476 NATURALIST IN CALIFORNIA. 



winter than the S. socialis, but the first birds which I could 

 consider as probably the leaders of the summer migration, 

 were, as it happened, of a new species, viz., Helminihopliaga 

 Luciae, or Lucy's Warbler, which I shot at first sight on 

 March 29th, the two first being males, and attracting my 

 notice by their notes, as their small size and concealment in 

 the dense mesquite thickets, which were just leafing out, 

 would have otherwise prevented tlieir discovery for a long 

 time. They may even be winter residents in the valley like 

 the allied //. celata. 



The first nest I found Avith eggs was that of a Shrike 

 (^LaniiLS excubitoroides) on the 19th, and on the 2 (3th ob- 

 tained the first eggs of the Quail, of the Yellow-headed 

 Titmouse (which builds an extraordinary closed nest of 

 thorny twigs, like the magpies's in miniature), and of 

 Abert's Pipilo. 



Burrows were not uncommon which may have been made 

 by Foxes or by the Badger {Taxidea Aynericana). On 

 March 30th, visiting a steel trap which I had set for bur- 

 rowing animals I was surprised to find in it a Swift Fox 

 ( Vul/pes velox) caught by the toes. Having no way of se- 

 curing it alive, I was obliged to make a dead specimen of it 

 at once, fearing it might tear itself away. This is one of 

 the mammalia which has not yet been detected west of the 

 Colorado, though it undoubtedly exists there, and is indeed 

 but a dwarf variety of the common Red Fox. Other mam- 

 mals which I had obtained were Gambel's Woodmouse, be- 

 fore mentioned ; Audubon's Hare (fur finer than near the 

 coast, approaching Lepus artsmisioe) , Coyote (Cams la- 

 trans), killed by the dogs while running through the camp 

 one moonlight night in January ; Brush-tailed Rat {Perog- 

 nallius penicillatus) , quite common in the thatched roofs ; 

 Dark Woodmouse {He^ijperomys austerusf), before ibund 

 only in Washington Territory, but undistinguishable by de- 

 scriptions ; Boyle's Woodmouse, probably a mere long-tailed 

 variety of Gambel's ; the Mexican Woodrat (JSTeotoma Mex- 



