268 NOUTU AMERICAN BIItPH. 



Dr. Kennei'ly met with those l)ir(ls on the Little Colorado in New Mexico, 

 in December. He I'ouiul them in yreat numher,s soon after leaviuj.;' the 

 Iiio (Jnuule, and t'roni time to time on the march to Calilornia. They seemed 

 to live indiU'erently in the deep canons amon^' the hills or in the valleys, 

 but were oidy found near water. 



Dr. Newberry first met with these I)irds on the banks of one of the 

 trilaitarics of the Des Chutes, one hundred miles south of tiie Columbia, 

 afterwards on the Columbia, but nowhere in large numbei-s. lie reganls 

 them as much less gregarious in their habits than I'icn niiffalli, as all the 

 birds ho noticed were solitary or in pairs, while the Yellow-bills were oU'in 

 seen in tlocks of several hundreds. 



All accounts of this bird agree in representing it as frequently a great 

 souice of annoyance to parties of ox])loration, especially in its attacks 

 upon horses worn down and galled by fatigue and privations. In the mem- 

 oral)le narrative of Colonel Pike's Journey in New Mexico, these birds, ren- 

 dered bold and voracious by want, are described as asseiidding around that 

 miseral)le party in great nundier.-,, picking the sore backs of their perishing 

 hor.ses, and snatching at all the food they could reach. The party of Lewis 

 and Clark, who were the first to add this bird to (uir fauna, also describe them 

 as familiar and voraciou.s, penetrating into their tents, snatching the meat 

 even from their dishes, and frequently, wluni t!ie Innitors were engaged in 

 dressing their game, seizing the meat suspended within a loot or two of 

 their heads. 



Mr. Nuttall, in his tour across tlie continent, found these birds so familiar 

 and greedy as to bo easily taken, as they approached the encampment lor 

 food, by the Indian boys, who ke})t them prisoners. They soon became 

 reconciled to their confinement, and were continually hoi)ping around and 

 tugging and struggling for any offid thrown to them 



Oliservers have rtiportcd this bird from dill'erent ])arls of Arizona and New 

 Mexico; but Dr. Coues writes me that ho never saw it at Fort Wlujiple, or 

 elsewhere in the first-named Territory. He found it breeding, however, in 

 the Itator. Mountains, in Juno, undei' the following circumstanccis, recorded 

 at the time in his journal. 



"Yesterday, the 8th, we were rolling over smooth prairie, ascending a 

 little the while, Itut so gradually that only the change in the ilora indicated 

 the ditrerence in elevation. The llowery verdure was i)assed, scrubby juniiters 

 came thicker and faster, and pine -clad mountain-tops took shape before us. 

 We made the pass to-day, rounding along a ])ictures(pio ravine, and the 

 noon halt gave me a chance to see something of the birds. Troops of 

 Ijcautiful Swallows were on wing, and as their backs turned in their way- 

 ward fiight, the violet-green colors ln^trayed the sj)ecies. A colony of them 

 were breeding on the face of a clilf, aijjiarently like //. lunifi-oiin, but the 

 nests wore not accessible. Whilst I v.as watcliing tluiir movements, a harsh 

 scream attracted my attention, and the next moment a beautiful Magi)ie 



