Jan., 1918 NOTES ON SOME BIRDS FROM CENTRAL ARIZONA 21 



of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and of certain of these specimens, as well 

 as of some of the data gathered, it seems desirable that more formal record be 

 made than can be done in the proposed general account. Collecting was carried 

 on at Tempe (May 29-June 5), Roosevelt Lake (June 5-11, July 2-5), Sierra 

 Ancha (June 11-July 2), and Globe (July 5-7). 



Features of interest regarding the bird life of this part of Arizona were 

 found in the presence in the mountains of certain Mexican species, here appar- 

 ently at nearly their northern limit, these occurring together with species from 

 the Rocky Mountain region to the northward, in the local distribution of some of 

 the birds, and in the absence of several species which might be expected to occur 

 here. 



It is for the most part of species from the Sierra Ancha that comments are 

 called for. This range is a southern offshoot of the Mogollon Mountains, lying a 

 few miles north of Roosevelt Lake. My headquarters here was at Carr's Ranch, 

 altitude 5400 feet, and collecting was carried on to points within a radius of 

 twelve or fifteen miles. 



The southern slope of the Sierra Ancha is steep, hot and arid, and though 

 the higher portion of this slope is in the Upper Sonoran Zone, the nature of the 

 country is not such as to support a large or varied bird or mammal population, 

 and consequently the presence of Upper Sonoran species is not conspicuously ap- 

 parent. The northern exposures of the mountains, however, from about 5000 feet 

 upward, are thickly covered with vegetation, mostly of typical Transition Zone 

 plants, while there are running streams in every canyon ; birds in consequence are 

 exceedingly abundant. 



The highest peaks reach an elevation of about 7500 feet. Although even at 

 these points the mountains do not extend above the Transition Zone, there is, nev- 

 ertheless, some difference between the animal life of the higher altitudes and 

 that of the region lying from 5000 to 6000 feet. On the upper slopes of Aztec 

 Peak, above 7000 feet, I saw a very few individuals of the following species : Red- 

 backed Junco {J unco phaeonotus dorsalis), Western Tanager (Piranga ludovici- 

 ana), Pigmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea pygmaea), and Mountain Chickadee 

 (Penthestes gambeli gambeli). At the 6000 foot level there were no juncos, 

 while the other three species mentioned were replaced by their near relatives, the 

 Hepatic Tanager (Piranga hepatiea), the Rocky Mountain Nuthatch (Sitta caro- 

 Unensis nelsoni) and the Bridled Titmouse (Baeolophus wollweberi) . 



Of Mexican species, the presence of which so strongly characterizes the avi- 

 fauna of the mountains of southern Arizona, several were found to extend this 

 far north, though only a few of these forms were really common. The Painted 

 Redstart (Setophaga picta) was abundant. The Red-faced Warbler, of closely 

 similar habits, was not seen by me, though it has been reported from points far- 

 ther north. The Arizona Jay (Aphelocoma sieberi arizonae) was exceedingly 

 numerous at from 5000 to 6500 feet, though these mountains must be close to the 

 northern limit of the species. Coues Flycatcher (Myioehanes periinax pallidi- 

 ventris) was present in small numbers; the Olive-sided Flycatcher, which re- 

 places the former species but a short distance to the northward, was not seen. 

 Apparently none of the more southern species of hummingbirds reaches this far 

 north, the Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) being the only 

 species seen in the Transition Zone of the Sierra Ancha, and the Costa (Calypic 

 costae) and Black-chinned (Archilochus alexandri) at lower levels. 



In the Sierra Ancha there was a notable absence of several species of birds 



