56 U. S. p. R. E. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA. 



AMPELIS CEDRORUM, Vieillot.— Cedar Bird. 



Bomhyalla carolinmsis, Briss. Orn. vol. II, p. 337. — Aud. B. of A. Oct. vol. IV, p. 169, pi. 246.— Nutt. Orn. vol. I, 



p. 248. 

 BombycUla cedrorum, Vieill, Ois. de V Am. Sept. vol. I, p. 88, pi. 57. 

 Ampelis cedrorum, Baird, Gen. Kep. IX, 318. 



I occasionally met with small flocks during the fall and winter. 



SITTA ACULEATA, C a s s i n .—Western Nuthatch. 



SiUa actdeata, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. — Baird, Gen. Rep. IX, 375. 

 Abundant. 



TROCHILUS ANNA, Lesson .—Anna Humming Bird, 



Frochilus anna, Aud. B. of A. Oct. vol. IV, p. 188, pi. 252. 

 Ornismya anna. Lesson, Hist. Nat. des Ois. Mou. p. 205, pi. 74. 

 Callipldox anna, Heekmann, Proceed. Ac. N. Sc. Phil. vol. Ill, p. 111. 

 Auhis anna, Baird, Gen. Eep. IX, 137. 

 TrochUus icierocephalus. Null, Orn. 2d edit. vol. I, p. 712. 



In the month of March, 1851, I found this beautiful species quite common at San Diego, and 

 it had at that early period assumed its full spring plumage. In September, 1852, I procured 

 many specimens on a small island in the Cosumnes river, where grew abundantly several 

 varieties of flowers, to which these diminutive birds resorted in great numbers. At that season 

 many of the young males had but a few metallic feathers about the throat and the plumage of 

 the adults had already lost that fire and brilliancy of coloring which it possesses in spring. 

 While on the wing in pursuit of insects, or immediately after alighting on a small branch, 

 they utter a very weak twitter or note, sometimes continued for a minute or more. The nest, 

 placed in the forks of a bush or on the branch of an oak, is composed of fine mosses and lined 

 with the down taken from the fruit of the willow. The eggs, of a pure white color, are two 

 in number. 



TROCHILUS ALEXANDRI, Bourcier & M u 1 s a n t .—Purple-throated Humming Bird. 



TrochUus alexandri, B. & M. Annals of the Roy. Soc. of Phys. and Nat. Sc. Lyons, vol. IX, p. 330. — Cassin's B. of 

 Tex. and Cal. p. 141, pi. 22.— Baird, Gen. Rep. IX, 133. 



On a trip to Sonora, Mexico, in the spring of 1851, I found for the first time this bird 

 abounding in the arid country back of Gruyamas. Here, amidst the most scanty vegetation, the 

 cacti having predominance over all other, this little species, in the month of April, had con- 

 structed its nest. The same year, somewhat later, I found it among the flowers and bushes 

 in the burial ground of Sacramento City, which locality had been chosen by several pairs for 

 the purposes of incubation. I found it also on Dry creek and the Cosumnes river, and think 

 that further researches will prove it to extend over a much larger range than we are aware of 

 at present. The nest, beautifully constructed of fine mosses and lined with the down of various 

 plants and seeds, contains two pure white eggs. 



