May, 1893.] BIRDS OF THE DEATH VALLEY EXPEDITION. 131 



seen in the Mohave Desert, at Hesperian few miles from the summit of 

 Cajon Pass, where the males were singing from the tops of the tree 

 yuccas, January 4-5. Mr. Stephens found a nest containing four fresh 

 eggs in £ 'cholla' (cactus) in Salt Wells Valley, about 8 miles north of 

 Indian Wells, the 1st of May, and saw the species sparingly in Owens 

 Valley, a few miles north of Little Owens Lake. In the Ooso Valley 

 'and at Ooso in the mountains of the same name, Mr. Palmer and the 

 writer found this species among the tree yuccas, and the former observer 

 found a number of old nests during the first half of May. In the 

 early part of July, the species was very common in Walker Pass 

 where as many as half a dozen were seen in one yucca, and at the 

 South Pork of the Kern Eiver it was found to be common wherever 

 yuccas occurred. Mr. Nelson found it rather common about the ranch 

 m Vegas Valley, Nevada, and still more numerous among the mesquite 

 m Vegas Wash near the Colorado River, where the birds were in full 

 song, March 10. 



Dr. Merriam furnished the following notes on this species : "In the 

 Mohave Desert, California, many nests were found in tree yuccas 

 between Cajon Pass and Pilot Knob, the first week in April, but none 

 of them contained eggs. The species reaches the extreme western 

 end of the desert (Antelope Valley), and a few were seen in yuccas 

 and sage-brush in a wash leading south from Gorman ranch toward 

 Peru Creek, June 30. 



"From the Mohave Desert the cactus wren exten ds up the wa sh leading 

 to Tehachapi Basin, where it was tolerably common in the yuccas and 

 < chollas' below Cameron. In Walker Pass, it ranges from the east or 

 Mohave Desert side completely across the Sierra to the valley of Kern 

 Eiver, where it is abundant in groves of tree yuccas and in 'chollas' 

 down to 820 meters (2,700 feet) altitude, and where dozens of their 

 large nests were seen in the cactuses, June 22. In Nevada two nests 

 were found in Acacia (jreggii at Bitter Springs in the Muddy Moun- 

 tains, May 5; both had been used the present season, and one con- 

 tained an addled egg. The species was common on the high mesa 

 between the Muddy and Virgin rivers, May 7, where nearly every 

 branching cactus contained the remnants of a nest, but all the young 

 had hatched and flown away. In the Beaverdam Mountains, in south- 

 western Utah, they were common in yuccas and cactuses up to 1,150 

 meters (3,800 feet) on the west slope. In the Lower Santa Clara Val- 

 ley, Utah, near St. George, they were common, breeding in the arbo- 

 rescent cactus, May 11-15. This valley is the extreme northeastern 

 limit of distribution of the species. In Southern California, on the 

 coast slope, it is abundant on the San Bernardino Plain, and thence 

 southward. Many were seen in the Santa Clara Valley at its junction 

 with Castac Creek, June 30, where its nests were conspicuous in the 

 tall cactus (Ojmntia bernardina)." 



