°8 J Coale, Ornithological Notes from the West. 22 1 



nest contained five dried up little Wrens and the dead body of 

 the parent resting upon them. This Wren has a habit of stand- 

 ing on top of the nest (which is a bulky affair usually in plain 

 sight), and attracting one's attention by her notes. In another 

 cactus was the nest and six fresh eggs of the White-rumped 

 Shrike. The Western Yellow and Audubon's Warblers were 

 quite common. A single Peuccea ruficeps bozicardi was shot. 



Fort Thomas, Ariz., forty-five miles north of Grant, on the 

 Gila River. I reached there after dark on the 25th of April. 

 E11H3' the next morning I was up and out. About half way across 

 the parade ground was a solitary tree, which had the appearance 

 of being loaded down with oranges. There was a tremendous 

 chattering going on in that direction, sounding strangely familiar, 

 but not until a dozen or more Yellow-headed Blackbirds dropped 

 to the ground and began hopping about did I realize that the 

 supposed oranges were the heads and throats of these handsome 

 birds. Going into the house I got Lieut. R. D. Read to take 

 a shot at them. He had to fire at long range. Thirteen were 

 killed about the tree, and as the great flock rose and flew toward 

 the corral several more were seen to drop ; and the tree — it was 

 a dead one, with not a single leaf on it. It was the custom of 

 hundreds of these birds to perch in this tree every morning about 

 sunrise and utter their loud notes. Around the corral the 

 Brewer's Blackbirds were seen in large numbers and as tame as 

 barn yard fowls. The same afternoon I went up the river thirty- 

 three miles in a buckboard to 



San Carlos, Ariz., one hundred and five miles from the rail- 

 road. On both sides of the river the San Carlos Apaches have 

 their 'wickiups' or brush huts. There are thousands of these 

 Indians and though generally peaceable, a number of renegades 

 were out at this time, so that bird collecting was dangerous to 

 attempt. At San Carlos the troops live in tents covered with 

 brush (themometer ioo° to 120 in the shade). At sundown 

 thousands of Yellow-headed Blackbirds came into camp and 

 roosted on the brush on top of the tents. They were very tame 

 here and seemed to know that no shooting was allowed. Saw 

 many Road-runners in the brush along the ix>ad, and near Fort 

 Grant shot a pair of Blue Quail (Callipepla squamata), a bird 

 that frequented the desert where Cactus was the only vegetation. 



