OR Ore OB COUNT mB UL ae bel oN. 7 
Ravens, some 75 American and five White-necked. The ground was alive 
with Mourning Doves busily walking about; suddenly all rose into the air, 
for a Peregrine Falcon had stooped. He missed and alighted on a clod 
where he perched for the half hour we stayed. There were great numbers 
of birds — Western Meadowlarks and House Finches, a Mockingbird, my 
first Sage Thrasher, Lark Buntings, and plenty of native sparows, of which 
Brewer’s Sparrows were the most interesting to me. 
As we neared the Santa Ritas we passed an experimental range in the 
Coronado National Forest; this used to be covered with high grass but now 
is a wilderness of mesquite, cholla, ocotilla, prickly pear and burroweed. 
Here were a pair of Red-tails which Dr. Phillips called Buteo borealis 
fuertsi because of their white bellies; they were fearless, but we could 
see no nest. 
At Madera Canyon we found snow, about six inches at 5500 feet. Here 
there were beautiful silver-leafed live oaks, Emory oaks, alligator-bark 
juniper and a wonderful manzanita in bloom. Rocks and tree trunks were 
covered with brilliant lichens, green, brown and orange. Flocks of Juncos, 
Oregon, Arizona and Grey-headed, fed on the ground. Absurd Bridled 
Titmice gathered juniper berries and an Arizona Woodpecker with brown 
back and white cheeks worked upon an oak. 
Several Coues’ white-tailed deer walked near us in the woods; all were 
small, while one looked no larger than a young fawn. Dr. Vorhies told us 
that dwarf individuals occur; their exact status is in doubt. We talked 
with an Illinois man who was spending the winter in a cottage in the 
canyon. He informed us that his neighbors had killed curious animals they 
called ““Mexican monkeys” that had been preying on their tame rabbits; 
these are coati-mundis that are extending their range northward. He also 
said that this was “Javelina Week,” but, so far as he knew, no peccaries 
had been killed. 
We heard a sweet and pretty song and here was the fulfillment of one 
of my life’s ambitions — a Painted Redstart. Such an amazing, such a 
brilliant little bird with scarlet breast, black body, wings and tail black with 
white patches. He sang and sang; he flirted hither and yon and gave us 
repeated views of his beauties. 
On the way home we were happy to see three great Harris’s Hawks 
perched on tall hackberries; in this position their bodies and wings were 
chestnut colored, but when they flew they looked black with striking white 
rump and white band on the end of the tail. 
Nine days in Arizona with the most hospitable of hosts and capable 
of guides who took me over the countryside and not only pointed out the 
birds but told me the names of the plants. It was a never-to-be-forgotten 
experience; through the kindness of these fine friends I had learned of 
the life of the desert and the mountains; I had seen much that was beauti- 
ful, significant and strange. 
