28 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA. [No. 4 



about a quarter of a mile, and three or four of these were within a hun- 

 dred yards of each other. This may have been due, however, to the 

 exceptionally favorable nature of the ground ; for it was different from 

 most of the region thereabout in that the canyon opened out into a con- 

 siderable area of low, rolling hills, covered with a scattering growth of 

 large pines. Most of the birds seemed to be building, and two nests 

 were located, nearly completed ; one of them being saddled on a large 

 pine limb, in plain sight and not over fifteen feet from the ground. As 

 rather exhaustive accounts of the breeding of the species in this region 

 have already been published (Condor Vol. I, 1899, 103; Vol. Ill, 1901, 

 38) there is no need of dwelling further upon it here. 



Pyrocephalus rubineus mexicanus (Sclater). Vermilion Flycatcher. 



Though seldom entering into the canyons, never above the^mouths 

 of them, the Vermilion Flycatcher is quite a common summer resident 

 all along the base of the Huachucas, breeding principally along the vari- 

 ous washes descending therefrom. The earliest arrival noted was on 

 March 25 ; others were seen during the first week in April, but the bulk 

 of them did not arrive before the middle of the month. The male birds 

 vary considerably in coloration, and probably take at least two years in 

 attaining the perfect plumage. Several were taken at Tucson about the 

 middle of March, probably birds of the previous year, just finishing the 

 prenuptial moult. They are evidently just acquiring the globular red 

 crest of the adult, for they still have grayish feathers scattered over the 

 crown, and most of the red ones have not yet attained half their growth : 

 while the red of the lower parts is paler than in the adult male, irregu- 

 larly blotched with whitish, and with dusky streaks on the breast. A 

 breeding male taken near Fort Huachuca has many of the feathers of 

 the crown tipped with dusky, and the red of the under parts blotched 

 with white on the throat and abdomen. A male shot on August 9, was 

 in the midst of the autumnal moult. Females differ principally in the 

 amount and shade of the red of the abdomen and flanks, but one in my 

 possession has a few salmon colored feathers, tipped with dusky, on the 

 crown, and a few of the same color scattered over the breast. During 

 August, families of young with the parents in attendance, were fre- 

 quently seen, and at this time I found them more shy and difficult to 

 approach than at any other. The males are, in my experience, singularly 

 tame and unsuspicious for such bright, gaudy plumaged birds. 



Otocoris alpestris adusta Dwight. Scorched Horned Lark. 



A common summer resident, breeding everywhere on the plains 

 below the Huachucas, right up to the base of the mountains. They ar- 

 rive early, for on February 17, 1903, while driving from the train to the 

 mountains, I saw a flock of about a dozen, and a few single birds ; but it 

 was nearly a month later before they were at all abundant. I saw young 

 birds flying about the prairie by the middle of May and they became 

 more and more abundant as the summer advanced. Toward the end of 

 July and early in August, young and old gathered together in immense 

 flocks, and were at this time very restless and difficult to approach, flying 

 a long distance when disturbed. They seemed to depart for the south 

 soon after, for on September 5, 1902, on a drive of over twenty miles 

 over country in which they had bred in the greatest abundance, not a 

 single Horned Lark was seen. 



Horned Larks from this region are very uniform in coloration, the 

 greatest variation being in the intensity of the yellow of the throat. 



