2(V2 XORTIT AMKIMCAX lURI).^. 



SL'c'iitliiiLi tliov would alinlit in tlie top of some troe on the adjoining clifts. 

 He conipiires it.s voice to tliat of t!u' coiuuion ('atlmd. 



Dr. T. ( '. lltnry also ie}ieale(lly n(»tiee(l ilie.se hiids in the \ ieniity of Foil 

 AVclistcr, in N\\\ Mexieu. He tiist met with tlifiM near San Miu'uel, in 

 diil\, I sr. 1', where he observed a }»arty of ahout thirty llittinn tlimnnh the 

 eedars alon^ ilie roadside. Thev were ehiellv vounn" hirds, and were eon- 

 stantly alinhtiiiL; on the urountl for the purpose of capturing li/ards, which 

 they killcfl with :,n-eat readiness, and devoured. After that he re})eati'dly, 

 in winter, saw these Idrds near Fort Wehster, and usually in Hocks of uhout 

 forty or fifty. They evinced i^reat warines.s, iind were very ditlicuU of ap- 

 pn)a(h. 



The iiocks wouhl usually alight near the summit of a hill and i>as.s rap- 

 idly tlown its sides, all the hirds keeping (juite near to each other, and fre- 

 (piently aliuhtinL,' on the i^round. They appeared to he very social, and kept 

 uji a continual twitterinu note. This hird, so fir as Dr. Henry ohserved it, 

 is exclusively a mountain s])ecies, and never seen on the plains or hottom- 

 lands, and was never observed sinuly, or even in a single [tair, l»nt always in 

 c«)mp.inies. 



Dr. Xewherry met with this species in the hasin of the Des diutes, in 

 Oregon. He first noticed it in Sei)teml>er. Farlv every inorniuL' Hocks of 

 from twenty-fi\i' to thirty of these hinls came acros.s, in their usual straLi'Lilin^ 

 lliiiht, chatterini,' as they Hew to the trees on a hill near the canij*, and then, 

 from tree to tree, they made their way to tlu' stream to drink. He descrihe.s 

 thei: iiote, when tlyin^ or feedinu", as a friMpiently re]»<'ated la-ni-cn. Some- 

 times, when made l>y a stra^ixler separated from mate or tlock, it was rati:.*" 

 loud and harsh, hut was usually soft and aun'eahle. \Vh«'n disturhed, t! r 

 cry was harsher. They were very shy, and couM only he shot by lyin.L in 

 wait for them. Suhseipiently he had an opportunity of seeing" them teen, 

 and of wat.-iinii^ thiMii carefully a.s they were eating the berries (»{' the cedar.s, 

 and in their habits and cries they seiMued closely t<> rescinblc Jays. A spe- 

 cimen. ]»reviously killeil, was found with its cro]) filled with the seed.s of the 

 yellow pine. 



Dr. t'oojK'r has seen sjteciniens of this bird from Washoe, just east of 

 the ( "alifoinia Slate line, and he was informeil ])y Mr. Clarence Kini; that 

 they freipieiil the junipeis on mountains near Mariposa. 



From Dr. ("oues we learn that this biid is very alumdint at Fort Whip]>le, 

 where it remains all the year. It breeds in the r«'tired ]»ortions of the 

 neiiihborini; mountains (,f San Francisco an*^ IJill Williams, the youni;* leav- 

 iiiii" the nest in July. As the same birds are ready bo tly in April, at Carson 

 City, it may be that they havi^ two broods in Arizona. Durinuj the winter 

 thev collect in inniiense llocks, and in one instance Di'. ('ones estimates 

 their nuudier at a thousand or more. In a more ivcent contribution to the 

 litis Ajail, 1S7-), Dr. C'oues ,L:ives a more full account of his observatictns 

 in respect to this bird. In regard to lieo^raphical range he considers its 



