April 1904] BIRDS OF THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA 45 



work at their housekeeping, migrating birds were taken up to the end 

 of May. It is rather singular that though in California this species is 

 most abundant in the willow regions of the low lands, here it is pre- 

 eminently a bird of the higher mountains, and, even during the migra- 

 tions, of very rare occurrence in the lower valleys. During the summer 

 it is most abundant in the highest parts of the mountains, .seldom breed- 

 ing below 6000 feet; but soon after, the young leave the nest a down- 

 ward movement is begun, and up to the middle of August these Gros- 

 beaks fairly swarm in some of the lower canyons, young and old gather- 

 ing together in enormous, though loose and straggling flocks. They 

 have a bad name with the fruit growers of this region, who destrov them 

 without mercy, and there is no doubt that they are very destructive to 

 the fruit, descending on the orchards in large flocks, arid ruining much 

 besides what' they eat. A series of eighteen male birds from the Hua- 

 chuca Mountains shows considerable variation in color and markings, 

 but the most highly plumaged specimens have the lower parts darker 

 than any California birds in my possession, with rather more black on 

 the chin and throat. A well defined tawny postocular stripe is present 

 in many instances, and even in most perfectly marked early spring speci- 

 mens it is usually indicated by rusty tips to the feathers of those parts 

 which are lost by abrasion at a later date; so that it is really only late 

 summer specimens in worn plumage that have the head solid black with- 

 out any appearance of these markings. One bird, otherwise as bright- 

 colored and highly marked as any collected, has the black of the head 

 divided by a broad, well defined median stripe reaching quite to the bill, 

 while the postocular stripe is continued, narrowly but sharply defined, 

 over the eye to the nostril. Several specimens taken during the latter 

 part of May were changing from the dull, immature plumage to that of 

 the adult; and such birds are variously marked, streaked more or less 

 underneath, with the bright new black and white wing and tail feathers 

 showing conspicuously against the old dull colored ones, and blotches 

 of old feathers showing on various parts of the head and body. This 

 change seems to be accomplished very gradually, however, and I saw 

 none which appeared very ragged as a result of it. It is noteworthy that 

 in such specimens the postocular stripe is always present, more or less 

 conspicuously, so that it is possible that such a mark is to some extent 

 a mark of immaturity. 



The male birds had nearly all left by the second week in August ; 

 and such as were taken at this time had not yet commenced to moult 

 their summer plumage, though in many instances the white and tawney 

 edges to the feathers of the dorsum, as well as the scapulars and tertials, 

 had worn off to such an extent as to leave those parts almost uniformly 

 black in appearance. By the middle of August none but females and im- 

 mature birds remained, and these gradually disappeared, until by the 

 end of the month there were very few to be seen of any age or sex. 



Guiraca caerulea lazula (Lesson). Western Blue Grosbeak. 



A common summer resident along the San Pedro River, but of rare 

 occurrence in the Huachucas. Several times during August, 1902, I 

 thought I heard the note of the Blue Grosbeak in some of the lower can- 

 yons but never secured any. I have seen an adult male taken by R. D. 

 Lusk in the Huachuca Mountains, August 19, 1894. 



Cyanospiza amoena (Say). Lazuli Bunting. 



During the spring migration this species appears in the Huachucas, 

 not in great numbers, but still in tolerable abundance ; but its stay is an 



