April 1904] BIRDS OF THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA. 51 



very quiet and inconspicuous ; I once or twice heard the male bird sing- 

 ing- from some elevated position, but as a rule they kept quietly in the 

 underbrush, close to the ground, and were most easily overlooked. On 

 May 20, 1*503, I found a nest about half finished, which on the 29th 

 contained four fresh eggs. It was built on a steep sidehill about ten 

 feet from a much traveled trail, and was very well concealed ; being 

 under a thick hunch of overhanging grass, and sunk into the ground be- 

 sides, so as to be entirely hidden from view. This was at an elevation 

 of about 8000 feet, which seems to be about the upward limit for this 

 species in this region. About the middle of July, young birds began 

 to appear, and from this time, young and old moved down into the foot- 

 hill region once more, where I took specimens at various times through 

 the month of August, though they were not nearly as numerous as in 

 the spring. 



In the spring males collected there is great variation in the amount 

 of yellow on the breast; in some instances it extends quite to the bill, 

 and over the sides of the breast, while in some few it is restricted to a 

 small, faintly indicated spot. Usually the yellow is restricted to the 

 center of the breast and lower part of the throat, the upper throat and 

 chin being grayish white; and even in the brightest colored specimens 

 there is a more or less well defined line of grayish extending across the 

 yellow of the throat. Just one spring bird shows signs of moult on the 

 chin and throat, the new feathers being yellow, the old ones gray; so 

 possibly it is the older birds which are the brightest in this respect. In 

 some females the yellow marking is almost entirely absent, while in 

 others it is quite bright, more so than in some of the duller colored males; 

 and in the females the chestnut crown patch is sometimes present and 

 sometimes not. 



An adult male taken August i8th, which has nearly completed the 

 post-nuptial moult, has the upper parts clear gray with but very little 

 of a brownish cast. The lower parts are grayish, strongly tinged with 

 brown on the sides and flanks, while the yellow of the breast is overcast 

 with grayish, and the chin and throat white, tinged with yellowish buff. 

 An adult female taken August 22nd, in newly acquired autumnal plumage 

 has the upper parts uniform grayish brown, much darker than the male 

 bird just described. The crown patch is present but almost entirely 

 conce-vled by the brownish tips of the feathers. The yellow of the breast 

 is quite as extensive as in many spring specimens, but overcast with 

 grayish : while the throat and median line of the abdomen are white with 

 a decidedly buffy tinge, the sides and flanks being brownish. A very 

 young male has the upper parts dull grayish brown, the breast, sides and 

 fhnks a rather paler shade of the same, while the chin, throat and abdo 

 men are a dirty white. On the median line of the throat and on each 

 side of the breast, a narrow line of buffy yellow pin feathers is appear- 

 ing. A female, a little older, has the entire lower parts of this buffy 

 yellow hue, a spot on the breast being almost clear yellow. Another, 

 with sex undertermined but probably a female, is about the same but 

 lacks the yellow on the breast, having the lower parts buffy yellow in- 

 terrupted by a line of grayish feathers across the throat. Two young 

 males taken at a later stage have lost much of the buffy hue of the lower 

 parts, have the chin and throat grayish white, the yellow of the breast 

 quite bright and well defined, and are losing by moult the plumage of 

 the head, upper neck, and back, replacing it with a plumage more like 

 the adult. In one case in which the feathers of the pileum have been 



