82 ZOOLOGY. 



PTILIOGONYS TOWNSENDII. 



This bird, like Maximilian s jay, we found only in the Des Chutes basin, though there it is 

 very abundant. 



It does not inhabit dense forests, nor prairies entirely destitute of trees, but chooses surfaces 

 covered with a scattered growth of pine and cedar. We first met with it in the canon of 

 Mpto-ly-as river, at the base of Mount Jefferson. 



As we picked our way with infinite difficulty down the side of this gorge, my attention was 

 attracted by the delightful song of, to me, a new bird, of which a few were sitting in the pines 

 and cedars which, by a precarious tenure, held a footing on the craggy face of the cliff. 



The song, so clear, full, and melodious, seemed that of a Mimus ; of the bird I could not see 

 enough to judge of its affinities. The next day we followed down the river in the bottom of 

 the canon ; all day the deep gorge was filled with a chorus of sweet sounds from hundreds and 

 thousands of these birds, which, from their monotonous color, and their habit of sitting on the 

 branch of a tree projecting into the void above the stream, or hanging from some beetling crag, 

 and flying out in narrow circles after insects, precisely in the manner of the fly-catchers I was 

 disposed to associate with them. 



Two days afterward, in the caiion of Psuc-see-que creek, of which the terraced banks were 

 sparsely set with low trees of the western cedar, (J. occidentalis,) I found these birds numerous, 

 and had every opportunity of hearing and seeing them, watching them for hours while feeding 

 and singing, and procuring specimens of both ma^ and female. With the first dawn of day 

 they began their songs, and at sunrise the valley was perfectly vocal with their notes. Never, 

 anywhere, have I heard a more delightful chorus of bird music. Their song is not greatly 

 varied, but all the notes are particularly clear and sweet, and the strain of pure, gushing 

 melody is as spontaneous and inspiring as that of the song sparrow. At this time, September 

 30, these birds were feeding on the berries of the cedar ; they were very shy, and could only 

 be obtained by lying concealed in the vicinity of the trees which they frequented. I could 

 detect no difference in the plumage of the sexes. 



CORVUS CACALOTL. 

 The Raven. 



The raven was a constant feature of the scenery in all parts of the country which we 

 traversed. Even on the most sterile and inhospitable portions of the central desert, where 

 heaven withholds her genial showers, and earth refuses every tribute to beauty or comfort, 

 where stern and unrelenting sterility reigns supreme, and barren sands and rough and ragged 

 rocks, bleached and burnt in the eternal blaze of a cloudless sun, sear the eye-ball, here, 

 perched on some blasted pine, the presiding genius of the surrounding desolation, the raven 

 always sat, and as we defiled past, over the trackless waste, gave us the malediction of his 

 discordant croak. 



CORVUS AMERICANUS. 



The Common Crow. 



Very abundant in the valley of the Sacramento ; less common in the highlands and wooded 

 districts of California ; in the Klamath basin we did not see it, but it appeared again with the 



