Vol. XX 

 ■903 



Brown, Arizona Bird Notes. 40 



playground between here and the Gulf. During the early spring 

 months of 1901 they passed up the river by thousands, but during 

 the spring of 1902 they were much less in evidence. February 

 28, 1901, they went into camp a few miles above here. To that 

 time I did not think it was possible to see so many pelicans 

 together. They occupied a wide sweep of sand, left by an over- 

 flow of the Colorado and, at a distance, resembled great banks of 

 snow. They remained, hereabouts, coming and going, to May 

 first, when they suddenly disappeared and were not again seen 

 till September 17. Those seen during the late spring went 

 directly up the river. 



The Little Green Herons {Bi/forides virescens) generally reach 

 here by the middle of April, and by the end of the month they 

 are common both up and down the river. By the middle of June 

 the nesting season is apparently at its best. The nest is a rude 

 platform of twigs, or small sticks, through which the eggs can 

 be seen from below. When possible they are built above the 

 water and generally in the fork of a small tree. I saw one nest- 

 ing within the town limits of Tucson, but it was the only one of 

 the kind I ever saw in that neighborhood. 



On the night of December 15, 1899, there was a heavy fall of 

 rain accompanied by continuous gusts of wind. On the morn- 

 ing following the surface of the river was dotted with numerous 

 bunches of ducks and Pied-billed Grebes. Men and boys shot 

 at everything afloat from both sides of the river, while such as 

 could did their butchering from boats. Both ducks and grebes 

 were confused, and although kept much on the wing, could not be 

 driven away. The Southern Pacific railroad bridge crosses the 

 river directly opposite the town, and, queerly enough, below this 

 bridge the birds would not go. A ferry cable, stretched across the 

 river about 300 yards above the bridge, was a dead line to many 

 ducks, but the grebes were sharper eyed and never collided with 

 it. I was told that six ducks were killed at one time by strik- 

 ing against it. Out of a flock of about a dozen I saw four killed 

 in that manner, two as they flew up the stream and two more as 

 they circled and went down. The feathers would be knocked off 

 in great bunches and they would fall to the water like pieces of 

 lead. But it was of the grebes I wished to write and not of 



