part IV

. pl. 18. (Brussels.)

Form. Feathers of the head in front or at the base of the upper mandible, short, erect and rigid—other plumage of the head above somewhat elongated; wings rather short, with the fourth and fifth quills slightly longest; tail ample, and rather long, with the central feathers longest; bill strong, tarsi and feet moderate, claws strong and curved.

Dimensions.—Total length (of skin) from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, about 10½ inches, wing 4¾, tail 5½ inches.

Colors.—Short feathers at the base of the bill, blue, which color is succeeded by a transverse band of bluish white; cheeks and head above, pale azure blue; sides of the head in front of and behind the eyes, throat and neck in front fine silky black, which forms a wide mask extending to the breast.

Body above, wings and central tail feathers, fine parrot-like green, deepest on the tail, entire inferior surface of the body pale yellowish green. External tail feathers, pale yellow. Bill and feet dark colored. The green feathers of the tail running into blue at their ends, and nearly black on their under surface.

Sexes similar.

Habitat. Mexico and Texas—Specimens in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.

Observations. The present species we regard as deviating in some degree from the characters of the typical species of this genus, as is the case with other species to which it is nearly related. We do not at present, however, consider them as presenting peculiar characters sufficient to constitute a distinct genus, though that excellent ornithologist, the Prince of Canino, has given to this group the generic name of _Xanthoura_, which embraces the species now before us, _C. yucas_ (Boddaert) and _X. quatimalensis_. Bonap. (Consp. Av. p. 380.)

[Illustration: Plate 2 The Californian Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus (_Swains._)]

MELANERPES FORMICIVORUS.—(Swainson.) The Californian Woodpecker. PLATE II.—Male and female.

The most richly colored Woodpeckers of North America, at least in our Opinion, are two of the most abundant species. We allude to the bird now before us, and to the well-known red-headed Woodpecker, _Melanerpes erythrocephalus_, (Linn.) in both of which the prevailing colors are a fine glossy black and a rich crimson.

Were the latter bird less common in the Atlantic States, his claims to be considered one of our finest plumaged species would perhaps be more distinctly recognised, and his very showy head of the finest crimson could not fail to attract admirers. As, however, he has the disadvantage of an attributed disposition to take liberties entirely forbidden by the farmer and gardener, and is moreover to be seen in almost every woodland in the summer season, his gay appearance is by no means duly appreciated, nor his general character held in high estimation. He is however not so abundant as formerly, and with the destruction of the large trees of the forest, which is constantly carried on to make room for the increasing population in the more densely settled States, the time may arrive when the sight of the red-headed woodpecker, with his brilliant plumage, will be an unusual and pleasing circumstance to the young, and serve to remind the aged of perhaps long-forgotten incidents and associations of early life when remnants of the forest yet flourished even in proximity to cities, or varied the aspect of cultivated districts.

Our present species is one of the most abundant of the birds of California. It appears to take the place of the red-headed woodpecker in the countries west of the Rocky Mountains, extending its range from Oregon into Mexico, and probably to Guatimala and other countries of Central America. It is not inferior to that species in the beauty of its colors, is quite as unwary and familiar in its disposition, and when the population of the great Western States shall have arrived at such a very desirable stage of progress as to possess a generation of juvenile sportsmen, our bird will no doubt be quite as great a favorite on holiday shooting excursions.

Several species of woodpeckers have had ascribed to them the habit of accumulating stores of provisions in anticipation of the approach of winter, but we have no knowledge of this being done by any American species, except that now before us. For it we can claim this degree of instinctive prudence on undoubted evidence, and shall have the pleasure, in the present article, of laying before our readers an account of it, which is not only a remarkable illustration of instinct, but shows a singular method of mechanical preparation and management.

Our valued friends, Mr. John G. Bell of New York, and Dr. A. L. Heermann of Philadelphia, both of whom have made extended visits to California for the purpose of investigating its Natural History, found this woodpecker very abundant in all the parts of that country which either of them visited.

The former gentleman has had the kindness to inform us, that he considers it by far the most extensively diffused and common woodpecker of that country. He represents it as somewhat disposed to gregariousness in its habits, and has frequently seen individuals on the same tree so numerous and so close together, that several might have been killed at a single discharge. According to Mr. Bell, its note very considerably resembles that of the red-headed woodpecker, which it much resembles also in flight and other general characters. He observed it only on trees, particularly on the pines; and upon examination found the contents of the stomachs of all the specimens which were procured by him, to be composed principally of ants, of which several of the species of California habitually frequent trees. The large collection of birds brought home by Mr. Bell contained numerous specimens of this species.

The account given by Dr. Heermann of this bird is of a highly interesting character, and he has identified, for the first time, the species of woodpecker of which previously nothing could be accurately made out from the statements of travellers respecting a bird which possessed the provident and curious instinct of storing away a supply of food for the winter in holes made for that purpose in the bark of trees. His remarks are in his “Notes on the Birds of California observed during a residence of three years in that country,” published in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Vol. II. p. 270. (Quarto 1853,) from which we transcribe the following:

“This is the noisiest and most abundant of the woodpeckers of California. Perched on the topmost branch of a tree, it darts suddenly into the air in pursuit of an insect, and having secured its object, soon again returns to the same place, only to repeat this manœuvre in a few moments.

“In the fall season this species is busily engaged in digging small holes in the bark of the pines and oaks, to receive acorns, one of which is placed in each hole, and is so tightly fitted or driven in, that it is with difficulty extracted. Thus the bark of a large pine, forty or fifty feet high, will present the appearance of being closely studded with brass nails, the heads only being visible. These acorns are thus stored in large quantities, and serve not only the woodpecker during the winter season, but are trespassed on by the jays, mice and squirrels.

“The nest of this bird is dug out in the body of a tree, and is from six inches to two feet in depth. The eggs, four or five in number, are pure white.”

The following graphic and intelligent account, to the same purpose, is from Kelly’s Excursion to California, and is evidently from the pen of an excellent observer and an agreeable writer:

“In stripping off the bark of this tree, I observed it to be perforated with holes, larger than those which a musket ball would make, shaped with the most accurate precision as if bored under the guidance of a rule and compass, and many of them filled most neatly with acorns. Earlier in the season I had remarked such holes in most of all the softer timber, but imagining that they were caused by wood insects, I did not stop to examine or inquire, but now finding them studded with acorns, firmly fixed in, which I knew could not have been driven there by the wind, I sought for an explanation, which was practically given me by Captain S——’s pointing out a flock of woodpeckers, busily and noisily employed in the provident task of securing the winter’s provision. For it appears that this sagacious bird is not all the time thriftlessly engaged in ‘tapping the hollow beach tree’ for the mere idle purpose of empty sound, but spends its summer season in picking these holes, in which it lays its store of food for the winter, where the elements can neither affect nor place it beyond their reach, and it is regarded as a sure omen that the snowy period is approaching when these birds commence stowing away their acorns, which otherwise might be covered by its fall. I frequently have paused from my chopping, to watch them in the neighborhood, with the acorns in their bills, half clawing, half flying around the tree, and have admired the adroitness with which they tried it at different holes until they found one of its exact calibre; when, inserting the pointed end, they tapped it home most artistically with the beak, and flew down for another.

“But the natural instinct of this bird is even more remarkable in the choice of the nuts, which are invariably found to be sound, whereas it is an utter impossibility in selecting them for roasting, to pick up a batch that will not have a large portion of them unfit for use, the most smooth and polished frequently containing a large grub generated within. Even the wily Digger Indian, with all his craft and experience, is unable to arrive at any thing like an unerring selection, while in a large bag full, that we took from the bark of our log, there was not one containing the slightest germ of decay. These woodpeckers never encroach on their packed stores until all the nuts on the surface of the ground are covered with snow, when they resort to those in the bark, and peck them of their contents without removing the shell from the hole. The bark of the pine tree, from its great thickness, and the ease of boring, is mostly sought for by these birds as their granary for the winter season.”

This extraordinary example of instinct is scarcely surpassed by any other which has been observed in the animal kingdom, and it is to be hoped that further accounts will be furnished by observers in the countries which it inhabits, respecting the bird which is endowed with such interesting and unusual habits.

This woodpecker is common in Mexico in woods on the table lands, and was observed by Mr. Pease also in the upper part of the _tierra caliente_. It was first introduced to notice from Mexican specimens received from the vicinity of Real del Monte by Mr. Swainson, a distinguished English naturalist, who first described it in the Philosophical Magazine, 1827, p. 439 (London.) It was observed in California previous to that country having become a part of the United States, by Mr. Nuttall, the eminent botanist and zoologist, who gave it a place in his Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada. Vol. I., p. 682 (Boston, 1840.)

Our figures are rather less than one-third of the size of life.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Melanerpes. Swainson, in Fauna Boreali Americana, Birds, p. 316, and Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopedia, Birds, Vol. II. p. 310. London, 1837.

Bill straight, rather wide at the base and somewhat cylindrical, ridge of the upper mandible arched, and with a slightly developed lateral ridge on each side, nostrils basal, nearly concealed by projecting plumes. Wings long, first primary spurious, fourth and fifth usually longest, tail moderate, composed of broad and strong feathers. Tarsi and feet moderate or rather strong; two external toes before and behind, nearly equal. General form short and robust; color black, varied with red and white. Type _M. erythrocephalus_. (Linn.)

Melanerpes formicivorus. (Swainson.) Picus formicivorus. Swainson in Taylor’s Phil. Mag., 1827, (p. 439,) London. Picus melanopogon. Temminck, Pl. col. Vol. IV., pl. 451. Leyden, about 1829. Melampicos flavigula. Malherbe in Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 1849, p. 542? (Paris.)

Form. Compact and rather robust; wing long, with the second and third quills longest, and nearly equal; tail rather broad, and with the feathers but moderately rigid at their ends, unless worn; feet moderately robust; toes long; claws much curved. Rather larger than _Melanerpes erythrocephalus_. (Linn.)

Dimensions. (Of a skin from California.) Total length from tip of bill to end of tail, about 9½ inches; wing, 5¾; tail, 3½ inches.

Colors. Male. Short feathers immediately around the base of the bill, black. Broad subfrontal band, pure white, which unites with a wide, somewhat crescent-shaped mark of the same color, tinged with pale yellow on the throat and neck in front. Large coronal and occipital space immediately succeeding the white subfrontal band, fine light crimson, of which color there is also a small, irregular spot or two in the centre of a black band on the upper part of the breast.

Cheeks, back, wings, and tail fine deep black, with a greenish gloss. Band of black across the breast, succeeded by another, in which the feathers are longitudinally marked with black and white; feathers of the flanks, and under tail coverts, white, with black longitudinal stripes; middle of the abdomen, rump, and spot at the base of the primaries, pure white. The latter most readily observed on the inferior surface of the wing. Secondary quills rather widely bordered with white on their internal edges. Bill nearly black; legs and feet lighter. Female similar to the male, but with a wide band of black on the top of the head.

Hab. California and Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Observations. The bird described by Temminck as _Picus melanopogon_ is stated by him to have been received from Mexico, and his figure is certainly the bird which is the subject of our present article. His description and figure are in Livraison 76 of the Planches Colorices, which was published about 1828 or 1829, but bears no date, and was anticipated by Swainson’s publication in the Philos. Magazine.

