174 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



mate in that her coat is only a deep brownish 

 gray color and the wing patch is but a dull white. 



The phainopeplas are characteristic birds 

 of the Lower Sonoran Life-Zone of all our 

 Southwestern deserts. Some individuals, it is 

 true, occasionally stray outward to the coast 

 during the spring to nest in the sycamores and 

 to eat the scarlet pepper berries, but the major- 

 ity of them remain the year round in the mes- 

 quite thickets and juniper mesas of the deserts. 



So close is the relation, on the Colorado 

 Desert, between the phainopeplas and the 

 mesquite tree that it may be safely stated that 

 the distribution of this bird there is coextensive 

 with that of the mesquites. Where there are 

 no mesquites you will find no phainopeplas. 

 In the branches of these trees grow the great 

 clumps of the mistletoe {Phoradendron cali- 

 fornica) which bears those beautiful pink and 

 pearly berries of which the phainopeplas are so 

 fond. During parts of the year they seem to 

 live almost exclusively upon them. In the early 

 spring the inconspicuous blossoms of the mistle- 

 toe attract myriads of insects and on these the 

 birds gorge to fatness. 



