44 NORTH AMKIIICAX HlUUa 



Jittfiition attructeJ by tlu; new note of a ]nn\ unfaiuiliar to liim. It was 

 found, after some observation, to proceed hum this species He descrilnis 

 it as risin<,' with a tremulous motion of its winj^s some twenty feet or more, 

 and then tlescending ii«,'ain, in tlie same manner, to within a few yards of 

 the spot whence it started, and as acconipanyin^' its entire llij^nt with a 

 len^'tliened and pleasin*,' sonjjj. The country in that nei«,dilK)rliood is very 

 barren, covered with hnv stunted laislies, in which tlie bird takes refu<,'e on 

 lieing alarmed, j^liding rai)idly throu;4h the j^rass an<l shrublxiry, and very 

 adroitly and elfectually evadin*,' its pursuer. He observed them during four 

 or five days of the journey of his l>arty, and after that saw no more of them. 

 They seemed, at the time, to be migrating, though their continued and oft- 

 repeated song also showed that they were not far from readiness for the 

 duties of incubation. 



The Pain eta cassini is said, by Mr. Sumichrast, to be a resident species in 

 the valley of Orizaba, in the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico, and to be gen- 

 erally distributed throughout the temperate region of that district. It is 

 very probable, however, that he has in view the Mexican race of P. ctstivalia 

 (var. hottfrii), and not the present species. 



Mr. J. A. Allen, who considers this bird only a western form of P. ccstiva- 

 lis, mentions (Am. Xaturalist, May, 1S72) finding it ({uite frequently near 

 the streams in Western Kansas, where its sweetly modulated song greets 

 the ear with the first Ijreak of dawn, and is again heard at night till the 

 last trace of twilight has disappeared. Mr. Allen also states, in a letter, 

 that this bird was "tolerably common along the streams near Fort Hays, but 

 veiy retiring, singing mostly after nightfall and before sunrise, during the 

 morning twilight. When singing, it had the habit of rising into the air. I 

 shot three one morning tlius singing, when it was so dark I could not find 

 the birds. The one I obtained does not differ appreciably from specimens 

 from ^Ir. Cassin's collection, labelled by him Peuccca cdssini, collected in 

 Texas." 



Mr. Uidgway regards this record of the manners of this bird, while sing- 

 ing, as indicating a specific difference from P. aestivalis. The latter, in 

 Southern Illinois, has never been heard by him to sing at night, or in the 

 morning, nor even on tlie wing ; but in broad midday, in the hottest days of 

 June, July, and August, he often heard them singing vigorously and sweetly, 

 as they perched upon a fence or a dead tree in a field, exactly after the man- 

 ner of our common >S)??>//a j9?<sz7/rt. 



Among Dr. Heermann's notes, quoted by ^Ir. Presser, is one containing 

 the statement that he found this species not rare on the prairies near the 

 Medina River, in Texas, where it breeds. Mr. Dresser also states that when 

 at Howard's Ranche, early in May, he found this bird by no means uncom- 

 mon. He confirms Dr. Heermann's account, that it is easily distinguished as 

 it rises in the air, from a bush, wdth a peculiar fluttering motion of the wangs, 

 at the same time singing, and then suddenly dropping into the bushes again. 



