Dr. E. Coues.— From Arizona to the Pacific. 
259 
XXII.— From Arizona to the Pacific. By Elliott 
Coues, M.A., M.B. 
The month spent in slowly passing over the five hundred miles 
that lie between Fort Whipple, in Arizona, and the coast of 
Southern California at San Pedro, afforded me a fine opportunity 
of comparing the Ornis of the two regions, which, though pos¬ 
sessing much in common, are yet in many points strikingly 
contrasted with each other. A running commentary upon the 
more marked ornithological features of the regions traversed 
may be of interest; albeit the remarks that follow are little 
more than a collection of the heterogeneous and disjointed notes 
with which a travelling naturalises journal is always found 
crammed. 
From Fort Whipple to Fort Mojave, the nearest point on the 
Colorado river, is a distance of 161 miles in a nearly straight 
line a little north of west. The nature of the country is such 
that hardly any change from the Whipple features are to be 
noticed until the river is nearly reached. At Beale's Springs, 
a point rather more than halfway, I first noticed Pipilo aberti 
and P. mesoleucus , two species abundant in the Colorado valley, 
but never noticed at Fort Whipple, though found some twenty 
miles south of that place. As we approach the river, we have 
an unfailing sign that other species are soon to be encountered, 
in the increased number and variety of Cactacea, and their 
greater luxuriance of growth. And, sure enough, I found, on a 
dry barren plain covered chiefly with Opuntice, Cerei, and other 
cactuses, the rare and hardly-known Harporhynchus lecontii. 
A fine specimen, procured September 30th, 1865, is the second 
one known to naturalists, the type of the species (procured by 
my friend Dr. J. L. Leconte, at Fort Yuma, California) having 
remained unique up to the present time. I think it is a good 
species, quite distinct from H. crissalis , to which it is most 
nearly allied. Both inhabit the whole valley of the Colorado 
and Gila rivers, and, though thus associating, seem constantly 
to preserve their characters. They are shy and retiring birds, 
frequenting the brush and thickets which, to a greater or less 
extent, cover the dry plains, and keep much on the ground, 
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