1875.] 353 [Nelson. 



TROGLODYTID^E. 



2. Salpinctes obsoletus Cab. Rock Wren. Several were 

 seen on the cliffs along the canon, but they were so restless that I 

 only obtained one specimen. 



ALAUDIIxk 



3. Eremophila alpestris Boie. Horned Lark. Common on 

 the "buttes." 



tanagrim;. 



4. Pyranga ludoviciana Bonap. Louisiana Tanager. A 

 few pairs of these beautiful birds were seen in the bushes along the 

 canon. 



HIRUNDINID^E. 



5. Hirundo horreorum Barton. Barn Swallow. A few 

 miles up the canon a small branch runs off to the right. In this some 

 miners had erected a "shanty" and were prospecting for coal. They 

 had dug a tunnel some distance into the side of the hill, and then de- 

 serting it began to sink a shaft near the entrance. Several pairs of 

 swallows had taken possession of the mouth of this tunnel and had 

 young nearly able to fly when we were there. The old birds paid no 

 attention to the miners, who were continually passing within a few 

 feet of their nests. It ' is a problem how the swallows could have 

 discovered this place, the camp and tunnel being situated in the 

 bottom of a canon and surrounded on every side by high hills, and 

 the nearest habitation being on the railroad twenty-five miles distant, 

 with a barren sage-bush desert intervening. 



LANIIDiE. 



6. Collurio ludovicianus var. excubitoroides Coues. 

 White-rumped Shrike. The shrikes were very abundant along the 

 sides of the canon. Whenever one came near the tunnel where the 

 swallows were they were instantly attacked with great fury by the 

 swallows. The rapidity of their movements seemed to confuse the 

 shrike, at first, but it soon found a convenient bush under which it 

 would take refuge, and remaining quiet, the swallows would soon 

 leave it, when the shrike, after taking a cautious look around, would 

 leave as fast as his wings could carry him. 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. — VOL. XVII. 23 MAY, 1875. 



