206 
ZOOLOGY. 
had just arrived from the south in the spring. The fact of the return north of this species in 
large flocks is worthy of notice.—S. 
GUIRACA MELANOCEPHALA, Sw. 
Black-headed Grosbeak. 
Guiraca melanocephala, Sw. Syn. Mex. Birds, Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 438.— Bon. List, 1838.— Ib. Consp. 1850, 502— 
Baird, Gen. Rep. Birds, p. 498. 
Coccothraustes melanocephala, Rich. List, Pr. Brit. Ass. for 1836, 1837. 
Fringilla melanocephala, Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 519; pi. 373. 
Coccoborus melanocephalus, Add. Synopsis, 1839, 133 .—Ib. Birds Amer. Ill, 1841, 214, pi. 206. 
Sp. Ch. —Head above and on the sides, with chin, back, wings, and tail, black. A broad median stripe on the crown, a 
stripe behind the eye, a well-marked collar on the hind neck all round, edges of interscapular feathers, rump, and under parts 
generally, pale brownish orange, almost light cinnamon. Middle of belly, axillaries, and*under wing coverts, yellow. Belly 
just anterior to the anus, under tail coverts, a large blotch at the end of the inner webs of first and second tail feathers, a band 
across the middle and greater wing coverts, some spots on the ends of the tertiaries, the basal portions of all the quills, and the 
outer three primaries near the tips, white. 
The bird is sparingly found in the vicinity of Fort Steilacoom, at which place I obtained 
two specimens. The person who killed these informed me that the song of the species is much 
like the continued lay of the robin, (T. migratorius,) but stronger and clearer. 
No. 393, male, in immature plumage, killed at Fort Steilacoom, May 19, 1856. Length, 8; 
extent, 11.87. Another, No. 450, killed in June, same plumage, but female . Both these speci¬ 
mens were unfortunately lost among a batch of 110 birds sent by me from Fort Steilacoom, 
Puget Sound, in 1856, which have never since been heard of.—S. 
PIP1LO OREGONUS, Bell. 
Oregon Ground Robin. 
Pipilo oregonus, Bell, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. V, 1852, 6. Oregon.— Bonap. Comptes Rendus, XXXVII, Doc. 1853, 922.— 
Ib. Notes Orn. Delattre, 1854, 22, (same as prec.) 
Fringilla arctica, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 49; pi. 394. 
Pipilo arctica, Aud. Syn. 1839, 123 .—Ib. Birds Am. Ill, 1841, 164; pi. 194, (not of Swainson). 
Sp. Ch—U pper surface generally, with the head and neck all round to the upper part of the breast, deep black; the rest of 
lower parts pure white, except the sides of the body and under tail coverts, which are light chestnut brown; the latter rather 
paler. The outer webs of scapulars (usually edged narrowly with black) and of the superincumbent feathers of the back, with 
a rounded white spot at the end of the outer webs of the greater and middle coverts; the outer edges of the innermost tertials 
white; no white at the base of the primaries. Outer web of the first tail feather black, occasionally white on the extreme edge; 
the outer three with a white tip to the inner web. Length, 8.50; extent, 10.50; win, 4.40; tail, 4. Female with the black 
replaced by brownish. Iris red; bill black and brown; feet brown. Iris of female olive brown. 
Hab. —Coast of Oregon and Washington Territory. 
The Oregon chewink is another representative species, having so closely the manner and 
appearance of the Atlantic species that a common observer might consider it no more than a 
local variety. But it differs much in song, having none of the plaintive call from which the 
other takes its name, its cry when disturbed being a kind of “mew,” from which it has derived 
the name of “cat-bird’'’ in the country. Its song in spring, as it sits on a low bush enjoying 
the sunshine, is like the final trill of the red-wing, or the lisping, faint notes of the cow-bird. 
It is a constant resident in the Territory, but does not frequent the edge of the coast, except 
in winter. I also found it abundant about thirty miles south of San Francisco in autumn, and 
it is probably common to the whole region west of the Rocky mountains.—C. 
