 

 mainder of the year no water was obtainable nearer than the 

 above-mentioned spring. 



The list is therefore, aside from the migrants, largely of spe- 

 cies that live for the greater part of the year entirely without 



