BIRDS OF THE PAPAGO SAGUAKO NATIONAL MONUMENT. 19 



Desert quail scurried out of the bushes from time to time, usually 

 in pairs. On this day and on subsequent excursions the species was 

 found in abundaacein suitable localities about the lake, and many 

 broods of young were^encountered. The monotonous, tinkling song 

 of the desert sparrow w)is heard on all sides, and little companies of 

 blnr-k thrnntrd frftrrttTr'with their more plainly colored young scat- 

 tered out of the bushes from time to time. Other birds, too, were 

 noted in some numbers on this mesa : Verdin, dwarf cowbird, plum- 

 beous gnatcatcher, mourning dove, white-winged dove, and phaino- 

 pepla. A brilliant male Arizona cardinal sang from a distant clump 

 of mesquite, but would not permit a near approach. 



A visit to the cliff dwellings entailed a climb up the side of the 

 canyon, a brief ascent and over a good trail, but ...still, in the glare 

 of the Arizona sun, so that the cool shelter oMiegray wa^s became 

 a welcome retreat from the stifling heat. A pair of ravens croaking 

 overhead had evidently found congenial surroundings here./for their 

 footprints were everywhere in the dust of the flooTPS: There could 

 have been no room for ravens when people occupied these caverns, 

 but the pair of white-throated swifts darting in and out of a crevice 

 directly over the ruins would not have been disturbed by any human 

 tenants below. The swifts may well have been among the birds most 

 familiar to the cliff dwellers ; in choice of a home they were certainly 

 of like taste. 



In the canyon below a thin line of trees, mostly sycamore, ash, and 

 mesquite, gave promise of water, which was, indeed, found a little 

 farther up, together with a fair abundance of birds. Two sycamore 

 stubs held each a nest of Gila woodpecker, with young, to judge from 

 the noise that issued and from the activities of the old birds, flying 

 back and forth with food projecting from their beaks. A western 

 wood pewee seen here was doubtless an individual in migration, as 

 was also an unidentified small Empidonax, apparently a western fly- 

 catcher. A Lucy warbler was also added to the list, first noticed from 

 its simple song, a monotonously repeated single note impossible of 

 description though easily recognizable when heard. From the hill- 

 side descended the loud, clear song of the Scott oriole, so like the 

 meadowlark in its tone. This is a rare bird here, only two or three 

 being observed about Roosevelt Lake, beside one seen from the stage 

 near Fish Creek Canyon. Still another species to which attention 

 was drawn by its call note was the Scott sparrow, so like the rufous- 

 crown sparrow of California, and with exactly the same twanging 

 chirp. 



By 11 o'clock the glare of the sun was such as to have driven most 

 birds to cover, and census taking was discontinued. In three hours 

 41 species had been listed, with a total of approximately 370* indi- 