In the Revue et Magazin de Zoologie, for 1849, p. 542, M. Alfred Malherbe, who has devoted much attention to the study of the woodpeckers, has named a species _Melampicos flavigula_, and has very carefully pointed out differences which he considers sufficient to establish it as distinct from _Picus melanopogon_. He relies almost entirely on the greater or lesser extent and relative widths of the white, black and red spaces on their heads. Notwithstanding the extensive knowledge which M. Malherbe undoubtedly possesses from his great attention to this family of birds, I cannot see that there are any characters given which may not be very properly attributed to differences in age or sex, and I have accordingly felt myself justified in suspecting it to be the same as the present species, having before me specimens which I understand to represent both of them.

No dependence can be placed in the extent of the red color on the head, as a character, so far as I have observed, in the woodpeckers of the United States. In _Picus pubescens_, a common species in Pennsylvania, the young male has the head above entirely crimson, which color in the adult is restricted to a narrow occipital band. I do not know that the change in others of our species is so decided, but the width of the occipital stripe is much varied in different specimens of the same species, and my impression is, that as a specific character this very ornamental portion of the plumage of woodpeckers ought to be estimated with great caution.

[Illustration: Plate 3 The Black-crested Chickadee Lophophanes atricristatus (_Cassin_)]

LOPHOPHANES ATRICRISTATUS.—(Cassin.) The Black-crested Chickadee. PLATE III.—Male and Female.

The pleasant little birds of the same family as those known in Great Britain as Tits or Tit-mice, have received in America, from the characteristic notes of several of the species, the name of Chickadees. Popular names being entirely of a local character and of little scientific value, we invariably prefer to give those by which species are known in this country instead of the names of birds allied to or resembling them which inhabit Europe, though the latter are generally adopted by American writers.

The species of this family, which are permanent residents in the middle and northern States, and especially the tufted or crested Chickadee (_L. bicolor_,) are among the very first of the feathered inhabitants of our woodlands to welcome the advent of spring, and to hail with their clear and melodious notes the earliest tokens of the decline of winter. Even on fine days in February or early in March, the crested Chickadee may often be heard, apparently indulging himself in gratifying anticipations of the approaching spring-time; or it may be, that not being instinctively weather-wise like the beaver, and not at all versed in wise saws or modern instances, he thinks that it has already come. Which conclusion, though sometimes adopted quite as summarily by tidy house-keepers, is very apt to be demonstrated by the storms of St. Patrick’s day to be entirely illusory.

The tits or chickadees are abundant birds in the temperate and northern regions of both hemispheres, most so perhaps in Europe, though the researches of ornithologists have added numerous species to those formerly known to inhabit Asia and America. Several very handsome birds of this family have been discovered, within a few years, inhabiting the Himalaya mountains, and other parts of India, and in Japan. In North America the species have increased from two only, which were figured by the celebrated Wilson, to twelve, the additions having been principally from the Western States, and from Texas and Mexico, and there can be no doubt that in the almost unexplored countries of North-Western America as well as in those which have received a greater degree of the attention of zoological travellers, such as Texas, California and Mexico, others yet remain to be discovered.

There are about fourteen European species of this group of birds, and about twenty which are exclusively Asiatic. A few species of allied genera inhabit Africa and New Zealand, but none of near relationship have yet been found in Australia nor in South America.

The species of all countries appear to be very similar in their habits, and live almost entirely in the forests, subsisting exclusively on insects in the summer, and in the winter partially substituting seeds and berries for their more grateful food.

The black-crested chickadee is a native of Texas and probably also of Mexico. It was discovered in the former country by Mr. John Woodhouse Audubon, a son of the distinguished ornithologist, and was first described by us in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. It is very similar to the crested chickadee in form and general appearance, but exhibits a striking difference in having the crest entirely black, by which character it is distinguished from all others of the genus to which it belongs.

The only information that we have obtained relative to its history has been communicated to us by Samuel W. Woodhouse, M. D., who was attached, as surgeon and naturalist, to a party under the command of Captain Sitgreaves of the Topographical Engineers of the Army of the United States, which surveyed the rivers Zunia and the Colorado of the west, by order of the Government.

Dr. Woodhouse has had the kindness to allow us to copy the following memoranda from his Journal, which will be published at an early period, with the Report made by Captain Sitgreaves to the Topographical Department, and will be an important contribution to the natural history of Texas and New Mexico:

“While our party was encamped on the Rio Salado in Texas, near San Antonio, in March, 1851, I observed this handsome little chickadee for the first time. It was busily engaged in capturing insects among the trees on the bank of the stream, and like the other species of its family, was incessantly in motion and very noisy. At our camp at Quihi, on the eighth of May, I again found it very abundant among the oaks. The young males, which were then fully grown, much resembled the adult females, both wanting the black crest which characterizes the male. Afterwards I noticed this species, occurring sparingly, along our route, as far as the head waters of the San Francisco river in New Mexico.

“I observed it almost entirely in trees bordering streams of water, the females and young males invariably having the crest of the same cinereous color as their general plumage, but in the latter slightly tinged with brown. It occurred in small parties, appeared to be very sociable and lively in its habits, and in general appearance and in nearly all its notes which I heard, it so very much resembled the common crested chickadee of the Northern States as scarcely to be recognized as a distinct species at a short distance.”

The collection made by Dr. Woodhouse contains fine specimens of this bird, from a male and female of which, and from Mr. Audubon’s specimens, our plate has been prepared. We have represented both sexes about three-fourths of the natural size.

The plant figured is the _Phlox Drummondii_, a beautiful species which is a native of New Mexico and California.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Lophophanes. Kaup Skiz. Entw. Eur. Thierw. (1829.) Lophophanes atricristatus. (Cassin.) Parus atricristatus. Cassin. Proc. Acad. Philada. Vol. V., p. 103, (Oct. 1850.)

Form. With a high pointed crest, bill rather strong and acute. Wings long, with the fourth and fifth primaries longest, and nearly equal; tail rather long.

Dimensions of a skin from Quihi, Texas. Total length, from tip of bill to end of tail, about 6 inches; wing 3; tail 2¾ inches.

Colors. Male. Crest, black; body, wings and tail above, cinereous; darker on the latter, and with an olivacious tinge on the back. Front and inferior surface of the body, ashy white; flanks, ferruginous. Shafts of primaries, reddish at their bases; those of the tail feathers white beneath; bill and legs black. Young male with the crest cinereous, shaded with light brown.

Female. Similar to the male, but slightly smaller, and with the crest cinereous.

Hab. Texas. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. This species is of the same general form and color as _Lophophanes bicolor_, (Linn.,) and _Lophophanes inornatus_. (Gambel.) It is about the size of the former, and larger than the latter, and may be readily distinguished from either of those or from any other species known to me, by its black crest.

Having access to specimens of all the known North American species of this family, in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, we beg the liberty of laying before our readers a synopsis of these birds, with short descriptions, and of availing ourselves also of the present occasion to express our grateful acknowledgments for the facilities and privileges generously allowed us by the gentlemen of the Academy.

SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF THE SUB-FAMILY PARINÆ.

I. GENUS PARUS. Linnæus. Syst. Nat. I. p. 340. (1766.)

Not crested, bill short, rather strong, conic, entire, nostrils at the base of the bill and concealed by projecting feathers. Wings moderate, with the first quill spurious, fourth and fifth usually longest and nearly equal, tail rather long, legs and feet rather robust, claws curved and sharp. Colors usually cinereous and black.

This genus originally included all the birds now usually regarded as constituting a family of many genera, species of which inhabit nearly all the countries of the world. As restricted, it appears properly to embrace numerous species without crests found in Asia, Europe, and America; nearly all of which have the upper part of the head and throat black. A further division has however been made by Professor Kaup, of Darmstadt; and all the American, with some European and Asiatic non-crested species, form his genus _Pœcila_.

The American species are as follows:

1. Parus atricapillus. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 341 (1766). The black-capped Chickadee.

Length (of skin) about 5 inches. Head and neck above and large space on the throat black, cheeks and sides of the neck white, entire plumage of the body above cinereous, slightly tinged with brownish olive, below ashy white tinged with brownish. Bill and feet dark. Sexes alike.

Hab. Northern and Middle States of North America. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

2. Parus carolinensis. Audubon Orn. Biog. II. p. 341, (1834.) The Carolina Chickadee.

Length (of skin) about 4¼ inches. Head and neck above and large space on the throat black, cheeks and sides of the neck white. Entire plumage of the body above cinereous, slightly tinged with brownish olive, below ashy white tinged with brownish. Bill and feet dark. Sexes alike.

Hab. Middle and Southern States of North America. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. Very similar to the preceding, but easily recognized by its smaller size.

3. Parus septentrionalis. Harris, Proc. Acad. Philada. II. p. 300, (Dec. 1845.) The long-tailed chickadee.

Length (of skin) about 6 inches. Head above and space on the throat black, cheeks and sides of the neck white. Entire plumage of the body above cinereous, strongly tinged with reddish brown, below ashy white, tinged with yellowish brown, especially on the sides and flanks, external web of outer tail feathers nearly pure white. Bill and feet dark. Tail comparatively longer than in either of the preceding species.

Hab. Missouri and the Rocky Mountains. Great Salt Lake. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada. and in the National Collection, Washington city.

Obs. A species related to, but quite distinct from either of the preceding. It is larger, and the specimens which I have seen have the bill longer and more pointed, the tail much longer, the black space on the head more restricted, and the general coloring more tinged with brown. The white outer edges of the external tail feathers is a well-marked character.

4. Parus montanus. Gambel, Proc. Acad. Philada. I. p. 259, (April, 1843.)

Length (of skin) about 5 inches. Head and neck above, line through the eye, space on the throat and upper part of the breast black. Line over the eye, large space on the cheeks and side of the neck white. Body above cinereous, below ashy white tinged with brownish on the flanks, bill and legs dark.

Hab. California. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. This western species is readily distinguished from all others of North America by the broad white line over the eye. Its bill is longer than in the typical species.

5. Parus hudsonicus. Forster, Philosoph. Trans. lxii. p. 430, (London, 1772.)

Length (of skin) about 5 inches. Head and neck above deep ferruginous brown, large space on the throat brownish black, cheeks white. Body above brownish cinereous, below ashy white, sides and flanks deep reddish chestnut brown, bill and feet lead colored. Sexes very similar.

Hab. British America, and Northern States of the Union. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. Quite a distinct and well-marked species, erroneously supposed by some European writers to be the young of _P. atricapillus_. It has been found breeding in the State of Maine, by our friend Dr. Brewer of Boston.

6. Parus rufescens. Townsend Jour. Acad. Philada. vii. p. 190, (1837.)

Length (of skin) about 4½ inches. Head and neck above, large space on the throat and breast deep blackish brown, cheeks and sides of the neck white, body above and sides below bright chestnut, medial portion of the body below ashy white. Bill and legs lead color.

Hab. Oregon and California. Spec. Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. A beautiful little species, which appears to inhabit a large extent of country west of the Rocky Mountains. It is easily recognized by the bright chestnut color of the superior parts of the body.

II. GENUS LOPHOPHANES. Kaup. Skiz. Entw. Eur. Thierw. (1829.)

Crested, bill moderate, strong, conic, entire, upper mandible rather the longer and slightly curved, nostrils basal, rounded and concealed by projecting feathers. Wings rather long, with the fourth and fifth primaries usually longest, tail rather long, legs and feet robust, the latter rather large, and provided with curved, strong and very sharp claws. Prevailing color of all known American species, cinereous.

This genus comprises the crested species of Europe and America, which were formerly included in the genus Parus, Linn., but which evidently form a natural and easily characterized group, fully entitled to generic distinction.

1. Lophophanes bicolor. (Linn) The crested Chickadee.

Parus bicolor. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 340, (1766.)

Length about 6½ inches. Front black, crest and body above dark cinereous, tinged with greenish on the back, below ashy white, flanks reddish brown. Bill and legs nearly black. Sexes alike.

