flycatcher-Cardinals— buntings— sPAfcftows— black bird— lark. 



lSS 



care as to neatness or strength, and so very slight is the structure 

 that you may often count the eggs in the nest from below. 



Little, or Little Western Flycatcher. (Empidonax traillii, var. pusil- 



lus.) 



Fig. 21. 



From the high, central plains to the Pacific, thence southward 

 into Mexico, is the habitat of this little Flycatcher. It is the west- 

 ern variety of Traill's Flycatcher {Empidonax traillii), repre- 

 sented on Plate L, fig. 4, and described on page 74, its notes and 

 its manners being the same. 



Cape Cardinal; Fiery Redbird. (Cardinalis virgin tan us, var. igneus.) 



Fig. 22. 



The habits and characteristics of this variety, which is met with 

 at Cape St. Lucas, and in the Colorado Valley, are the same as 

 those of the common Redbird, or Cardinal Grosbeak {Cardinalis 

 virginianus) , Plate XXVIII, figs. 3 and 4, page 31. 



Texas Cardinal. (Pyrrhuloxia sinuata.) 



Fig. 23. 



This species was originally described as a Mexican bird by 

 Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte, published in the proceedings of 

 the Zoological Society of London. Since then, it has been dis- 

 covered to be an inhabitant of the southern central portions of our 

 country ; its range extending northerly to within the limits of the 

 United States. On the Rio Grande, it is said to be a resident 

 most of the year. Its habits and manners are similar to our com- 

 mon Cardinal Grosbeak, or Redbird (Cardinalis virginianus), 

 represented on Plate XXVIII, figs. 3 and 4, page 31. 



Western Nonpareil, or Varied Bunting. (Cyanospiza versicolor.) 



Fig. 24. 



This beautiful bird is confined almost exclusively to Mexico. 

 In which country it was met with, in the State of New Leon, by 

 Lieutenant Couch. It is said to be common at Cape St. Lucas, 

 where it breeds, and at which place Mr. Xantus found a nest and 

 three eggs, on a myrtle hanging down from very high, perpen- 

 dicular bluffs, off the Tragoles. 



Brewer's Sparrow. (Spizella pallida, var. breweri.) 



Fig. 25. 



Mexico, and the southwestern border of the United States, is 

 the habitat of this little Sparrow. According to Mr. Ridgeway, it 

 is found abundant in all fertile portions, almost exclusively an in- 

 habitant of open situations, such as fields or bushy plains, among 

 the artemesia especially where it is most numerous, frequenting 

 alike the valleys and the mountains. Its song, he says, for spright- 

 liness and vivacity, is not excelled by any other of the North 

 American Fringillidae, being inferior only to that of the Chondcstes 

 gumma ca in power and richness, and even excelling it in variety 

 and compass. Its song, while possessing all the plaintiveness of 

 tone so characteristic of the eastern Field Sparrow, unites to this 

 quality a vivacity and variety fully equaling that of the finest 

 Canary. The nest, which he found early in June, was built in 

 sage-bushes about three ieet from the ground. 



Western Slate-colored Sparrow. Passerella townsendi, var. schistaceai) 



Fig. 26. 



The Rocky Mountain regions of the United States is the habitat 

 of this variety or geographical race of Townsend's Sparrow (Pass- 

 erella townsendii), Plate XCIV, fig. 10, page 141. 



Ridgeway's Sparrow. (Zonotrichia leucophrys, var. intermedia?) 



Fig. 27. 



This variety was first met with by Mr. Ridgeway at the Summit 

 Meadows, near the summit of Donner Lake Pass of the Sierra 

 Nevada, at an altitude of about seven thousand feet, where he 

 found it an abundant and characteristic bird. The males were in 

 full song in all parts of the meadow, and were nesting in such 

 numbers that on the evening of July 9, on halting for the night, 

 in a hurried search, no less than twenty-seven of their eggs were 

 obtained within about fifteen minutes. In every instance the nests 

 were imbedded under a species of dwarf-willow, with which the 

 ground was covered. The birds were extremely unsuspicious, the 

 male often sitting on a bush within a few feet of the collector, and 

 chanting merrily as the eggs were being blown. He adds that 

 this species is only a winter visitant of the lower country, but is 

 there universally distributed and always found in bushy localities. 



Clay Colored Sparrow, or Bunting ; Shattuck Bunting. (Spizella pal- 

 lidal) 



Fig. 28. 



According to Audubon : " This handsome little species is found 

 quite abundant throughout the country bordering on the Upper 

 Missouri. It inhabits, with particular partiality, the valleys found 

 here and there along the numerous ravines running from the in- 

 terior. Its usual demeanor resembles much that of the Chipping 

 Bunting (Emberiza socialis), of Wilson, and, like it, it spends 

 much of its time in singing its monotonous ditties, while its mate 

 is engaged in the pleasing task of incubation. When approached, 

 it will dive and conceal itself either amid the low bushes around, 

 or will seek a large cluster of wild roses, so abundant in that sec- 

 tion of country, and the fragrance of which will reach the olfactory 

 nerve of the traveler or gunner for many paces. 



" The nest of the Shattuck Bunting is usually placed on a small 

 horizontal branch, seven or eight feet from the ground ; and I be- 

 lieve it is occasionally placed in the broken and hollow branches 

 of trees. The eggs, four or five in number, are blue, spotted with 

 reddish brown toward the large end, and placed in a nest so 

 slightly formed of slender grasses circularly lined with horse or 

 cattle hair, so as to resemble as much as possible the nest of the 

 species to which it is allied." 



Crimson, or Red-shouldered Black-bird. (Agelaius phceniceus, var.gu- 



bcrnator.) 



Fig. 29. 



A Pacific Coast variety of our common Red-winged Black-bird 

 (Agclaius p/iceniceus), Plate XXXIII, figs. 2 and 3, page 44. 

 Their habits, notes, and characteristics are similar. 



Western Meadow, or Old Field Lark. (Stumella magna, var. neglecta.) 



Fig. 30. 



This variety was first made known by Messrs. Lewis and Clark, 

 at the time of their expedition to the Rocky Mountains. In man 



