GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS WEST OF JOOTH MERIDIAN. 287 
the same districts at the same season. When such is the case, the present species is 
usually found at higher altitudes in the mountains, whence it descends in fall and 
winter to the same neighborhood where the chestnut-back bluebird makes its sum¬ 
mer home. Their connection is hence not so intimate as might naturally be inferred. 
The statement of a more northerly habitat for the Arctic bluebird is true only in 
part; since, while it attains higher latitudes and, coincident with this, seeks out higher 
elevations in the mountains, it yet was found breeding by our parties as far south as 
Santa F 6, and here, too, entirely outside of the mountains. This probably represents 
about its southern breeding limit, while, on the other hand, mexicana does not reach 
much farther south. 
A nest of arctica, probably the second of the season, was found July 31 in a dead 
pine stub. It contained five eggs, far advanced. 
CINCLID2E—’Water Ouzels. 
Cinclus Swainson. 
C. mexicanus Sw. American Dipper. 
Common upon many of the streams of the eastern slope, where noted as high up as 
the Columbia River. 
Concerning the habits of this interesting species, I have no new facts to add to the 
extended notices which have appeared elsewhere, more particularly as they seem to 
be everywhere about the same. In reading Macgillivray’s excellent account of the- 
European dipper and its mode of life, I notice a statement to the effect that the dip¬ 
per is by no means an adept at walking on land; he says, after denying its alleged 
absurd habit of walking in the water on the bottom: “Even on land I have never 
seen it move more than a few steps, which it accomplished by a kind of leaping mo¬ 
tion. Its short legs and curved claws are very ill-adapted for running.” * * * Such 
being the case, it would appear as though there is, in this particular, a very marked 
difference between the European bird and our own ; for no one who has made the 
acquaintance of our dipper in its native haunts would hesitate for a moment to affirm 
that it is both agile and graceful in its movements on land, if grace be understood to 
mean an easy and assured manner. Possessed apparently of equal powers for progres¬ 
sion under water with its European ally, our species by no means depends wholly, or 
at times even in great part, upon these for its subsistence; but, on the contrary, may 
often be seen for an hour at a time wading in the shallows, or running quickly over the 
wet rocks or along the pebbly shores in search of food, when its activity and nimbleness 
of movement are very apparent. In fact, its amphibious nature would appear at times 
to be almost forgotten, or to be called to its aid only for very brief intervals; while, 
again, it appears on land, only to disappear a moment later in the swiftly moving cur¬ 
rent. 
SYLVIIDJE—True Warblers. 
Regulus Cuvier. 
11. calendula L. Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 
A common summer inhabitant of the pineries. Its songs, loud, clear, and harmo¬ 
nious, were heard all day long issuing from the tall, thickly-foliaged firs and spruces, 
in which, without doubt, the nests were secreted. 
CERTHIIDiE—Creepers. 
Certhia Linmeus. 
C. familiai'is L. Brown Creeper. 
A common summer inhabitant of the coniferous belt all along the eastern slope. 
TROGLODYTIDiE—Wrens. 
Salpinctes Cabanis. 
S. obsolelus Say. Rock Wren. 
A common summer visitant throughout this whole region. Its love for rocky fast¬ 
nesses is well typified in its name. Its nest is often placed beneath the shelter of a 
rock, or, as I have on several occasions seen it, in some slight recess or natural cavity 
in a sand-bank ; iu fact, any hidden nook or natural recess that promises concealment 
is available for its purpose. A nest found on the 15th of May contained eight eggs, 