Hab. Eastern North America. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

2. Lophophanes atricristatus. (Cassin). The black-crested Chickadee.

Parus atricristatus. Cassin, Proc. Acad. Philada. V. p. 103, (Oct. 1850.)

Length (of skin) about 6 inches. Male—front, ashy white, crest black, entire plumage above cinereous, beneath ashy white, flanks reddish brown. Bill and legs black. Female, with the crest ashy, not black. Young, like the female, but with crest tinged with brown.

Hab. Texas and Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philad. and in the National Collection Washington city.

3. Lophophanes inornatus. (Gambel). The plain-crested Chickadee.

Parus inornatus. Gambel. Proc. Acad. Philada. II. p. 265, (Aug. 1845.)

Length about 5½ inches. Front, crest and entire plumage above cinereous, strongly inclining to olive, below uniform whitish, cinereous. Bill and legs lead-colored. Sexes alike.

Hab. California. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. A plainly-colored species abundant in California, easily recognized by the uniform cinereous color of its plumage.

4. Lophophanes Wollweberi. Bonaparte, Comptes rendus, Acad. Paris, xxxi. p. 478. (Sept. 1850.) The Texan Chickadee.

Parus annexus. Cassin, Proc. Acad. Philada. V. p. 103. (Oct. 1850.)

Lophophanes galeatus. Cabanis Cat. Heine’s coll. p. 90. (1851.)

Length (of skin) about 5 inches. Anterior feathers of crest, cinereous, succeeding and most elongated, black, others margined with white, short occipital feathers black. Throat black, line commencing behind the eye, thence curving and uniting with the space of the same color on the throat, black. Line above the eye running into the crest and around on the neck, white. Entire plumage above cinereous, tinged with olive, below ashy white, bill and feet dark.

Hab. Texas. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. This species considerably resembles _Lophophanes cristatus_, (Linn.) a common European bird. I have no doubt that the names given above are synonymous; that applied by us being about one month later than the publication of the description by Bonaparte as cited.

III. GENUS PSALTRIA. Temminck. Pl. Col. III.

Bill very short, thick, upper mandible curved, entire, nearly of the same thickness as the lower, nostrils basal, concealed by projecting feathers, wings rather short, first quill spurious, fourth and fifth longest and nearly equal, tail long and slightly wedge-shaped. Tarsi long and slender, feet rather strong, claws curved and acute, that on the posterior toe strongest. Not crested, colors of all known species principally cinereous and white.

This genus was established by the celebrated naturalist Temminck, of Leyden, (in Planches Coloriees, vol. iii.) with a little bird as its type named by him _Psaltria exilis_, which inhabits Java. The bird discovered by Dr. Townsend in Oregon, and now well known to American Ornithologists as _Parus minimus_, Townsend, not only belongs to this genus, but only materially differs in size from _Psaltria exilis_. Temm. Its colors and general appearance much resemble it.

The American species are:

1. Psaltria minima. (Townsend) Townsend’s Chickadee. Parus minimus. Townsend, Jour. Acad. Philada. vii. p. 199. (1837.)

Length (of skin) about 4 inches. Head above deep cinereous, inclining to purplish brown, body above cinereous, with a tinge of olive. Throat and breast whitish, abdomen and flanks cinereous, tinged with purplish brown, bill and feet black. Female rather smaller.

Hab. Oregon and California. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. As frequently turns out to be the case with birds to which such names as minor and minimus are applied, this little bird is considerably _larger_ than its near relative, _P. exilis_, Temm. which otherwise it much resembles. It is now frequently brought in collections from California.

2. Psaltria melanotis. (Sanbach.) The black-eared Chickadee. Parus melanotis. Sandb. Proc. Brit. Ass. for Adv. Sci. vi. p. 99. (1837.) “Parus melanotis. Sandb.” Hartlaub, Rev. Zool. 1844, p. 216. Psaltriparus personatus. Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Paris, xxxi. p. 478. (Sept. 1850.)

Length (of skin) about 4 inches. Male, broad stripes on each side of the head under the eye, and uniting on the occiput, deep black with a green metallic lustre. Head above pale cinereous, body above cinereous brown, throat and neck white, below ashy white, with a purplish tinge, bill and legs dark. Female, with the ears brown.

Hab. Texas and Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. This pretty little bird has the bill longer and more compressed than either the preceding species, or _Psaltria exilis_, Temm. It is, however, we think, a true _Psaltria_, in which respect we coincide with Prof. Westerman, who gives a description and excellent figure of it in Contributions to Zoology, (Bijdragen tot de Dierkunden,) Amsterdam, 1851.

A few other names have been given to American species of the old genus _Parus_ by the earlier authors, all of which are undoubtedly synonymes for those of species previously described, and which we have enumerated. We have in all cases given the authority for the first description and its date.

Chamæa fasciata. (Gambel) a bird of California—though described originally, but as Dr. Gambel expressly states provisionally only, as a _Parus_, we regard as properly belonging to the family of Wrens (Troglodytidæ.)

[Illustration: Plate 4 The Massena Partridge Cyrtonyx Massena (_Lesson_)]

CYRTONYX MASSENA.—(Lesson.) The Massena Partridge. PLATE IV.—Male and Female.

This singularly, we had almost said, fantastically colored, though very handsome Partridge, is an inhabitant of Texas and Mexico. No other species presents such a remarkable arrangement of colors, and the black lines in the face of the male bird, as the eminent English Ornithologist, Mr. Gould, very appropriately observes, “forcibly remind one of the painted face of the clown in a pantomime.”

It has, until recently, been an exceedingly rare and highly prized bird in collections, a few specimens only having reached Europe or the cities on the Atlantic seaboard of the United States. Those have received names, and have been described by various European authors, as will appear from the synonymes included in the present article; but neither of them have published any information relative to the habits or history of this curious bird, nor have indicated the district of Mexico from which it had been received. It has been known only as a museum species.

Since the commencement of the military operations of the United States in Texas, New Mexico and California, and the subsequent incorporation of those countries into this great Confederacy, their natural history has attracted a large share of the attention of naturalists and students at home, and also of many highly accomplished officers of the army. In fact, to the latter gentlemen is to be awarded the high merit of having contributed, notwithstanding the engrossing and deeply responsible character of their professional duties, a large portion of all that is known relative to the zoology of those vast, and especially in a scientific point of view, very interesting regions.

A valuable notice of the Massena Partridge is given by our highly esteemed friend, Col. McCall, in his “Remarks on the habits of birds met with in Western Texas, between San Antonio and the Rio Grande, and in New Mexico, with descriptions of several species believed to have been hitherto undescribed,” published in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy, V. p. 213, (June, 1851,) which we have taken the liberty of transferring to our pages.

“This species was not seen before crossing the San Pedro, but it was not long until it made its appearance in the waste and rocky region into which we then entered. And from that time until we reached the Rio Pecos, a distance of 140 miles, (westwardly by the route travelled,) it was frequently seen, though I should not say it was very common. This region is a desert of great length from north to south, our trail crossing it at nearly right angles. The general face of the country is level, and consists of either a crumbling argillaceous limestone, or a coarse grey sand, producing nothing but a sparse growth of sand plants. Water is found only at long intervals, and except at those points there is little cover for game, and apparently less food,—the principal growth being _Cacti_, of which the most common is _Cactus arborescens_; yet here, amongst projecting rocks, or on the borders of dry gullies, or in loose scrub, I found the Massena Partridge in all the beauty of his rich and varied plumage.

“The habits of this species are different from those of any other species of partridge that I have met with. They were in covies of from eight to twelve individuals, and appeared to be extremely simple and affectionate in disposition. In feeding, they separated but little, keeping up a social _cluck_ all the time. They were so gentle as to evince little or no alarm on the approach of man; scarcely moving out of his way as he passed, and only running off or flying a few yards, when perhaps half their numbers were laid low by a shot. This inclined me to think they might with little difficulty be domesticated, although I found them here in a boundless, barren waste, and nowhere near the habitation of man. This trait of gentleness is the very opposite of those strikingly manifested by the scaly partridge, (_Callipepla squamata_,) which I always observed to be, though found perchance in grounds as little frequented as these, remarkably vigilant, shy, and difficult to approach. The call or signal note of this species is peculiar. I never saw it after crossing the Pecos river.”

Col. McCall’s observations on the habits of this bird confirm an opinion expressed by Mr. Gould in his Monograph of American Partridges: “No account whatever has yet reached us of the habits and economy of this species, which, judging from the comparative shortness of the toes, and the great development of its claws, we may expect to be different from those of other members of the family.”

The circular spots which are numerous on the inferior parts of the body in this partridge, appear to indicate as a character an analogy to the Guinea fowls, which is further sustained by its habit of uttering its note continually when in company with its fellows, or when feeding. The Guinea fowls in their native wilds also associate in small parties, and take wing only reluctantly, and for short distances.

Capt. S. G. French, of the U. S. Army, has most kindly and very opportunely presented us with fine specimens of this and other species preserved in spirits, for which, as well as for some valuable memoranda, we beg here to express our gratitude. He remarks, with reference to this species: “It was in the summer of 1846, when crossing the then pathless and untrodden plains or table lands which extend westwardly from San Antonio, Texas, to New Mexico, that I first met with this beautiful partridge. On a bright summer afternoon, I undertook the ascent of a high rocky mountain for the purpose of obtaining a view of the valley through which the San Pedro river takes its course, and when I had gained the summit I observed several of these birds, a few feet only in advance of me, running along over the fragments of rocks and through the dwarf bushes, which grew wherever there was sufficient soil. Their handsome plumage and their gentleness attracted my attention, and I felt many regrets that I had left my gun behind me, thereby losing the opportunity of securing specimens for examination.

“A few days afterwards, however, when encamped on the head waters of the river, I found a covey, and succeeded in obtaining several specimens, one of which I had skinned, but which was afterwards unfortunately lost. From that point we occasionally met with these birds on the route to the Pecos river, a distance of over one hundred miles. I did not see them again until we came to the Eagle Springs, in a mountainous region about twenty-five miles from the Rio Grande. Two covies were found there, and several specimens were obtained.

“In the spring of 1851, I again passed over the same route in charge of a military expedition, and on the way out, two of these birds only were seen, one of which, (a female,) was killed by Major E. Backus, U. S. Army, and is now in the collection of Dr. Woodhouse, who was then going out with a party of topographical engineers to which he was attached. When returning in July last, I chanced to kill at an encamping ground near Howard’s Springs, between the San Pedro and Pecos rivers, the specimen which I now send you. It was the only one that I saw on the route as I came back from New Mexico, and it is but fair to conjecture that these birds are not at all numerous.

“They appear to inhabit the rocky sides of the mountains and hills in that desolate region of elevated plains, west of the fertile portions of Texas, living amidst the solitude that wraps them in silence, far from enemies and the busy haunts of men. In no instance have I met with this species near any settlements. The wild, rocky hill-sides in the lone wilderness, seem to be their favorite resort; and there, where trees are almost unknown, and vegetation is scant, and where hardly a living thing is seen, are these fine birds found in all their beauty and gentleness. The covies of them showed but little alarm at our approach, and ran along over the rocks, occasionally attempting to secrete themselves beneath them, in which case they would let a person approach within a few feet. When startled by the firing of a gun, they fly but a few yards before again alighting, and exhibit little of that wildness peculiar to all the other species of partridges with which I am acquainted.”

