ZOOLOGY. Fei 
where it arrives the latter part of March, or early in April, almost 
exclusively frequenting the wooded borders of streams. About 
the 20th of April the pairs begin to build their nest, which is 
placed on a fork of one of the smaller branches of a mezquite or 
cottonwood, usually ten to twenty feet from the ground. It is 
dificult to find on account of its small size, and is not easily pre- 
served being a very shallow affair, and loosely constructed. One 
now lying before me is composed of a groundwork of tops of 
weeds and small dry willow twigs, to which are added a few small 
pieces of the soft inner bark of cottonwood, and some other plant 
fibres ; the lining consists of fine hair and pigeon feathers. The 
eggs are usually three in number; at least, I have never found 
more. They are of a very pale cream color, spotted and blotched 
with the shades of umber brown and lilac, the spots in most cases 
forming a ring round the larger end, though sometimes pretty 
evenly distributed over the whole surface; and in such cases the 
markings are usually smaller and paler. The dimensions of a set 
are as follows :—.70 by .51; .69 by .53; .68 by .52. The largest 
one, of four sets measures .72 by .52; the smallest, .66 by. 53. 
The period of incubation is about two weeks; the male does not 
appear to take part in it. At least two broods are reared each 
season. The male is very noisy at this time, hovering in the air 
in the manner of a sparrow-hawk if he observes any unwelcome 
intruder near his nest; when much excited resembling a miniature 
turkey-gobbler, and presenting a comical appearance with his crest 
s body, seemingly having hard work to keep his balance. 
Whilst on wing at such times he continually utters a shrill cry of 
alarm, something like the syllables ‘‘ze-bri, ze-bri” quickly re- 
peated. On leaving the nest, the young are of a uniform ashy 
gray color. About the end of September the bird leaves for its 
winter home in Mexico.—Lr. Cuas. Benpre, U. S. A., “e 
Arizona.—Communicated by Dr. Coues. 
ENA OF THE HELICIDÆ IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. = 
Mr. John T. Gulick has contributed to a recent number of a 
“~ Nature,” a a very interesting and valuable addition to our ee : 
edge of the geographical distribution and variation of species 
an account of the section of Helicide, known as saan — 
found in the Sandwich Islands. The family, of which the com- 
