V °s' XI ] Coale, Ornithological Notes from the West. 2IQ 



parus plumbcus. (See Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1SS7, p. 557, 

 for first record.) 



Fort Mojave, Ariz., April 6. Situated on the Colorado River, 

 seventeen miles north of The Needles, in a desert with its thorn 

 bearing mesquit and other bushes. The Mojave Apaches are 

 camped about two miles above the post in the river bottom. 

 They are peaceable and some of the officers hire them to act as 

 'strikers' or servants in their houses. They wear no clothes 

 except a piece of cloth around the loins. The women and older 

 girls wear a short calico dress. Birds were not very plentiful. 

 The place is one of the hottest in the United States, the thermom- 

 eter ranging from ioo° to 120 F. in the shade. Auriparus 

 Jlaviceps had just completed its nest in a mesquit. Troops of 

 Zouotrichia leucophrys intermedia were everywhere, and 

 Troglodytes aedon aztecus was not uncommon. A Curved- 

 billed Thrasher (Harpor/tynchtis pahneri ?) was seen. Here 

 again Lucy's Warblers, Brewer's Sparrows, and Canon Towhees 

 were taken, and on the road to The Needles I saw several of the 

 black-crested Phainopepla nitens. 



San Diego Barracks \ Cat., April 12. In the southwestern 

 corner of the United States, in the city of San Diego. A few 

 birds were collected — Amphispiza belli, Otocoris alpestris 

 rubea, Zo7iotrichia leucophrys gambeli, and Tyrannus voci- 

 fcrtts. None of these were met with elsewhere. 



Fort Lowell, Ariz., April 14. Nine miles from Tucson, 

 where I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Herbert Brown and 

 inspecting his fine collection of Arizona birds. On the mesa, 

 a barren waste between Fort Lowell and Tucson, is the favorite 

 breeding place of Palmer's and Bendire's Thrashers. Their 

 nests are placed in a cactus, each species seeming to select a 

 different kind to build in. Specimens of each were taken : 

 adults, half grown young of first brood, and fresh laid eggs. 

 The full complement is three. 



Dr. Elliott Cones gives an interesting account of the habits of 

 the Thrashers inhabiting this particular locality in his 'Birds of 

 the Colorado Valley.' The most abundant species noted was 

 the Lark Bunting( Calamospiza melanocorys) . These birds were 

 on the ground in immense flocks, thousands I should judge, and 

 were quite hard to approach. They kept running and flying 



