56 
U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS-ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA. 
AMPELIS CEDRORUM, Yieillot.—Cedar Bird. 
Bombycilla carolinensis, Briss. Orn. vol. II, p. 337.— Acjd. B. of A. Oct. vol. IV, p. 169, pi. 246. —Nutt. Orn. vol. I, 
p. 243. 
Bombycilla cedrorum, Vikill, Ois. de 1’ Am. Sept. vol. I, p. 88, pi. 57. 
Ampelis cedrorum, Baird, Gen. Rep. IX, 313. 
I occasionally met with small flocks during the fall and winter. 
SXTTA ACULEATA, Cassin.—Western Nuthatch. 
Silta aculeata, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc —Baird, Gen. Rep. IX, 375. 
Abundant. 
TROCHILUS ANNA, Lesson .—Anna Humming Bird. 
Trochilus anna, Aud. B. of A. Oct. vol. IV, p. 188, pi. 252. 
Ornismya anna. Lesson, Hist. Nat. des Ois. Mou. p. 205, pi. 74. 
Cailiphlox anna, Heermann, Proceed. Ac. N. Sc. Phil. vol. Ill, p. 111. 
Atthis anna, Baird, Gen. Rep. IX, 137. 
Trochilus iclerocephalus, Nutt, Orn. 2d edit. vol. I, p. 712. 
In the month of March, 1851, I found this beautiful species quite common at San Diego, and 
it had at that early period assumed its full spring plumage. In September, 1852, I procured 
many specimens on a small island in the Cosumnes river, where grew abundantly several 
varieties of flowers, to which these diminutive birds resorted in great numbers. At that season 
many of the young males had but a few metallic feathers about the throat and the plumage of 
the adults had already lost that fire and brilliancy of coloring which it possesses in spring. 
While on the wing in pursuit of insects, or immediately after alighting on a small branch, 
they utter a very weak twitter or note, sometimes continued for a minute or more. The nest, 
placed in the forks of a bush or on the branch of an oak, is composed of fine mosses and lined 
with the down taken from the fruit of the willow. The eggs, of a pure white color, are two 
in number. 
TROCHILUS ALEXANDRI, Bourcier & Mulsant.—Purple-throated Humming Bird. 
Trochilus alexandri, B. & M. Annals of the Roy. Soc. of Phys. and Nat. Sc. Lyons, vol. IX, p. 330.— Cassin’s B. of 
Tex. and Cal. p. 141, pi. 22.— Baird, Gen. Rep. IX, 133. 
On a trip to Sonora, Mexico, in the spring of 1S51, I found for the first time this bird 
abounding in the arid country back of Gfuyamas. Here, amidst the most scanty vegetation, the 
cacti having predominance over all other, this little species, in the month of April, had con¬ 
structed its nest. The same year, somewhat later, I found it among the flowers and hushes 
in the burial ground of Sacramento City, which locality had been chosen by several pairs for 
the purposes of incubation. I found it also on Dry creek and the Cosumnes river, and think 
that further researches will prove it to extend over a much larger range than we are aware of 
at present. The nest, beautifully constructed of fine mosses and lined with the down of various 
plants and seeds, contains two pure white eggs. 
