1890.] Mearns, Arizona Mountain Birds. Z^J 



lv in the fir and spruce belt on the San Francisco cone; but on the crest 

 of the more southern Mogollons, near Fort Apache, I have found it 

 only in October. It breeds quite early, when the mountains are still 

 covered with snow. I started for the San Franciscos on the 20th of May, 

 1SS7. but found them so deeply covered with snow that I was obliged to 

 wait a fortnight for the snow to melt. When I reached the mountain 

 the young birds were travelling with their parents. They often descend- 

 ed well into the pines, or ascended to the timber line, according us their 

 fancy suggested. They were tame, noisy, and frolicsome, reminding me, 

 as they played boisterously in the top of some dead tree, of a flock of Red- 

 headed Woodpeckers. 



Cyanocephalus cyanocephalus. Pinon Jay. — Resident in the pine 

 belt in summer, breeding as high as the upper limit of Pintts poudcrosa^ 

 but descending to the cedars and pinons of the low country in autumn. 

 They are wandering, erratic birds, occurring in immense numbers one 

 season, and as conspicuous by their absence the next. They are highly 

 gregarious; and flocks travelling over a more or less open country have 

 the appearance of rolling along, the hindermost continually passing to 

 the front, the whole flock screaming with cat-like voices. It was 

 common around the base of San Francisco Mountain in June, 1SS7, the 

 flocks having dispersed in pairs for the purpose of breeding. In July 

 and August they again appeared in flocks composed of from several to 

 many families, frequenting the juniper groves, having performed a down- 

 ward migration in common with Coccothraustes vespertina montana, 

 Spinas pinus, Setophaga pic/a, and many other mountain birds. With 

 the approach of autumn, when the young are strong on the wing, they 

 begin their gregarious wanderings over country high and low, sometimes 

 assembling in flocks of thousands. 



Molothrus ater obscurus. Dwarf Cowbird.— A common summer 

 resident. Frequently seen accompanying the range cattle that graze on 

 the mountains. Possibly some of the mountain Cowbirds are true M. 

 atcr, but of this I am uncertain, having shot but few specimens. 



Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus. Yellow-headed Blackbird.— This 

 handsome bird is a summer resident in such spots, in this high region, 

 as are suited to its needs. It breeds in vast numbers at Mormon Lake, in 

 the Mogollon Mountains; many of the nests examined by us there 

 contained fresh eggs at the time of our visit — during the last week of 

 May. 



Sturnella magna neglecta. Western Meadowlark. — Breeds in open, 

 grassy places at any elevation. I have seen it as high as 10,000 feet. 

 These mountain birds are the typical neglecta of the north ; but, as 

 might have been predicted, the resident Meadowlark of the low parts of 

 Arizona exhibits the effects of its environment in certain peculiarities of 

 plumage, having the pallid, scorched appearance common to most 

 birds of desert regions. 



Scolecophagus cyanocephalus. Brewer's Blackbird. — Breeds abun- 

 dantly in dwarf willows (Salix rostrata) through the pine belt, where- 



