266 
Dr. E. Coues.— From Arizona to the Pacific . 
is found in the moist meadows, and over the marshy tracts of 
the river the common Circus hudsonius may always be seen. 
Leaving the Mojave at Lane's Crossing, we in one day got 
through the Cajou Pass of the San Bernadino Mountains. This 
pass is about the most eastern recorded locality for the beautiful 
Oreortyx pictus ; and, regarding the other Quail of California, 
Lophortyx californicus, we need here have no fear that we shall ever 
be puzzled with a supposed hybrid between it and L. gambeli; 
for no suspicion of the latter's presence here is to be entertained. 
Oreortyx and Lophortyx are so radically distinct in the nature 
of the localities they frequent, as to be distinguished by the 
people as the “ Mountain" and “ Valley" Quail. 
Behind San Bernadino and the coast lies about eighty-five 
miles of plain, open and flat, though by no means desert and 
sterile, the continuity of which is hardly interrupted. Besides 
the constant features of such plains— Eremophila cornuta and 
Anthus ludovicianus —we find two very interesting birds in con¬ 
siderable numbers. One of these is Athene cunicularia, which 
I supposed to replace A . hypogcea in the regions west of the 
Rocky Mountains. I must confess I have my doubts regarding 
this strict distribution of the two, and also as to whether they 
are really distinct, which, however, this is not the place to dis¬ 
cuss. The Owls are very numerous, living in the burrows of 
Spermophilus beecheyi , a Marmot-Squirrel exceedingly common 
in Southern California, though I saw none of its “ towns" any¬ 
thing approaching in size those of Cynomys ludovicianus that I 
met with on the Ark ansa w river. The other bird is jEgialites 
montanus , which seems to me most inaccurately named; for, on 
the many occasions I have met with the species, it has always 
been on open, dry, flat, sandy or grassy plains, and never on 
mountains. It may possibly retire to these latter to breed, but 
I do not think this is the case. Other naturalists support the 
assertion that the species is exclusively confined to the plains. 
It seems, too, to have no special inclination for the vicinity of 
water, any more than has Grus canadensis, or, I had almost said, 
Eremophila cornuta. It is a familiar and unsuspicious bird, 
and, when not often disturbed, admits of a very near approach, 
running rapidly and gracefully, with head lowered, often stop- 
