552 



BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



further Nvestward, having been found by earlier expeditions iu various 

 portions of Dakota, l^ebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado. It is one of 

 the species of Turdidce which does not appear to leave the United States 

 in winter, as we have no West Indian or Central American quotations. 

 It breeds in suitable localities anywhere within general range. A nest 

 containing four eggs was found at Pembina late in June. 



Daring the second season, the species was observed on the Missouri 

 above Fort Buford. 



List of specimens. 



CmCLUS MEXICAN us, Sw. 

 American Dipper, or Water Ouzel. 



During the tedious march through the monotonous country of the 

 Milk Eiver, when little was to be looked for that had not already been 

 found, I daily indulged pleasant anticipations of change for the better, 

 in the new and more varied features of the avifauna which I should 

 meet on entering the mountains. I was particularly desirous of finding 

 the Dipper, — a bird that in former years had given me the slip when I 

 was crossing the mountains of New Mexico and Arizona. Nor was I 

 disappointed ; the most favorable conditions of the bird's existence are 

 met in the many crystal cascades, fed by the snow-capped peaks that 

 form Chief Mountain Lake, — a beautitul sheet of water environed by pre- 

 cipitous mountains, debouching with a tortuous course into one of the 

 many clear streams that unite to form the Saskatchewan. Nor was this 

 romantic spot the home of the Dipper alone, among the more interesting 

 forms of animal life. The Bohemian Waxwing was breeding here, many 

 degrees of latitude further south than had been known before. So was 

 the Harlequin Duck, like the Waxwing then for the first time ascer- 

 tained to rear its young within the limits of the United States. Bar- 

 row's Golden Eye and other species, to me, at least, extremely interest- 

 ing, were here first encountered, as more fully noted in other portions 

 of this narrative. 



At the time of my visit, it was too late to look for the nest or eggs of 

 the Dipper, as the young were already on wing ; that they were bred iu 

 the immediate vicinity, at an altitude of only about 4,000 feet, was evi- 

 dent from the immature condition of the specimens examined. 



My observations upon the habits of the species were too limited to 

 enable me to add anything to the account, compiled from various sources, 

 which was published in the " Birds of the Northwest". 



