ORNITHOLOGIST 
— AND — 
OOLOGIST. 
®1.00 per 
Annum. 
Joseph M. Wade, Editor and Publisher. 
Esfablislied, March, 1875. 
Single Copy, 
10 Cents. 
VOL. VII. 
BOSTON, MASS., NOVEMBER, 1882. 
No. 22. 
Black-Crested Flycatcher. 
Among the many interesting birds which 
one may study in Southern California, 
there is none more strange or more inter¬ 
esting than the Phainopepla nitens. It 
was my good fortune from July, 1879, 
to July, 1881, to be situated in Ventura 
County, California, wliere this bird is mode 
rately common, and where I had most ex¬ 
cellent opimrtunities of studying it in its 
breeding grounds. I saw a young male in 
October 1879. I w'as collecting Sparrows 
and Towhees along a brush fence in the 
Santa Clara Valley near Santa Paula, when 
a strange, nervous bird alighted upon the 
fence at some distance in front of me. I 
saw at once that it was a new species to 
me, and my first impulse was “ to shoot it 
on the spot,” but noticing it to be feeding 
upon passing insects and not likely to fly 
far away very soon, I decided to watch its 
movements for a time before attempting to 
secure it. It wotild sit ujion a twig for 
only a few moments, jerking its tail in a 
very nervous manner and uttering a sad. 
querulous note which suggested the idea 
that it must be a bird lost from its fellows, 
stopping now and then in its lamentations 
to dart oiat excitedly and seize some pass¬ 
ing insect. After watching it some time I 
secured it, and to my delight I found I had 
a specimen of the Black-crested Flycatcher 
—that strange bird of which Dr. Cones 
writes so interestingly in his “Birds of 
the Colorado Valley,” and in connection 
with w'hich lie speaks so touchingly of one 
of the common, yet sorrowful, occurreiuies 
of border life. It is not strange that the 
pathetic song of this bird of evil omen 
touched every heart as they gathered 
around the charred remains of a dear com¬ 
rade, or that they went to bed early ; for 
even the call note is full of sadness and 
desolation, and the song is wonderfully so. 
My interest in the curious bird w^as now 
fully aroused and I determined to know 
more of it if possible, but frequent search 
in the valley failed to discover a second 
specimen. But in May, 1880, wdiile taking 
a short drive up Santa Paula Canon, I had 
the good fortune to come upon a flock of 
some twelve or more flying about among 
the elder and sumac bushes, feeding upon 
certain insects which frequent such places. 
But it w^as Sunday and I had no gun. 
Must I leave them without getting a single 
skin ? No, for just then my friend Idell 
Guiberson, an enthusiastic young Nimrod 
and lover of nature, came riding down the 
canon on his return from a few' days’ camp 
ing in the mountains. And he very kindly 
consented to shoot a couple of the coveted 
birds for me after w'e had observed them 
for some time. They w'ere in Rill j^lumage, 
and the pure white w'ing spot, which show’s 
only when flying, contrasted pleasingly 
with the glossy-black body. And on near 
ajDju'oach the yellowish-red iris and erected 
crest gave a somewhat angry, threatening 
appearance to the really timid bird. 
Circumstances were such during the next 
few weeks as to debar me from revisiting 
this canon w’here I knew they could be 
found : and it was not until July, when re¬ 
turning from a camjiing-out trip to the Big 
Trees and that w’onderful gorge,—the Yo- 
semite Valley, that I again saw’ this species. 
