86 
ZOOLOGY. 
in the eastern States, they rarely pass the line of 44°. This is the more surprising, as the 
climate still further magnifies the discrepancy, the isothermal line at Fort Reading, California, 
passing south of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is probable, however, that climate and temperature do 
not so much affect the range of this species as the presence or absence of the coniferous forests 
which form its favorite habitat. 
As we progressed towards the Columbia, the Canada jay became more common, but always 
appeared to us as rather a shy bird, exhibiting none of the familiarity and impudence which 
have been ascribed to it, probably for the reason that our visit to that country was not in the 
winter, when they are made bold by hunger. I was informed that on the Columbia, when the 
ground is covered with snow, these birds become very fearless, obtrusive, and sometimes trouble¬ 
some, through their depredations on the stores of provisions. 
QUISCALUS PURPUREUS. 
Common Blackbird. 
Not uncommon in the vicinity of San Francisco, California. 
SCOLECOPH.AGUS MEXICANUS. 
Blackbird. 
Common in California and Oregon. I saw large flocks of them at Fort Vancouver, W. T., 
in the last of October. They were flying from field to field, and gathering into the large spruces 
about the fort, in the manner of all the blackbirds when on the eve of migration. 
AGELAIUS XANTHOCEPHALUS. 
Yellow-headed Blackbird. 
Not uncommon in the Sacramento valley, especially during the fall and winter. We found 
them nesting, or, rather, with young—for the period of incubation had passed—at Pit river, and 
immense flocks of them swarmed in the rushes bordering the Klamath lakes. 
AGELAIUS GUBERNATOR. 
Red-wing Blackbird. 
Very common about San Francisco and in the Sacramento valley ; associated with A. tricolor. 
AGELAIUS TRICOLOR. 
Red and White-winged Blackbird. 
Common in California, in the Klamath basin, and Oregon. 
STURNELLA NEGLECTA. 
Meadow Lark. 
Meadow larks are more numerous in the Sacramento valley than in any portion of the eastern 
States, and are supposed by the residents to he identical with the common eastern species, ( S. 