In 1832 this bird was described under the name _Tetrao guttata_, by Don Pablo de la Llave, in _Registro trimestre ó coleccion de Memorias de Historia, Literatura, Ciencasóy Artes_, Vol. I. p. 145, Mexico, 1832, which periodical, though little known, and discontinued, we believe, before the completion of the second volume, contains several valuable papers by this and other Mexican authors, relative to the natural history of their country. The ornithological papers by Sr. De la Llave, evince much ability, and contain very accurate observations and descriptions; and a tone pervades them too, which proclaims him to be a true lover of nature. That in which we are interested at present, is entitled, “Sobre tres especias neuvas del genero _Tetrao_,” and consists of notices of birds of this genus, of which he had living specimens at his residence in the city of Mexico, and descriptions of three species, viz.: _Tetrao marmorata_ (which is _Ortyx macroura_, Jardine and Selby), _T. cristata_, (which is _O. squamata_, Vigors.) and _T. guttata_, (which is _O. Massena_, Lesson.)

To the last bird he thus alludes: “It is only a few days since the third species has been brought to me. It is rather smaller than the former, and its deportment is entirely different. It carries its head habitually resting upon its shoulders, the neck being excessively _small_ and deflexed, and in every thing it shows an amiability, and so to speak, a kindness of character (_una bondad de caracter_) which is not found in any other species of this genus, and it is naturally so tame and domestic as to permit itself to be caught with the hand. These birds are always united, forming a covey, and whenever one is separated, the others follow it; they do not, like others, wish to sleep on elevated places, but sit on the ground, drawing very near together. Their notes, which are not varied, are very low and soft, and I have never heard loud cries from the male. When they are frightened, they show much activity and swiftness; at other times their gait and movement are habitually slow and deliberate, carrying the crest puffed up (_esponjada_).”

Sr. De la Llave gives as the locality of his specimens, the warm regions near the city of Mexico.

These statements comprise all that is known at present of the Massena Partridge.

The contents of the crop in Capt. French’s specimen consisted exclusively of fragments of insects, pronounced by Dr. Leconte to be principally grasshoppers, and a species of _Spectrum_. No trace whatever of food of a vegetable character.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Cyrtonyx. Gould, Monograph of the Odontophorinæ (American Partridges) Introduction, p. 14, London, 1850. Folio.

Bill short, robust, ridge of the mandible curving downwards from its base; lower mandible straight with two slight dentitions near its point; nostrils large, covered and bordered with a membrane. Head crested, the feathers inclining backward and forming a thick tuft on the occiput; wings rather long, tertiaries pendant, longer than the primaries; tail short, and composed of soft feathers. Tarsi rather long and robust; toes short, hind-toe focal, nails large, long and curved. All the known species are natives of America. Type _C. Massena_.

Cyrtonyx Massena. (Lesson.) Ortyx Massena. Lesson. Centurie Zoologique, p. 189. Paris, 1830. Ortyx Montezumæ. Vigors. Zoological Journal, Vol. V., p. 275. London, 1830. Odontophorus Meleagris. Wagler. Isis. Vol. XXV. p. 277. Leipzig, 1832. “Perdix perspicillata. Lichtenstein in Mus. Berlin.” Gould in Monograph. _ut supra_. Tetrao guttata. Llave Reg. trimestre, I. p. 145. Mexico, 1832.

Form. Compact and robust; plumage of the head above, elongated, and forming a pendant thick tuft on the occiput. Wings rather long; tail short, formed of weak feathers, and concealed by the superior coverts; tarsi rather short, robust; toes short; claws long, curved.

Dimensions of Capt. French’s male specimen in spirits. Total length, from tip of bill to end of tail, about 9 inches; wing 5; tail 2 inches. Female. Dr. Woodhouse’s female specimen, (dried skin.) Total length about 8¼ inches; wing, 4¾; tail, 2 inches.

Colors. Male. General color of the sides of the head and throat, white, with black stripes commencing at the base of the bill and curving above and below the eye, forming a broad, abruptly terminated somewhat triangular patch on the cheek, which is united to a wide longitudinal mark on the throat;—the entire white space enclosed by an edging of black.

Occipital tuft of crest-like feathers, buff yellow, frequently nearly white, but varying in shade of color in different specimens. Head above with a central black line commencing at the base of the bill, and running into brownish and black, on the upper part of the head.

Upper surface of the body brown, inclining to reddish chestnut, every feather having several transverse bars of black, and a narrow longitudinal stripe of pale yellowish, nearly white in the centre; wing coverts and tertiaries paler, and with the black bars much broader, and inclining to form circular spots on some of the feathers. Primaries brownish black, transversely barred with pale reddish yellow, especially on the outer webs.

Middle of the breast and abdomen fine deep chestnut, forming a wide longitudinal stripe on those parts of the body; sides and flanks sooty black, every feather marked with about six or eight circular spots of pure white; ventral region, thighs, and under tail coverts, deep black. Tail and long superior coverts same color as the wing coverts. Upper mandible nearly black; under mandible lighter; tarsi pale colored.

Female. Head above, and occipital tuft and body above, pale reddish or purplish brown, with a tinge of cinereous; every feather with transverse irregular bars and lines of black, and with a conspicuous longitudinal narrow stripe of yellowish white in the centre.

Throat pale white; inferior surface of the body pale purplish brown on the belly and flanks, with irregular lines and minute spots of black.

Hab. Mexico and Texas. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. The descriptions by M. Lesson and Mr. Vigors, as cited above, were published nearly at the same time. That by M. Lesson appears to have had a short period of priority, which entitles his name to preference.

In our article on another species, we propose to give a synopsis, with descriptions of all the partridges inhabiting the continent of America.

LARUS HEERMANNI.—Cassin. The White-Headed Gull. PLATE V.—Adult Male and Young female.

Amongst the many species of sea-birds which frequent the coast of the American continent on the Pacific ocean, there is a race of Gulls with very graceful forms, slender and brightly colored bills, and handsome plumage, of which no immediate representatives have yet been discovered on the eastern shores of this continent. The range of the species of this race extends from Oregon to Cape Horn, and one species similar in general characters inhabits the coasts of Australia and some of the islands in the Pacific ocean.

This group appears to be characterized generally by the uniform lead-colored plumage which prevails in several of the known species, and seems to embrace _Larus Belcheri_. Vigors. _Larus fuliginosus._ Gould. _Larus nova hollandiæ._ Stephens, the present species, and some others.

The bird, which is the subject of the present description, is one of the most handsome of the numerous family to which it belongs, and of which species are found on all the sea shores of the world. It is one of many additions to the ornithological fauna of the United States, which have been discovered by Adolphus L. Heermann, M. D., of Philadelphia, who has been occupied for nearly three years in making researches and collections, with excellent judgment and great enterprise, in California, and has now succeeded in safely bringing home the most extensive collections ever made in that country.

Dr. Heermann found this Gull occurring frequently on the coast of California, but most numerous in the harbor of San Diego in the month of March, at which time though it appeared to have attained its perfect plumage in some instances, yet many specimens were clothed in that of young birds. Both of these stages of plumage are represented in our plate, and it is possible that the plumage assumed in winter, at all ages, may be similar in most respects to that of the young.

[Illustration: Plate 5 The White-headed Gull Larus Heermanni (_Cassin_)]

It was observed, at the localities alluded to, usually flying in company with the western Gull, _Larus occidentalis_, Audubon, a large and handsome species, of which, in a future part of our work, we hope to have the pleasure of presenting a figure and description to our readers. It appeared to be engaged in the capture of small fishes, of which several species abound in the harbor of San Diego, and also appeared to feed on the small maritime animals of various classes, that inhabit the immense beds of _Kelp_ which occur on the coast, and are especially extensive off the harbor of San Diego less than a mile from its mouth.[1] The nests and eggs of both the present species and of the western Gull were found by Dr. Heermann on the Coronadoes islands which are situated a short distance below the mouth of the harbor.

Our first notice of this bird which we regard as having been previously undescribed, and which we dedicated to its discoverer, is in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Vol. VI. p. 187, (October, 1852.) The figures given in the present plate are about one-sixth of the natural size.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Larus. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 224, (1766.) Larus Heermanni. Cassin. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philada., Vol. VI. p. 187, (1852.)

Form. Bill rather long and slender; wings very long, extending beyond the end of the tail; first primary longest; tail truncate or slightly emarginate.

Dimensions. Adult. Total length of skin from tip of the bill to the end of the tail, about 17½ inches; wing, 13½; tail, 5½; bill from the angle of the mouth to the tip of the upper mandible 2½ inches.

Colors. Adult. Bill red, both mandibles tipped with black; feet and legs dark; head white, which color gradually blends into an ashy lead color enveloping the entire body above and below—darker on the back and wings and paler on the abdomen. Secondary quills tipped with white, forming an oblique bar when the wings are folded. Superior coverts of the tail very pale cinereous, nearly white. Quills and tail feathers brownish black, all of the latter narrowly tipped with white. Shafts of the two first primaries white on the inferior surface of the wing.

Young. Smaller, total length about 16 inches, wing 13, tail 5 inches. Entire plumage brown, darker on the head and paler on the under surface of the body; quills and tail feathers brownish black, the latter narrowly tipped with white.

Hab. Coast of California. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. We are acquainted with no species of Gull which intimately resembles the bird now described. Judging from the only description extant of _Larus Belcheri_. Vigors, which is in the Zoological Journal, Vol. IV. p. 358, and which is too short to be of service in this family of birds—it appears to resemble that species to some extent. _L. Belcheri_ is much larger, and is described as having the entire plumage brownish lead-color, and as being 21 inches in total length. It appears to be, however, the only western American species with which our present bird can be confounded.

[Illustration: Plate 6 The Northern Sea Eagle Haliaëtus pelagicus (_Pallas_)]

HALIAETUS PELAGICUS.—(Pallas.) The Northern Sea Eagle. PLATE VI—Female.

The study of the rapacious birds of western and north western America presents great attractions to the ornithologist, and a wide field for discovery.

Owing, principally, to the difficulties in obtaining, or even in observing the shy and vigilant birds of this family, their investigation is of peculiar character, and dependent on accidental opportunity in some measure every where, but especially in countries where the primitive forests yet flourish in undisturbed vigour, and which abound in unexplored and, as yet, inaccessible mountains; or in plains of an extent only known to the adventurous hunter, and traversed only by the wandering Indian, or by the pioneers of civilization: the devoted missionary, or the enterprising and hardy emigrant. Such is the character of the regions of that portion of North America, the visits of naturalists to which have been too transient to afford proper opportunities for the study of the rapacious birds, and the detached items of information which have appeared from time to time are not sufficiently numerous to be regarded as giving any clear insight into their history.

The naturalist, generally travelling expeditiously with a military or other party on business for the government, or with a caravan of emigrants, may get a glimpse of a Falcon of singularly novel and beautiful plumage as it darts away into concealment; or may see, occasionally, an Eagle seated at ease, and viewing the novel cavalcade leisurely, but beyond the range of his rifle; or as he performs, in turn, his assigned duty, and guards his sleeping companions in the encampment, his watch-fire may attract clamorous night birds of strange forms whose cries are unfamiliar to him, but to his practised ear may present unmistakable family relationship, yet it is readily demonstrable that the proper study of those birds requires facilities of a description only attainable in the course of more protracted residence and frequently recurring opportunities.

The discovery in western America of the Californian Vulture, second in size only to the great Condor of the Andes; of the Ferrugineous Buzzard, _Archibuteo ferrugineus_, one of the handsomest of the American Falcons; of the Burrowing Owl, a very remarkable species which lives in holes in the ground; of the Little Californian Owl, _Athene infuscata_, the most diminutive of its family yet discovered in the United States, and of other curious species, may be regarded as affording an indication of the interesting results in this group of birds which will reward the future labours of naturalists and travellers in those vast and diversified regions.

