214 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVIII 
stead of comporting themselves in the usual way, they gathered in flocks of from 
half a dozen to thirty or more individuals, and took to the high cottonwoods, 
going over the whole top of a tree after the methodical manner of a flock of nut- 
hatches or bush-tits, even hanging from the branches upside down when need be. 
Although not encountered in any numbers, enough Bridled Tits ( Bcieolophus 
wollweberi) were seen in the valley bottom to point to the probability that the 
species occurs regularly in such situations. As there seem to be but few state rec- 
ords for the Gadwall ( Chaulelasmus streperus), 1 record a female shot a few 
miles east of Phoenix, March 27, when there seemed to be more of the same spe- 
cies present among the large flocks of teal and Shovelers. 
Ornithologically as well as otherwise, Arizona is a wonderful state, and a 
great deal remains to be done among the birds within its boundaries. It is almost 
a pity that its southern border offers so many inducements to the collector dur- 
ing the spring and summer, the consequence being that other parts of the state, 
and the south as well during the winter, have rather suffered for lack of system- 
atic field work. 
Covina, California, August 28, 1916. 
MEETING SPRING HALF WAY 
By FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY 
III. ( Concluded from page 190) 
A S WE approached Mexico, not only were hackells more frequently seen, but 
yuccas became more common, sturdy little drum majors, four to twelve 
feet high, offering good nesting sites to Orioles and Thrashers. Cactus also 
increased in amount and variety. The beautiful magenta clusters of the ribbed 
Cereus and a small devil’s head, with hooked spines, were among them. The 
thickets were becoming more dense, a veritable jungle of mesquite, huisache, 
butterfly tree, cactus, and yucca, suggesting the eleven foot rattlers that had 
been reported with such an air of verity. When Mr. Bailey was tempted in by 
some rare specimen, the old Texan cried excitedly, “You better come out of 
that thicket there’s buggers there I tell you!” But a long black snake dis- 
patched by the roadside was the worst ‘bugger’ encountered. Near a pond a 
plant resembling sunflower was found together with masses of a white nicotine 
that fairly smelled of tobacco. 
Some of the migrants met with were near their southern breeding limits 
but the Veery seemed decidedly out of place beside Golden-fronted Wood- 
peckers and the two Doves, the Ground and the White-winged. In the mes- 
quite thickets two of the common notes heard were those of the Golden-fronted 
Woodpecker and the Wood Pewee. The soft lulling notes of the Wood Pewee 
to us northerners brought up pictures of cool, high, heavily-roofed northern 
woods that contrasted strangely enough with these low, hot, thin-leafed mes- 
quite, cactus, and thorn thickets, drolly spoken of as timber ; but though the 
Pewee, which winters from Nicaragua to Colombia and Peru, breeds as far 
north as southern Canada, some of its numbers do breed as far south as south- 
ern Texas. 
