262 
Dr. E. Cones.— From Arizona to the Pacific. 
another, P. mesoleucus, which is little less numerous, and to 
which my remarks upon P. aherti equally apply, except perhaps 
that it has a less powerful note. During the long moult, which 
lasts from July far into October, both these birds suffer much, 
and are in such wretched plumage as to be hardly worth pre¬ 
serving. 
At Fort Yuma, in September, I was in time to catch Helmin - 
thophaga celata on its southward journey. It was not very 
rare, frequenting low trees, young willows and the like, as 
well as brush-heaps and thickets; I think that it is much less a 
tree-species than are its Eastern congeners, and that it ap¬ 
proaches Geothlypis in its habits. At this season the head is 
perfectly plain, and the bird looks very much like an autumnal 
Dendrceca striata. It is partially gregarous at this season, and 
its only note is a low, sharp “ Fsip.” 
All along the Colorado valley Lophortyx gamheli is singularly 
abundant. This is a very easily pleased bird, and one by no 
means fastidious in choice of a residence ; for it is equally at home 
in scorched mezquite-thiekets, dusting itself in sand that would 
blister the naked feet (for the thermometer stood 117° Fahr. in 
the shadewhile I was at Yuma!),and in the mountains of Northern 
Arizona, where pine-boughs are bending under a weight of snow. 
I have already enlarged on the habits of this bird [antea, 
pp. 46-55], but I may now add that my friend Dr. Cooper, while 
at Mojave, brought up young birds by placing the eggs under a 
common hen, and that he found no difficulty in semidomesti- 
cating them as they grew up, to the extent of their associating 
freely with the barnyard fowls. The eggs, which are white or 
yellowish-white, with brown spots, were hatched^in twenty-four 
days. From twelve to seventeen have been found in a nest, 
which latter is a rather rude structure, about eight inches wide, 
hidden in the grass. 
One of the features of the scenery of Yuma is a bird known 
as the “ Colorado Turkey.” As the order to which it belongs 
could never be guessed from this name, I must explain that it 
is the Tantalus loculator of Linnaeus, though why called a 
“Turkey” I know not. These birds are in sight at all times, 
flying over head with outstretched necks, uttering their rough 