The bird which is the subject of our present article is the largest and most powerful of the Eagles. It is a native of the remote sea-coasts of northern Asia and America, and has been especially observed in the group or girdle of islands which extends from one continent to the other.

It also, very probably, extends its range into the interior of Russian America, and possibly southward, in the winter season, into Oregon and California. In size, and in the strength of its beak and talons, this gigantic Eagle far surpasses any other of its tribe. The Golden Eagle, and the White-headed Eagle, are comparatively insignificant; and if its habits correspond to its powerful organization, as may safely be presumed, it is one of the most destructive of the rapacious birds. It appears, however, like other species of its genus, to prey principally on fishes, which are caught either by its own exertions, or appropriated summarily by the right of the strongest, from the acquisitions of more expert or more successful fishermen.

Though, like the White-headed or Bald Eagle, the range of this extraordinary bird may be very extensive, yet the solitudes of the extreme northern parts of the two continents appear to be its proper home; where, it has been fully demonstrated, that although the resident animals of the land are necessarily restricted in numbers, the sea teems with multitudes of inhabitants. There, in the bleak regions of almost perpetual winter, the Great Sea Eagle reigns, a mighty chieftain, without a competitor, and with power unrivalled: finding ample subsistence in the arctic quadrupeds, and in the fishes of the northern seas, or occasionally levying tribute from the hosts of feathered travellers that make their annual pilgrimage to the places of their nativity, and intrude on his domain. Even the famous Condor of the Andes, the largest of Vultures, scarcely exceeds him in size, and in swiftness of flight, and power of beak and talons, is much his inferior.

Pallas, a celebrated Russian naturalist, was the first who gave a satisfactory and reliable account of this Eagle, in his Zoology of Asiatic Russia, I. p. 343, (published at St. Petersburg in 1811, though printed many years previously,) but it appears to have been previously noticed by the distinguished navigators, Steller and Billings.

Before the time of Pallas, and, it may be added, since, also, various reports of remarkable and sometimes very large Eagles having been seen in different parts of America, were from time to time made by travellers and voyagers. In fact, some are carefully and credibly described which are yet unknown to naturalists. Capt. Cook, in the account of his last voyage, or rather in that part of it which was written by himself, states that several Eagles, one of which is very remarkable, were seen at Kayes’ Island, on the northwest coast of America, in latitude 59° 49′ N. “We saw,” he says, “flying about the woods, a Crow, two or three of the white-headed Eagles, mentioned at Nootka, and another sort full as large, which appeared also of the same colour, or blacker, and had only _a white breast_.” Last Voyage, II. p. 352, quarto, London, 1784. It is necessary for me to say only, that no species of Eagle having a white breast is yet known as an inhabitant of any part of America.

In the History of the Expedition of Lewis and Clarke it is stated, that “The Calumet Eagle sometimes inhabits this side of the Rocky mountains. The colours are black and white, beautifully variegated. The tail feathers, so highly prized by the natives, are composed of twelve broad feathers of unequal length, which are white except within two inches of their extremities, when they immediately change to a jetty black, the _wings_ have each a large circular _white spot_ in the middle, which is only visible when they are extended.” II. p. 188, Philada., 1814. This statement, though it appears to have been usually regarded as referring to the Golden Eagle, does not apply to any established species, but it is worth bearing in mind that in the number of the feathers of the tail, the bird here alluded to agrees exactly with Audubon’s Washington Eagle, (Orn. Biog. I. p. 63.)

The black-checked Eagle of Pennant, said to be from North America, (Arctic Zoology, I. p. 227,) and which is _Falco americanus_, Gmelin, is described as being “about the size of the Golden Eagle, but with the head, neck and breast of a _deep ash colour_, each cheek marked with a broad black bar, passing from the corner of the mouth beyond the ears; back, belly, wings and tail, black.”

One of the most remarkable of these mysterious birds is the White Eagle, represented by Du Pratz as inhabiting Louisiana, of whose description of which the following is a translation: “The Eagle, the king of birds, is smaller than the Eagle of the Alps, but it is much handsomer, being _almost entirely white_, and having only the extremities of its wings black. As it is rather rare, this is a second reason for rendering it esteemed amongst the people of the country, who buy at a high price the feathers of its wings to make the ornament of the symbol of peace, and which is the fan of which I have spoken in giving a description of the Calumet.” Du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, II. p. 109, Paris, 1758. On the faith of this description, the species supposed to be alluded to has been named _Falco candidus_ by Gmelin. If not an albino, there is a possibility that it is a species of a group of white hawks, of rather large size, which are principally found in South America, and one species of which (_Buteo Ghiesbrectü Dubus_,) is known to inhabit Mexico. The latter would agree very well with Du Pratz’s description, so far as it goes.

That excellent and reliable naturalist, the Prince Maximilian of Wied, whose Travels in the interior of North America contain much valuable information in nearly all departments of Zoology, mentions a “Grey Eagle of enormous dimensions,” I. pp. 203, 214, (Raise in das innere Nord-America, Quarto, Coblenz, 1839.)[2]

But there is no end to the accounts of strange Eagles given by travellers and naturalists. Some of them may have reference to peculiar species which have in later times escaped attention, but the probability is, that they more frequently allude to accidental varieties, or that the authors describe from such reports as they had heard at second hand, or fell into error from insufficient personal observation.

Several of the naturalists who have recently visited California have informed us that they saw occasionally large species of Eagles, or other large rapacious birds, of which they did not succeed in procuring specimens, nor in approaching within sufficiently short distance to be enabled to examine them satisfactorily.

We have introduced the extraordinary bird which is the subject of our present article, thus early into our work, for the purpose mainly of asking attention to a most remarkable and interesting species heretofore apparently entirely unknown to American Ornithological writers, and also on account of its similarity, in some respects, to one of the most important of Audubon’s discoveries, the Washington Eagle. This celebrated author was not acquainted with the bird now before us.

The specimen of the Washington Eagle, described and figured by Audubon, does not appear to have been preserved, or at any rate is not known to be extant, nor does it appear that he ever procured more than one. His drawing, however, with some others of species which he had met with but once, appears fortunately to have escaped the destruction of his collection of pictures of birds by rats, as described in his Ornithological Biography, Vol. I. Introductory Address, p. 13, (Edinburg edition, 1831.)

We have no doubt that such a species exists, or in other words, that Audubon is entirely correct in regarding his bird as a peculiar species; and we think it quite impossible for his description and history to apply to the young of the common White-headed or Bald Eagle, as has been supposed by some American, and by nearly all late European Ornithologists. But we are disposed, at present, to question the correctness of his plate, and also his statement that the bird represented was an “adult male” (Orn. Biog. I. p. 62). We are aware, of course, that the plate may not be a fair representation of the drawing, and in fact it has not been very carefully engraved. The tail appears to be unfinished. Having, however, quite sufficient knowledge of the difficulties in getting up correct plates of birds, we are enabled fully to appreciate the disadvantages under which this distinguished Ornithologist, with all his artistic knowledge and perseverance, must necessarily have laboured at the commencement of his great work, and his plate of the Washington Eagle is one of the earliest, being the eleventh of the series.

The bill, as represented in the plate, is shorter than we have ever seen in any adult Eagle of this group (the fishing Eagles), and above all the arrangement of the scales on the tarsi anteriorly, is such as we have never observed in any rapacious bird whatever.

Notices of the Washington Eagle having been captured, have appeared occasionally (as in Nuttal’s Manuel, I. p. 71, and the Boston Journal of Nat. Hist. III. p. 72), and we have seen numerous specimens of Eagles of a size so large that they could not, without much doubt, be referred to the common white-headed species. But we have never seen nor heard of a specimen which presented all the peculiar characters represented in Audubon’s plate, and especially the anterior scales of the tarsus continued transversely so far down to the toes. The pointed and slender feathers of the neck, the large size, and in one specimen of a young bird, the short bill we have seen, and there are specimens now in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy in which these characters will be found, but not the peculiar arrangement of the scales of the tarsus. All other species of fishing Eagles have the head more or less marked with white in their mature plumage. In Audubon’s plate of the Washington Eagle, the head is of the same deep brown as the other parts. From analogy, therefore, it may safely be presumed that he was mistaken in supposing his specimen to be that of an adult male bird.

An interesting feature in the large specimens to which we allude, is the fact that they almost invariably have the ends of their tails broken as though injured by alighting habitually on rocks, or on the ground, thus apparently confirming Audubon’s statements. Young birds are however peculiarly liable to such injury on account of their feathers not possessing the strength and rigidity of more mature plumage.

Respecting the Washington Eagle, our conclusion is, therefore, after many years of attention to American birds, and especially to obscure or little known species, that of the existence of such a species in North America as is described by Audubon, in Ornithological Biography, I. p. 58, there can be no reasonable doubt. But we are of opinion that when adult it is very probably a bird with the head more or less white, and tail of the same colour; and we are disposed to regard the plate in Birds of America as erroneous, for reasons above intimated, or for others not at present demonstrable, and at all events as representing a young specimen. Waiving the presence of the character of the scales of the tarsi as above stated, we think that we have several times seen the young of the Washington Eagle, and that specimens of it are now in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy. It is not, however, so large as the immense Eagle which in the present article, and accompanying plate, we have the pleasure of presenting to the American public for the first time, but it appears to us to be more nearly related to it than to any other species.

The Eagle mentioned in the History of the Expedition of Lewis and Clarke, as cited in a preceding page, we are inclined to suspect to be the present species, but should not be surprised if it should be ascertained by succeeding naturalists to be the adult of the Washington Eagle.

The great Eagle now before us has never been observed as yet by an American voyager, and few specimens only are contained in European museums. The only specimen in the United States is that in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy from which the drawing was made for the present plate.

We have added as a suitable conclusion of our present article a translation of the original account of this Eagle as given by Pallas, and which will be found in his Zoology of Asiatic Russia, as cited above:

“Steller, worthy of a better fate, first observed this remarkable species, and in his manuscripts briefly described it. Now, also, I have before me an elegantly prepared specimen from my friend Billings, who, with the last navigator, explored the ocean between Kamschatka and America. This very large bird is frequent in the islands between Kamschatka and the American continent, especially in the islands noted for the unfortunate shipwreck and death of Bering. It appears very rarely in Kamschatka itself. In the highest rocks overhanging the sea, it constructs a nest of two ells in diameter, composed of twigs of fruit and other trees, gathered from a great distance, and strewed with grass in the centre, in which are one or two eggs, in form, magnitude and whiteness, very like those of a Swan. The young is hatched in the beginning of June, and has an entirely white woolly covering. While Steller was cautiously viewing such a nest from a precipice, the parents darted with such unforeseen impetuosity as nearly to throw him headlong; the female having been wounded, both flew away, nor did they return to the nest which was watched for two days. But, as if lamenting, they often sat on an opposite rock. It is a kind of bird, bold, very cunning, circumspect, observant, and of savage disposition. Steller saw a Fox (_Vulpes lagopodus_) carried off by one and dashed upon the rocks, and afterwards torn in pieces. It lives also on dead substances cast up by the sea, and various offscourings of the ocean.”

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Haliaëtus. Savigny, Description of Egypt, Zoology, p. 85, (1809.)

Size, large. Bill, strong, straight at the base, hooked and very sharp at the point, sides of the bill compressed, margin of upper mandible, slightly festooned. Wings rather long and pointed, formed for rapid and vigorous flight; tail moderate. Tarsi short, very strong, and with the toes, covered with scales; claws very strong, curved and sharp. About ten or twelve species known, which are scattered throughout the surface of the globe.

