114 



NOETH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[No. 7. 



Dr. Merriam met witli unusual numbers among the live oaks and 

 chaparral between. Kernville and Havilah, June 23; saw many in 

 Walker Basin June 24, and several in Tehachapi Pass June 25. He 

 also noted it as common in the Sierra Liebre June 30, and in the 

 Granite Range, in western San Diego County, July 1-10. 



Mr. Palmer saw several in the San Francisquito Pass, north of New- 

 hall, July 1, and Mr. Kelson found it common among the piiions a few- 

 miles west of the Canada de las Uvas, the middle of October. 



Mr. Bailey found a nest containing three fresh eggs in a mesquite, near 

 Port Mohave, Ariz., March 4, 1889, and one containing young, several 

 days old, February 28. 



Record of specimens collected of Pliainopepla nitens. 



Col- 

 lector's 

 No. 



Sex. 



Locality. 



Date. 



Collector. 



Remarks. 



109 



183 



? 



Besting Springs, Calif 



Panamint Mountains, Calif. . . 



Feb. 12,1891 

 Apr. 23, 1891 



A. K. Fisher 



do 



Surprise Canon. 





Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides. WMte-rumped Shrike. 



The white-rumped shrike is very generally distributed over the 

 greater part of the desert region of southern California and Nevada. 

 Prom its habit of associating in pairs and not congregating in flocks, 

 it is seldom common in the sense that other birds are, though a consid- 

 erable number may be seen in the course of a day's ride through suit- 

 able localities. It is especially partial to the country covered by tree 

 yuccas and seldom builds its nest in other growths where these abound. 

 Many old as well as new nests were found which were so well protected 

 by the strong, bayonet-like leaves of this plant that it was with diffi- 

 culty they could be reached. The species was tolerably common at 

 Hesperia in the Mohave Desert, January 4-5, and at Granite Wells, about 

 the middle of January. At Purnace Creek and Saratoga Springs, in 

 Death Valley, several were seen the last of January. 



At Besting Springs, California, a number were seen each day during 

 the first half of February, and at Ash Meadows, Nevada, in March. 

 It was not uncommon in Yegas Valley, Nevada, where Mr. Nelson 

 found a small Perognathus and lizard impaled on thorns by it. In Coso 

 Valley, California, the writer observed a number of insects and lizards 

 fastened on the sharp-pointed leaves of the yuccas. In the latter place 

 several nests containing eggs were found in the tree yuccas during the 

 first half of May, and one near Darwin, in the north end of the val- 

 ley, June 17. In the Coso Mountains shrikes were in sight most of the 

 time, and a nest containing four young was found May 27. Pour other 

 young, just able to fly, were seen on the same date. 



In Nevada Dr. Merriam found a nest containing six eggs on the east 

 slope of the Pahranagat Mountains, May 26. It was so placed in a fork 

 of a tree yucca that although easily seen it could not be reached from 



