422 



NidtTii amkiu(;an nrRDR. 



30138 



iia dcscrihed ; tlio back diirkor, the ruini) and iixillars more pluiiibeoiis, the 

 sides more bluish. Tlicre is little doubt that the e.\aniinati(»u of series from 

 the States alouj,' the Mississi])pi will show a still closer reseiubhmce to typi- 

 cal C. hiiloviriiniiiti, and tiiat the jiradatiou l)etweeu the two extn^iues will be 

 I'uuud to be cimtiiiuous and unbroken. It therefore seems reiisoiiable to con- 

 sider them all as one species, varying with longitude and r, ^aon according 

 to the usual law, — the more western the lighter, with longer tail. The only 

 alternative is to suppo.se that two species, originally distinct, have hybridized 

 along the lino of junction of their resiiective provinces, as is certainly some- 

 times the case. The appro.vimation in many respects of coloration of the 

 Shrikes of the Pacific coast to those of the South Atlantic States is not with- 

 out its importance in the discussion of the subject. However it may be, it 



is necessary to retain the name of cixa- 

 hitoroidvs, as representing, whether as 

 species or variety, a peculiar regional 

 form, which must be kept distinctly in 

 mind. The comparatively greatei' size 

 of the bill in the Cape St. Lucas s])eci- 

 mens is seen in other species from this 

 lo(;ality (Xo. 2G,4;i8 of adjacent figure). 

 The intensity of the black front in 

 this species varies considerably, being 

 sometimes very distinct, and again entirely wanting. This may ])robably 

 be a character of the breeding-season, the dulncss of black anterior to the eye 

 and the lighter color of the bill having a close relationship here, as in other 

 species, to maturity, sex, and season. 



Haiuts. This variety was first described from specimens obtained in the 

 territory of the Hudson's Bay Co. J'ichardson states that it was not found 

 farther north than the fifty-fourth degriie, and there only in the warm and 

 sandy plain of the Saskatchewan. Its manners, he says, are precisely sinular 

 to those of the lorc(f/is, feeding chiefly on the grasshopi)ers, which were very 

 numerous on the plains. Mr. iJrummond found its nest in the beginning of 

 .Iiuie, in a bush of willow.s. It was built of the twigs of the Arfcitiisia and 

 dry grass, and lined with leathers. The eggs were six in nulnber, of a 

 ]iale yellowish-gray color, with many irregular and confluent spots of oil- 

 green, mixed with a few of smoke-gray. 



Mr. IJidgway met with it, in his Western explorations, in all localities, but 

 most frequently among the Artemisia ami in tlie meadow-tracts of the river 

 valleys. It is also seen on all j)arts of the mountains, among the cedar 

 groves, localities in which the ludoricittnns is said never to be found. 



Dr. Cooper describes this bird as abundant in all the plains-region of Cali- 

 fornia, but not as far as the Columl)ia IJivei'. South of latitude 08", they reside 

 all the year. They were abundant aliout Fort Mohave all winter, and nested 

 as early as the IDth of March in a tiiorn-bush. They had young early in 