Haliaëtus pelagicus. (Pallas.) Aquila pelagica. Pallas, Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica, I. p. 343, (St. Petersburg, 1811, Quarto.) “Aquila marina. Steller, MSS.” Pallas _ut supra_. Falco Imperator. Kittlitz, Kupfertafeln zur naturg. der Vogel pt. I. p. 3, pl. 2, (Frankfurt, 1832.) Falco leucopterus. Temminck. Pl. col. I. pl. 489. Haliaëtus pelagicus. (Pallas.) Temm. & Schl. Fauna Japonica, Aves p. 10, pl. 4. Haliaëtus imperator. (Kittlitz.) Bruch in Isis XXV. p. 1102, (1832.)

Form. Very large and powerful, tail rather short, wedge shaped, the middle feathers being nearly four inches longer than the outer, which are shortest, all of the fourteen feathers somewhat pointed, but the central four lanceolate.

Bill strong, much compressed, very wide laterally or in altitude; upper mandible with a slight festoon; gape rather wide, extending so far back as to be immediately under the eye; cere large, in which at the distance of nearly an inch from the frontal feathers, the nostrils are obliquely inserted, large loral space bare, or with a few scattered bristles.

Wings rather short, third and fourth quills longest, but with the fifth little shorter; secondaries abruptly acuminated, and some of them with their shafts produced into filaments or thread-like appendages, exserted from the tips of the feathers; secondaries and greater coverts very broad and strong.

Legs and feet rather short, but strong; tarsus feathered below the joint for half its length, bare lower portion, with about five large frontal scales immediately succeeding the feathers; then to the toes in common with its entire posterior part, covered with numerous scales, which are rounded or hexagonal: the latter shape most readily observed behind; toes, with broad frontal scales; claws large.

Feathers of the head and neck, narrow and pointed, or acuminated; those on the breast and back, somewhat lanceolate, but broad, and sometimes abruptly pointed. Tail coverts, both above and below, ample—extending to half the length of the tail.

Dimensions of a skin from Behrings Straits. Total length from tip of bill to end of tail, about 3 feet 8 inches; wing, 2 feet 2 inches; tail, 1 foot 4 inches; bill, from tip of upper mandible to angle of the mouth, 3¾ inches; width of bill, laterally, at point of insertion of the nostrils, full 1¾ inches.

Colours. Female, nearly adult? Tail, white, the two external feathers having their outer webs, brownish black, mottled with white, and other feathers slightly spotted with the same brownish black. Entire other parts, above and below, very dark brownish black; lighter on the head and neck, and on which parts every feather is lighter in the middle.

Primary quills, shining black; secondaries and tertiaries, white at their bases, and brownish black at their ends; greater coverts narrowly tipped with brownish white; lesser coverts whitish on both margins, especially at their bases, terminated with brownish. Rump with the plumage white at the base.

Bill, yellow, (in skin,) feet, yellow.

Adult, as described by authors cited above. Large frontal space, commencing at the base of bill, white, which is also the colour of the greater wing coverts, the abdomen, and the tail. All other parts of the plumage blackish brown; bill, cere, legs and feet, yellow.

Hab. Russian possessions in Asia and America. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. The largest of all known Eagles, and nearly related to _H. Washingtonii_ (Aud.). It differs from the latter, as described by Audubon, in being larger generally, but has the wing shorter and the tail wedge shaped, and containing fourteen feathers. We suppose _H. Washingtonii_ to be the young of a closely allied species, and that both are strictly congeneric with _H. leucocephalus_, _H. albicilla_, _H. vocifer_, and others known as Fishing Eagles.

[Illustration: Plate 7 The Ground Wren Chamaea fasciata (_Gambel_)]

CHAMÆA FASCIATA.—(Gambel.) The Ground Wren. PLATE VII.—Adult Male.

This little bird was discovered in California, by William Gambel, M. D., an enthusiastic and highly talented young naturalist, who, during an overland journey across the North American Continent, made many discoveries, and added much valuable information to several departments of Natural History, and we regret to say, whose recent death, during a second expedition of the same character, occurring, as it did, so early, and thus terminating so prematurely a life of such promise, is to be deplored as a loss to science and to his country.

Dr. Gambel’s account of this bird in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, II. p. 265, and in the Journal of the same society, quarto, I. p. 34, which is the first and, as yet, the most satisfactory, is as follows: “For several months before discovering the bird, I was attracted in the fields of dead mustard stalks, the weedy margins of streams, low thickets and bushy places, by a continued loud, crepitant, grating scold, which I took for that of a species of Wren, but at last found it to proceed from this Wren-tit, if it may be so called. It was difficult to be seen, and kept in such places as I have described, close to the ground; eluding pursuit by diving into the thickest bunches of weeds and tall grass, or tangled bushes, and uttering its grating Wren-like notes whenever approached. But if quietly, watched, it may be seen, when searching for insects, mounting the twigs and dried stalks of grass sideways, jerking its long tail, and holding it erect like a Wren, which, with its short wings in such a position, it much resembles.

“Sometimes it utters a slow, monotonous, singing chicadee note, like _pee, pee, pee, pee, peep_; at other times its notes are varied, and a slow whistling continued _pwit, pwit, pwit, pwit_, is heard. Again, in pleasant weather, towards spring, I have heard individuals answering each other, singing in a less solemn strain not unlike sparrows, a lively _pit, pit, pit, tr, r, r, r, r, r_, but, if disturbed, they at once resumed their usual scold.”

Mr. Bell, whose collection contained numerous specimens of this bird, found it abundant in the neighbourhood of San Francisco, and has kindly allowed us to use his memoranda: “I observed this bird in bushes and briers every where along the roads, and in brush heaps on lands which had been recently cleared, though it appeared rather to prefer damp places. It was very pert, and not easily frightened, and as it moved about with its tail erect, uttered several rather peevish notes, unlike those of any other bird with which I am acquainted.

“The white iris of this bird, when in its native haunts, is quite readily observed, and with its manners and the localities which it frequents, reminded me, in some measure, of the white-eyed Vireo, (_V. noveboracensis_.) Its skin is unusually strong for such a small bird, and it has a remarkable development of the muscles of the thighs, and, in fact, unusual strength and firmness of the muscular system generally.”

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Chamæa. Gambel in Proceedings Acad. Philada. III. p. 154, Feb., 1847.

Bill short, slightly curved, rather acute, both mandibles entire, ridge of the upper curving nearly from the base, depression for the nostrils large, oval and exposed, nostrils opening beneath a membrane in the depression. Wings very short, rounded; tail long, and graduated; tarsi long, and rather slender.

One species only known.

Chamæa fasciata. (Gambel.) Parus fasciatus. Gambel, Proc. Acad. Philada., II. p. 265. August, 1845.

Form. Body rather short and robust; wings short and rounded, with the sixth and seventh primaries longest, and nearly equal; tail long and graduated, external feathers about an inch and a half shorter than those in the middle of the tail. Entire plumage of the body composed of long, silky, puff-like feathers.

Dimensions of a skin from California. Total length from tip of bill to end of tail, about 5½ inches; wing, 2½; tail, 3½ inches.

Colours. Male. Head very dark cinerous, lighter on the cheeks and sides of the neck; back, rump, external margins of the quills and tail feathers olive brown. Wings and tail dusky brown; the latter with many crimp-like transverse lines of darker, more distinct in some specimens than others; quills also with similar lines on their inner webs, but frequently very obscure.

Beneath, from the base of the mandible to the abdomen, pale reddish, running into olive on the flanks, and with many of the feathers on the throat and breast having longitudinal stripes of light cinereous olive; under tail coverts brown.

A distinct ring around the eye, and spot on the nares, whitish cinereous.

Bill and feet, dark brownish black.

Iris, white.

Female. Similar to the male, but with the colours rather less vivid.

Hab. California. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. We consider this bird as decidedly related to the Wrens, and as forming a well characterized genus, of which it is, as yet, the only known species. It is frequently brought in collections from Western America.

The plant represented in the plate is the _Eschscholtzia Californica_, a native of California.

The figure in our plate is about three-fourths of the natural size.

ICTERUS CUCULLATUS.—(Swainson.) The Hooded Oriole. PLATE VIII.—Male and Female.

Some of the most beautiful of the American Orioles are inhabitants of Mexico. Of these, we present, in the plate now before the reader, one of the smallest of the species, which, though it cannot compete with many others of its more richly coloured relatives, is still entitled to make considerable claims. The various shades of the richest yellow colours are almost exhausted in the splendid species of these birds which are found in Mexico, and in South America, and as an accompaniment to the luxuriant vegetation of those countries, they form, necessarily, a most agreeable and interesting feature.

The birds of this family represented in the northern portion of this continent, by the Baltimore Oriole, are remarkable for their skill in constructing elaborately formed and pendent nests, frequently of large size. Several of the South American species make them of grasses, intricately and substantially woven, and shaped like a purse or bag, with the entrance sometimes from the top, but more frequently ingeniously inserted in the side, near the lower end. They are usually suspended from the pendent branches of trees, and often near the habitations of men. The Baltimore Oriole builds a nest sufficiently similar to afford an idea of the general character of the nests of these birds, but those of several of the southern species are much more artfully and elaborately constructed.

The handsome little bird at present before us, was first described from Mexican specimens, by Mr. Swainson, in the Philosophical Magazine, 1827, p. 436, (London.) It is an inhabitant, also, of Texas, where it was repeatedly observed by our friends Col. McCall and Capt. McCown, the latter of which gentlemen has most kindly communicated the following with other valuable notices:

[Illustration: Plate 8 The Hooded Oriole Icterus cucullatus (_Swainson_)]

“This beautiful Oriole is quite common on the Rio Grande, where it raises its young. When met with in the woods, and far away from man’s abode, it is shy, and seems rather disposed to conceal itself, yet a pair were constant visitors, morning and evening, to the vicinity of my quarters (an unfinished building at Ringgold Barracks, Texas.) They became so tame and familiar that they would pass from some ebony trees that stood near by, to the porch, clinging to the shingles and rafters, frequently in an inverted position, prying into the holes and crevices, apparently in search of such insects as could be found there, which, I believe, were principally spiders. They would sometimes desist for a moment from this occupation, to observe my movements, and if I happened to be enjoying a cigar after dinner, seemed to watch the smoke with great curiosity. I often offered them such hospitality as was in my power, but could never induce them to touch any food, in which respect they were very different from the large black birds, whose acquaintance I also cultivated. I have seen the nests of this species, but never had an opportunity to examine them.”

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Icterus. Brisson Ornithologie, II. p. 85, (quarto, Paris, 1760.)

Bill, conic, straight, or slightly curved, and entering the frontal plumes, point acute, nostrils basal partly covered by a membrane. Wings, rather long and pointed; tail, long; tarsi moderate, slender, covered with scales. Colours, generally yellow and black. About twenty-five species known, all of which are natives of America.

Icterus cucullatus. Swainson in Philos. Mag., 1827, p. 486.

Form. Slender and delicate; bill, very acute, curved; wing, rather short, with the third quill longest; tail, rather long, graduated; tarsi and feet, slender.

Dimensions. Total length (of skin) from tip of bill to end of tail, about 7½ inches; wing, 3½; tail, 4 inches; female, slightly smaller.

Colours. Male. Narrow frontal band, throat and neck in front, and space extending to the eye, back, wings and tail, glossy black. External edges of the quills, and tips of wing coverts white, the latter forming two white bars on the wing. Upper part of the head and neck, rump and upper tail coverts, and all the under parts, fine golden yellow, paler on the abdomen. Inferior wing coverts, and tail feathers at their basis, pale yellow. Bill, bluish horn colour.

