200 MearnS, Arizona Mountain Birds. T.T ul y 



Habia melanocephala. Black-headed Grosbeak. — Breeds through 

 the pine belt, ranging both higher and lower. It evinces an attachment 

 to oak groves and wooded canons, but is generally dispersed. 



Piranga ludoviciana. Louisiana Tanager. — Breeds throughout the 

 pine zone, ascending higher on the peaks, where it was seen in the high- 

 est aspens but a short distance from the line where timber ceases to grow. 

 Owing to its gorgeous plumage and sweet song it figures conspicuously in 

 the alpine avifauna. 



Piranga hepatica. Hepatic Tanager. — This sweet singer is a com- 

 mon resident of the pine belt, never having been noted by me higher than 

 this. It is best suited, as to residence, with such rocky ravines, hills, and 

 ridges in the pine district as are wooded with oaks, for which trees it has 

 a marked predilection. 



Progne subis. Purple Martin. — An abundant summer resident 

 throughout this high region, especially near water. It usually builds its 

 nest in holes in the largest dead pines, several pairs living in the same 

 tree. The Martin of this region, while differing somewhat from the East- 

 ern bird, is not the subspecies //cspcria recently described by Mr. 

 Brewster, to whom I am indebted for the means of making the compari- 

 son. 



Tachycineta thalassina. Violet-green Swallow. — This exquisite 

 bird is highly characteristic of the wooded mountain regions of Arizona, 

 where it breeds, not only in the hollows of trees, but very frequently in 

 cavities in cliffs. While for the most part retiring to the higher land 

 during the breeding season, a good many pass the summer and breed . 

 in the wooded canons in which there are streams, in the lower coun- 

 try. None were found breeding in the immediate valley of the Verde, 

 in the vicinity of Fort Verde, but they were sure to be found after ascend- 

 ing, for a short distance, any of the tributary streams that flow through 

 canons from the high plateau. There they usually nest in the limestone 

 cliffs, which form the walls of the canons. I have since seen them breed- 

 ing in similar siruations in the mineral formation about the hot springs 

 and geysers of the Yellowstone National Park and in the bluff* banks of 

 the Big Horn River, in Montana. 



Vireo gilvus swainsoni. Western Warbling Vireo. — A summer 

 resident, breeding in the highest aspen timber on San Francisco Moun- 

 tain, where it sang incessantly and sweetly. Immediately after the 

 breeding season many of them descend to the lower valleys with their 

 young. In autumn 1 , it commonly resorts to the rank growth of annuals 

 usually found beside streams in the valleys at that season, and is especially 

 abundant in the beds of yellow Clcome, in the company of terrestrial 

 Warblers of the genera Helminthophila, Geotfilyfiis, and Sylva7iia. 



Vireo solitarius plumbeus. Plumbeous Vireo. — By its loud song this 

 species is known to be a common denizen of the pine forests of this re- 

 gion ; but it keeps so near the pine-tops as to be seldom seen, save by 

 tracing to their source the sweet notes one almost constantly hears when 

 riding through these grand forests, it being one of the most persisten 



