46 HABITS OF TOWNSEND'S FLYCATCHING THRUSH 



structed ; it contained four young. When we approached it, 

 the female was much excited, flying before us or running upon 

 the ground in the manner of a thrush, a species of which she 

 was at first thought to be, from her entirely thrush-like man- 

 ners and appearance. Even afterward, and until the species 

 was identified by obtaining specimens, we were led into this 

 delusion, its gliding, noiseless flight, and graceful running upon 

 the ground being so perfectly thrush-like." 



This curious fact, which would never have been anticipated, 

 of the nesting of the bird in the rifts of rocks, is corroborated 

 by the later observations of Mr. Henshaw, whose article, as pre- 

 pared for the zoological volume of the Reports upon Explora- 

 tions West of the One Hundredth Meridian a work which will 

 doubtless issue from the press during the present year is to the 

 following effect: During a week's stay in June, at the base of 

 Baldy Peak, in Colorado, he frequently saw this bird in the pine 

 forests, and as high up on the mountain sides as 10,000 feet ; 

 its summer range doubtless extends up to timber line. Its 

 habits, as far as he noticed them, are singularly like those of the 

 Bluebirds. Besides a loud, liquid call note, the male has a 

 beautiful warbling song, which somewhat resembles that of 

 the Purple Finch, but far excels it in power, sweetness and 

 modulation. Though he searched carefully for the nest, he cnly 

 succeeded in satisfying himself that the bird breeds in the crev- 

 ices of rocks. Its preference for such localities during the sum- 

 mer, with the evident solicitude manifested on more than one 

 occasion, left little doubt in his mind on this point. 



The birds are quite common (Mr. Heushaw continues), in the 

 fall, in Eastern Arizona and Western New Mexico. Having 

 reared their young, they appear to forsake the pine woods, 

 which constitute their summer abode, and are seen lower down, 

 on the hillsides covered with pinons and cedars. Their food at 

 this season appears to consist almost exclusively of berries, 

 particularly of the pinons and cedars, and the crops of many 

 examined contained little else save a few insects. Though 

 in summer a bird of retiring and unsocial habits never 

 more than a single pair being found in one locality in the fall 

 they are to a considerable extent gregarious, associating usually 

 in small companies of from five to ten. At the Old Crater, 

 forty miles south of Zuni, they had congregated in very large 

 numbers about a spring of fresh water, the only supply for many 

 miles around ; and hundreds were to be seen sitting on the 