Female. Entire upper parts, olive green, tinged with yellow on the head and rump. Wings, pale brown; coverts, tipped with white, and quills narrowly edged with white; tail, above, yellowish green. Entire under parts, greenish yellow.

Hab. Texas and Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. This species does not intimately resemble any other of its group, though partaking of their general style of colouring, and can be readily recognized by the student. Very fine specimens were obtained in Texas by Capt. McCown, which are now in the collection of Mr. George N. Lawrence, of New York, to whom we are indebted for an opportunity to figure the female. The latter does not resemble the male in colour.

Our figures are about two-thirds of the natural size.

[Illustration: Plate 9 Gambels Partridge Callipepla Gambellii (_Nuttall_)]

CALLIPEPLA GAMBELII.—(Nuttall.) Gambel’s Partridge. PLATE IX.—Male and Young Female.

Mexico and the adjacent parts of the United States are particularly productive of game birds, and amongst them are several species of Partridges, unrivalled in beauty of plumage by those of any other country of the world. Of those, some prefer fertile valleys, or grounds under cultivation; others appear to live almost entirely in the barren plains, or in the mountains.

Independently of the usefulness of those birds as food, to the citizens of the States alluded to, and to those who, in future years, shall occupy with their farms and homesteads districts yet unpeopled, the numerous game birds must always be a source of constant interest and amusement. Like the Deer, and like the Turkey, Grouse, and Partridge of other States, their pursuit is not only an easily attainable amusement, but serves also for the cultivation of a knowledge of, and expertness in the use of firearms, which are peculiarly characteristic of our vigorous and successful population, and have contributed in an important degree to the formation of the character of the world-renowned citizen-soldier of the United States.

Experience in hunter life, and the incidental influences of its occupations and associations, are no inconsiderable features in American education; and the invigorating and healthful pursuits of the youthful hunter or trapper have always appeared to us to be no unimportant agents in the development of his physical and of his intellectual constitution. In large portions of every State of the Union, the gun or the rifle is the favourite companion of almost every boy from the earliest period of his competency for its management; and we have seen abundant instances, in our early days, of very considerably forced presumption of competency. In fact, the stranger, in very many of the rural districts of the United States, might almost be tempted to conclude that the famous ancient formula of early education had been adopted, with an addition: “Learn to speak the truth and to swim”—and to shoot.

The beautiful Partridge now before us was discovered a few years since in New Mexico, by Dr. William Gambel, in honor of whom it has been named. The first description of it is in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, I. p. 260, April, 1843, and afterwards was reprinted in the Journal of the same society, I. p. 219, (Quarto.)

Since that period it has repeatedly been observed, and we have now the gratification of being able to present to our readers a particular history of this fine species.

Our friend, Captain S. G. French, of the United States Army, to whose kindness we have previously been indebted, has favoured us with the following interesting account:

“This species was found by me on the Rio Grande, some seventy miles below El Paso; and from that point to the place just mentioned, the numbers constantly increased. They seem to be partial to the abodes of man, and are very numerous about the old and decayed buildings, gardens, fields, and vineyards around Presidio, Isileta, and El Paso. During my stay there in the summer of 1851, every morning and evening their welcome call was heard around us, and at those early and late hours they were constantly to be found in the sandy roads and paths near the villages and farms. In the middle of the hot summer days, they rest in the sand, under the shade and protection of the thick _chapparal_; and, when disturbed, they glide through the bushes very swiftly, seldom resorting to flight, and uttering all the while a peculiar chirping note, by which they appear to be enabled to keep together. The parent birds would utter the same chirp whenever I endeavoured to capture their young. The male and female were always found with the young birds, and showed much affection for them, even endeavoring to attract my attention to themselves by their actions and cries.”

Col. George A. McCall, the accuracy of whose knowledge of the birds of Western America is unrivalled, gives an interesting account of this bird in his “Remarks on the habits, &c., of Birds met with in Western Texas, between San Antonio and the Rio Grande, and in New Mexico,” published in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy, V. p. 213, (June, 1851):

“After losing sight of the Massena Partridge, I did not fall in with the present species until we reached the Limpia river, about 100 miles west of the Pecos.

“This beautiful bird, whose habits, in some respects, bear resemblance to the common partridge, like that, seems to prefer a more genial and hospitable region. In this part of the country, the Mesquite tree (Acacia glandulosa) is more or less common; and the Mesquite grass, and other plants bearing nutritious seeds, are abundant. Here, this partridge increases rapidly in numbers, and becomes very fat; and, as I afterwards ascertained, is much disposed to seek the farms, if any be within reach, and to cultivate the acquaintance of man. About the rancho of Mr. White, near El Paso, I found them very numerous; and here, in flocks of fifty or a hundred, they resort, morning and evening, to the barn-yard, and feed around the grain stacks, in company with the poultry, where they receive their portion, as it is scattered amongst them by the hand of the owner. I found them distributed through the country from the Limpia to the Rio Grande, a range from east to west exceeding one hundred miles; and along the Rio Grande, from Eagle Spring Pass to Don Ana, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles. North of this I did not see them. I was not among them during the season of incubation.”

But the most comprehensive and complete account ever before published of this Partridge, has been furnished by the same gentleman (Col. McCall) for insertion into our present article; for which, and for many other similar favours from him, we beg to tender our deep sense of obligation.

“Whilst in California, during the last summer, (1852,) I was enabled to ascertain the western limit of this species as satisfactorily as I had previously ascertained its eastern limit within the State of Texas. And, although the extent of its range to the north is not yet clearly established, it may be said that the portion of our territory inhabited by this beautiful bird is a rather narrow belt of country, (say one thousand miles long by two hundred broad,) embraced between the 31st and 34th parallels of north latitude, and extending from the Pecos river in Texas to the Sierra Nevada and the contiguous desert in California. Be it understood, however, that when I speak of a narrow belt of country along a certain parallel, I do not intend to say that the _habitat_ of the species does not extend beyond this belt into _Mexico_; but that the river Gila being our southern boundary through the greater part of the region referred to, the portion of our own territory inhabited by this bird is confined to such a belt as I have indicated.

“First, then, with respect to its western limit. This species was discovered by Dr. Gambel, ‘on the eastern side of the Californian range of mountains, in 1841.’ He did not meet with it on the western side; nor has it, as far as made known, been found there since that time by others. During the last summer, search was made for it by several gentlemen who were interested in the subject, as well as by myself, in different localities from north to south along the Pacific slope, but in every instance without success. Hence, the inference must be that this Partridge has never crossed to the west of the Sierra, where, as we well know, it is abundantly replaced by the closely allied species, the ‘_California Partridge_.’ Following down the Sierra Nevada to its junction with the coast-range, you come upon a desert of sand of vast extent; and as the snowy peaks of the Sierra had stopped the march of this species above, so did the burning sands of the desert stop its progress below, and effectually shut it out from the Pacific plain. It is true I found it at _Alamo macho_ (cottonwood grove), which is 44 miles west of the Colorado river. Thus far it had penetrated into the dreary waste, and had managed to find shelter and subsistence where there is little to support animal life. But from this _oasis_ to _Valle-cita_ (little valley), it is seventy miles. In this interval, a vast ocean of sand presents a formidable barrier, as is but too plainly indicated by the bleached bones of horses and mules scattered along the route—and this barrier effectually separates the two congenerous species of partridge: the range of _Gambel’s Partridge_ being confined to the east of this desert, while the range of the _California Partridge_ is confined to the west of it—although on both sides they approach to the very edge, as I ascertained from personal observation.

“In the second place, with respect to its eastern limit—I have to repeat that I did not meet with this species in Texas, either in going or returning, anywhere east of the Pecos river; nor was it found by either of three other parties who explored those regions, both previously and subsequently, until after they had passed to the west of that river. Here, again, a sandy desert, between the Pecos and Devil’s river, is the barrier beyond which the species under consideration has not extended its range to the eastward; and, as it is replaced beyond the Sierra and the desert in the west by the _California Partridge_, so is it replaced beyond the Pecos in the east by the _Massena Partridge_.

“With regard to the northern and southern limits of this species, less is known. I found it in 1850, on the Limpia creek, in N. Lat. 31°—thence to the Rio Grande, and up that river to Don Ana, Lat. 33°. But I found it nowhere beyond that point, either near the river or among the hills as far back as the foot of the Sierra de los Mimbres, and I passed up and down between El Paso and Santa Fe at different seasons of the year; yet through all this country I met with the _Blue Partridge_ (C. squamata). The species in question, however, is known to be abundant in the country around the sources of the Gila river. It has also been found along that river, from the Pimo villages to its mouth; and there is no doubt it inhabits the entire valley of the Gila. It was common along the Colorado river, as far up as Camp Yuma (mouth of Gila), and it has been met with in that valley as high up as Yampai creek, N. Lat. 34°, but I have no information of its having been found north of that parallel.

“The habits of this species are, in most respects, similar to those of the California Partridge; but it has always appeared to me less vigilant and wild. I was not so fortunate, however, as to discover its nest; nor did I gather from others any information as to its eggs—their colour or their markings. I frequently heard the call or song of the male bird during the period of nesting, which, from some cause or other not apparent to me, was later than that of its congener. As early as June 4th, I found covies of the young of the _California Partridge_ large enough to fly—say one-fourth grown; whilst all the birds of this species (and I saw many,) as late as June 16th, were still without their young. But the voice of the male, as I was about to remark, is, at this season, strikingly rich and full. A very good idea may be formed of his cry by slowly pronouncing, in a low tone, the syllables ‘_kaa-wale_,’ ‘_kaa-wale_.’ These notes, when uttered close at hand, are by no means loud; yet it is perfectly astonishing to what a distance they may be heard when the day is calm and still. There was to me something extremely plaintive in this simple love-song, which I heard for the first time during a day of burning heat passed upon the desert. I had reached the well at _Alamo mucho_ before noon, and had halted to rest my jaded mules after their toilsome march. Here is, in truth, a desert!—figure to yourself, if you can, a portion of this fair earth, where, for some hundreds of miles, the whole crust seems to have been reduced to ashes by the action of internal fires; behold a vast plain of desolation, surrounded, and, at intervals, intersected by abrupt mountain ranges, which are little better than gigantic heaps of scoria; imagine this scenery to be actually glowing under the direct rays of a midsummer sun, and you may have some idea of the prospect that meets the eye of the traveller who looks out upon the desert from the well of the Alamo. You may perceive in his rear a few stunted cottonwood-trees scattered along the edge of a channel, in which, apparently, water once _was_, but now is not; whilst around him, here and there, is a light-leafed mesquite that stretches forth its slender arms, and appears to invite him to a shade which is but a mockery. Here it was that I first heard the plaintive voice of this bird as he strove to cheer his mate whilst occupied in the tedious task of incubation.

“I had passed the hours of noon stretched upon the sand near the well: the thermometer, in the best shade to be obtained, indicating a temperature of 140° to 150°, (_Fahrenheit_); and as the sun began to decline towards the horizon, the first wakeful sound of animal life that greeted my ear was the soft ‘_kaa-wale_,’ ‘_kaa-wale_,’ of this beautiful bird. I turned towards a cluster of mesquite, at the distance of some two hundred yards from which the call seemed to come, but could discern no object in motion. This song was continued, at short intervals, for about an hour; when, at last, one of the birds came forth upon the sand, and was soon followed by its mate. They ran lightly over the sand, and glided into the gully, where they began to search for their evening meal. I followed with my gun and secured them both—they were a male and female, the skins of which I have preserved. This was June 8th.

