AMi'iJ.iD.fc: — TiiK ("iiATTi:i:i:iis. 411 



f 



I)r. ('(»o|M'r, in liis llinls nf ( 'iilitoiiiia, ilwclls with iiiiicli ciiipliasis upon 

 tin' (Iclinhtlul iiu'lotly <>t' tliis species. Haviijj,' ahvjiys tniiiid llieiu silent, aiul 

 with lialiits like the I'lycatcheiH', he was ^uite unprepared to hear them sin^'- 

 iiiLi in the Sierra Nevada, iind, it" he had not ohtained the l>ird, would not 

 liave U'lieved that oni- of this family was capahle of sinuiuLT with such 

 power. Their son.Lj, he says, can he e(>mj>ared with nothiu;^ uttered hy any 

 other Itird he has ever he;ird in the I'nited St.it es ; for, he adds, it excels that 

 of the Moekinn-llird in sweetness, hesides Iteini^ entirely oriicinal. 



lie met with (»nly a few of this species annMij^ some junipers on the west- 

 ern slojH? near the summit, in Septemhei, 18r»:l. |fe has always met with 

 them nearly siu'dv. Dr. llenrv found them at Fort Wehster, Xew ^lexico, 

 in large numhers, both in fall and in winter. Their hunie. I)r. ('ooj)er thinks, 

 seems to he in the vicinity of the "jreat deserts of the central re«uons, or the 

 cedar-covered mountains that intersect them. 



l)r. Woodhouse «»ht;iined several sp»H'imens on the Ziini Mountains in 

 New Mexico, and from there westwiird found it exceedingly al)undant. Its 

 food seemed to he exclusively herries, and chietlv those of the ceilar. 



Dr. Cones also found these hirds rare summer residents in Ari/«)na, and 

 contirms its ]M>ssession of rare local powers, producing a rich, sweet, and 

 finely modulated song. 



^Ir. IJohert iJidgway, in accom])anying Mr. King's party of exjdorations, 

 writes that he found this curious hird only occa.sionally, most freciueiitly 

 among the junes of the Sierni Nevada, and only once or twice among the 

 mountains east of that range. In July, 181)7, he found a nest of this hird. 

 It was in a deej> ravine on the western slope of the Sierras, at an altitude of 

 five thousand feet. It was placed in a cavity of the rocks forming the j>er- 

 pendicular upper hank of a sluice constructed for mining jJurjMjses, through 

 which ran the waters of a considerable mountain stream. The nest was about 

 a foot al)ove the water, and was .as Inilkv as that of the Ifffj>(>rhf/)(rlnts re/us, 

 and similarly constructed, being composed almost entirely of sticks. It con- 

 tained four young. AVhen he approached, the female was nuich excited, fly- 

 in<T before, or runninu: on the «Moiind in the manner of a true Thrush. Mr. 

 liidgwav makes no mention of its song. 



Mr. Lord met with these birds only once, and then at (\»lville, towards the 

 end of November. All the leaves had fallen, the ground was deeply covered 

 with snow, and the cohl wjis intense. His attention was first attracted by 

 hearing a low sweet song, not unlike that of the Song Thrush of Europe, 

 which at that season was a most unusual sound. On looking around he 

 saw about twenty of these birds perched on the top sjnays of some white 

 thorn-bushes. In their mode of darting otf and returning again they re- 

 minded him of a Shrike. He shot six, and could detect no material 

 difference in plumage between males and females. In the stomachs of 

 those he opened were the renuiins of small coleopterous insects and a few 

 haws. 



