

^ 
34 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 
any species for several days in that thick-wooded valley 
(near the crossing), and supposed all the Swallows had gone 
South. Though both of these probably inhabit that region, 
I am not sure that those seen were of either species, as 
they had a strange look, and flew too high to be shot or 
closely observed. They were white beneath, with the tail a 
little forked, and may possibly have been Bank Swallows. 
Cepar Biro (Ampelis cedrorum). The Cedar Birds were 
very abundant in the open pine woods of the main Rocky . 
Mountains, and evidently had nests in August, as they were | 
scattered, and. commonly seen searching for insects among 
the pine foliage, etc. Also common at Cour d’Alefie Mis- 
.sion. I saw nothing of the larger Waxwing, which I have - 
since found as far South as Fort Mohave, N. W., January - 
. 10th, 1861. 
TowxsEND's FrycaTCHER (Myiadestes Townsendit). Y saw —— 
only the specimen preserved, which I shot at the eastern ; 
base of the pass over the Cœur d'Aleüe Mountains. It was | 
there pursuing insects from bush to bush in a small prairie | 
or "opening," silent, and in every respect resembling the - 
Pewee and other birds of that family in habits. I have re- - 
marked the same of Phainopepla nitens of Southern Califor- 
nia, a bird closely related to this, and in habits very unlike _ 
the Waxwings, at least in winter. The Shrikes, however, — 
resemble these birds more than the Waxwings or the Vireos, | 
with which Baird associates them. The tarsal scales would . 
remove both, and the Waxwings also, from the order of | 
OscrNEs, and I never heard them sing. (No. 103 is in plu- — 
mage apparently young, and undescribed.) 3 
Sarie ( Collyrio exeubitorokdes ot elegans?). Both in . 
1853 and this year, I saw Shrikes on the Columbia Plain in . 
October, which seemed to me to be quite different from C. 
borealis, and to resemble C. excubitoroides which abounds 
through the plains of Nebraska and across Oregon to Cali- 
_ fornia. They were so wild that I could not get near them, 
; MK EE cer. ste resembled the latter. CO. aat 















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