BIRDS OF THE PAPAGO SAGUARO NATIONAL MONUMENT. 25 



There is a third species in these mountains, the Woodhouse jay, 

 restricted almost entirely to the hot, south- facing slope. Coming 

 up from Roosevelt Lake there is a stretch of road passing through 

 some miles of scrub oak brush, with a few oak trees and junipers scat- 

 tered over the hills. This is the home of the Woodhouse jay, a bird 

 of the thickets, rather solitary in its habits, and a bit of a sneak in 

 disposition. He may be seen occasionally diving into a bush or heard 

 calling from the hillside, but it is no easy matter to come to more inti- 

 mate acquaintance with him. 



About the ranch house where I made my home in the mountains, 

 the clearing of timber, together with the planting of alfalfa and 

 garden crops, had provided conditions that were evidently suited to 

 certain species of birds seen here, but not elsewhere at this altitude. 

 Green-backed goldfinches were in the garden daily. A pair of west- 

 ern blue grosbeaks was evidently nesting somewhere about the edges 

 of the alfalfa field, rather to my surprise, for I had not seen the 

 species in the valley below, where the surroundings were apparently 

 more favorable for it. Several pairs of lazuli buntings also fre- 

 quented the alfalfa field. On July 1 there was brought to me for 

 identification a bird that had been killed in the garden the day be- 

 fore by the boy who was working there. This proved to be a male 

 of the eastern indigo bunting a startling occurrence, as it was the 

 first of the species to be found in Arizona. 



A few hepatic tanagers also visited the alfalfa field occasionally, 

 especially toward evening, the red-colored males rather conspicuous 

 ugainst the greenery they frequented. The call note of this bird 

 is a " chuck," so exactly similar to the tone of the hermit thrush that 

 the two sounds are easily confused. 



Four species of warblers were found. The Virginia warbler, a 

 tiny, dull-colored bird, frequenting rather dense shrubbery, and 

 nesting on the ground, has no conspicuous markings to catch the eye, 

 but does possess a certain loose-jointed flipping of the tail that serves 

 excellently for identifying the species. The Grace warbler, rather 

 rare, is a bird of the pines, especially of the denser stands of young 

 trees. For recognition dependence must be placed upon an occa- 

 sional glimpse of the yellow throat, or a flash of white outer tail 

 feathers in flight. The black-throated gray warbler is an inhabitant 

 of the oak thickets mainly. 



The visiting bird student will get great joy from the painted red- 

 start, in appearance suggestive of the tropics, abundant in numbers, 

 and not at all shy. Like his cousin of the Eastern States, the painted 

 redstart appears to be constantly posing, with drooping wings and 

 spread tail, in a seeming attempt to show his gaudy colors and 

 markings to the best advantage. Unlike the eastern redstart, how- 