“Later in the season, when a covey is dispersed, the cry for assembling is ‘_qua-el_,’ ‘_qua-el_.’ The voice at all seasons bears much resemblance to that of the _California Partridge_—having, in its intonation, no similarity to the whistle of the Virginia or common partridge.

“The crops of those killed at the Alamo, and thence to the Colorado, were filled with the leaves of the mesquite, which seemed to be their principal food, though in some were found remains of coleopterous insects. In some of those killed near the river I found the wild gooseberry.

“The dimensions of this species, given by Gould in his ‘Odontophorinæ,’ are, (? skin) length 9¾ inches; wing, 4½; tail, 4. By Dr. Gambel, (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philada., I. p. 260,) length, over 10 inches; wing, 4½; tail, 4½.

“Those I obtained in California were as follows, (measured immediately when killed):

“♂ length, 10½ to 11⅜; wing, 4½; tail, 4½. “♀ “ 10⅜ to 10⅝; wing, 4½; tail, 4½.”

The identical pair of birds alluded to in this excellent and satisfactory history is represented in our plate; and the specimens, with many others collected by this gentleman, are now in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy.

Fine specimens of this bird are also now in the national collection at Washington, and were collected by Dr. Woodhouse, while attached to the party under command of Captain Sitgreaves, which surveyed the rivers Zunia and the Colorado of the west.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Callipepla. Wagler in Isis, 1832, p. 277.

Head, with a crest of long feathers, either pendent or erectile, and recurved; bill, short, with the upper mandible curved gradually from the base, under mandible straight, and near the tip having generally two dentations, nostrils rather large, basal, covered with a membrane. Wings, rather ample, concave, quills rigid; tail, rather lengthened, strong; tarsi rather long and moderately robust. About six species known, all of which inhabit Mexico, and the adjoining parts of the United States and California, and are birds of beautiful plumage.

“Lophortyx Gambelii. Nutt.” Gambel. Proc. Acad. Philada., I. p. 260, (1843.)

Form. With an upright recurved crest of about six feathers, general form robust, rather lengthened; wings, with the third, fourth and fifth quills nearly equal and longest; tail, long; feet and legs robust. Feathers in front, at the base of the bill very narrow and probably erectile.

Dimensions of skins, total length from tip of bill to end of tail, from 9¾ to 10½ inches; wing, 4½; tail, 4 to 4½ inches; of living or recent bird, according to Col. McCall, as above, total length of male, 10½ to 11⅜ inches; of female, 10⅜ to 10⅝ inches.

Colours. Male. Frontal feathers white, each having a narrow longitudinal line of black, succeeding those a transverse band of white. Top of the head, fine reddish chestnut, crest, brownish black. Throat, black, which colour is completely enclosed by an edging of white.

Entire plumage of the upper parts of the body, neck, wings, and tail, light bluish cinereous; feathers of the neck above, slightly marked in the middle with dark chestnut; flanks and sides, dark chestnut, every feather with a longitudinal strip of white; middle of the breast and abdomen white, with a large black spot on the latter. Bill, dark.

Female. Throat, ashy white, with no vestige of black, as in the male. Head, above, plain cinereous, or with the colours of the male very faintly indicated; other parts of the plumage similar, but more obscure and paler. Crest, less fully developed.

Hab. Texas. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada., and Nat. Coll. Washington city.

Obs. Nearly related to, and, at first sight, bearing considerable resemblance to, the California Partridge, (_C. Californica_.) From this, however, it is easily distinguished by the entirely different colour of the inferior parts of the body, and other characters easily discovered on the most superficial examination.

According to the rule which has become part of the code of zoological jurisprudence, which has gradually formed itself, and is now almost universally adopted, the name properly to be cited as the authority for this species ought not to be “Nuttall.” It was first described in a paper written by Dr. Gambel himself, without allusion to his learned friend and patron, Mr. Nuttall, as joint author, editor, or otherwise. Nevertheless, as we happen to know that that distinguished gentleman did furnish the specific name in question, and others in the paper alluded to, we, for the present, acquiesce in the citation of his name. But under no circumstances can this method be allowed as a general principle. No person is the authority for a species unless he is the first to publish a description of it, and the citing of a name as the authority for a species ought always to be based on that fact, the neglect of which has caused much difficulty and confusion in zoological nomenclature.

BERNICLA NIGRICANS.—(Lawrence.) The Black Brant. PLATE X.—Adult Male.

This is a very remarkable and distinct species of Brant, first noticed by our esteemed friend Mr. George N. Lawrence, an Ornithologist of great ability and accuracy, of the city of New York. It was described by him in a paper read before the Lyceum of Natural History of that city, and published in its Annals, IV. p. 171, (1846.)

Mr. Lawrence states in the paper alluded to: “I have taken the above description and figure from an adult female, procured at Egg Harbour, N. J., in January. Since then two others have been obtained at the same place, one of which I have in my possession. On dissection it proved to be a male. It agrees in markings with the female, but is evidently a younger bird, being somewhat lighter in the colour of its plumage. From this, I infer, they become darker by age. It is a little larger than the female, the bill being also stouter, measuring seven-eighths of an inch high at the base.

“When on a shooting excursion some years since at Egg Harbour, I noticed a bird flying at some distance from us, which our gunner said was a Black Brant. This was the first intimation I had of such a bird. Upon further inquiry, he informed me that he had seen them occasionally, but that they were not common. I have learned from Mr. P. Brasier, who has passed much time at that place, that, speaking to the gunners about them, they said they were well known by the name of Black Brant, and one of them mentioned having once seen a flock of five or six together.

“From these facts it appears to be known to gunners, but has heretofore escaped the notice of Ornithologists. With all my inquiries I have not been able to procure a specimen before this winter. I think it a good and well marked species.”

We have had the pleasure of seeing the specimen described by Mr. Lawrence, and entirely coincide with him in his conclusion. It is precisely similar to others that have come under our notice, and all presenting the same peculiar specific characters.

[Illustration: Plate 10 The Black Brant Bernicla migricans (_Lawrence_)]

To the gunners of Philadelphia this bird is known by the same name, and we have seen several specimens which have been shot in Delaware Bay, and at various points on the sea-coast. Our friend Mr. John Krider, Gunsmith, whose establishment is a favourite place of resort of the Ornithologists and gunners of this city, and who is well acquainted with American birds, and very successful in obtaining specimens of rare species, has had several specimens of this Brant brought to him within the last two or three years. It must, however, be considered as a species of rather unusual occurrence on the Atlantic coast, but perhaps not more so than the Snow Goose, and others which are well known. As is the case with the birds just mentioned, it is probable, too, that the migration of this Brant does not commonly reach so far southward as the latitude of either of the large cities on the Atlantic.

Several species of Geese, which appear to be unknown to Naturalists, have been noticed by travellers in various parts of North America, but especially in the northern and Arctic regions. Of these we shall give an account, somewhat in detail in a succeeding article; at present, we are acquainted with one allusion only, which we think it not improbable has reference to the species now before us. It is in Sir John Richardson’s “Arctic Searching Expedition,” a journal of a Boat voyage through Rupert’s land and the Arctic Sea, in search of the discovery ships under command of Sir John Franklin, London, 1851, New York, 1852. In citing an account of the valley of the Yukon river, in about lat. 66° north, long. 147° west, contained in a letter to him from Mr. Murray, a resident in that country, the following statements occur (American edition, p. 305): “White Geese (Snow Geese, _Chen hyperboreus_) are also passengers here; and there are likewise _Black Geese_, which I presume you have never seen. A few of them pass down Peel’s River, but they are more abundant on the Yukon. They are very handsome birds, considerably smaller than the White Geese, and have a dark brown or brownish black colour, with _a white ring round the neck_, the head and bill having the shape of that of the Bustard (the Canada Goose, _Anser Canadensis_). The Black Geese are the least numerous, and the latest that arrive here. They fly in large flocks with remarkable velocity, and generally pass on without remaining as the others do, some days to feed. When they alight, it is always in the water; and if they wish to land, they swim ashore. They are very fat, and their flesh has an oily and rather disagreeable taste.

“Bustards, Laughing Geese, Ducks, and large Gulls, make their appearance here from the 27th to the 29th of April; Snow Geese and Black Geese about the 15th or 16th of May, when the other kinds become plentiful. They have mostly passed by the end of the month, though some, especially the Bustards, are seen in June. The White Geese and Black Geese breed only on the shores of the Arctic Sea. They return in September, and early in October, flying high, and seldom halting.”

Sir John Richardson seems inclined to the opinion that the common Brant is here alluded to; which, however, we cannot consider so probable as that it is our present bird. So well acquainted with the water birds of Europe and America as he is, it could scarcely have been supposed by Mr. Murray that he had never seen so abundant a species as the common Brant. Besides, the white ring round the neck, as described, is exactly applicable to the Black Brant now before us, and its uniting on the front of the neck forms a peculiar character sufficient to distinguish it from any other species.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Bernicla. Stephens, Continuation of Shaw’s Zoology, XII. p. 45, (1824.)

Bill, small, shorter than the head, upper mandible elevated at the base, tip with a broad nail, margins of both mandibles finely serrated. Wings, long, pointed; tail, very short, rounded; tarsi, moderate; toes, rather short. Probably contains six or eight species, inhabiting various parts of the world.

Bernicla nigricans. (Lawrence.) Anser nigricans. Lawrence, Annals N. Y. Lyceum, IV. p. 171, (1846.)

Form. Bill and head, and feet, rather small; wings, with the second quill longest; tail, short, composed of sixteen feathers; coverts, both above and below, long, reaching almost to the end of the tail.

Dimensions, according to Mr. Lawrence. Total length 22½ inches, alar extent 44, bill along the ridge 1³/₁₆, from gap 1⅜, lower mandible 1¼, length of tarsus 2¼, middle toe 2, outer 1⅞, inner 1½, weight 3 lbs.

Total length of skin from Delaware Bay, from tip of bill to end of tail about 22 inches, wing 13¾, tail about 5 inches.

Colours. Male. Neck almost completely encircled by a band of white, broadest immediately in front, and narrowest behind. Head, neck, breast and abdomen, glossy black, having on the latter a brownish tinge. Upper parts of the body umber brown, nearly black on the rump, some of the feathers with paler margins; quills and tail feathers brownish black. Feathers on the sides and flanks tipped with white; upper and under tail coverts, and ventral region, white. Bill and feet dark, nearly black.

Hab. Atlantic coast, New Jersey. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.

Obs. The Black Brant is nearly related to the common Brant (_B. brenta_), but can readily be distinguished by the uniform black colour of the inferior parts of the body, and the ring on the neck uninterrupted in front, and not separated into two white patches on the sides of the neck, as in the common species. It appears also to bear some resemblance to the _Bernicla glaucogastra_, Brehm. Handb. Vogel Deutschlands, p. 849 (Ilmenau, 1831), but may be distinguished from it also by the characters just mentioned.

SYNOPSIS OF THE SPECIES OF BIRDS INHABITING THE CONTINENT OF AMERICA, NORTH OF MEXICO.

I. ORDER RAPTORES. THE RAPACIOUS BIRDS.

General form, strong, muscular, and capable of vigorous and long continued flight; bill and claws usually curved and strong, and adapted to the destruction of other animals, or for preying on animals already dead. The sense of sight in many species developed in a greater degree than in any other group of the animal kingdom. Habits, in the majority of species, solitary, cautious, and very vigilant. Female larger than the male. Inhabit all parts of the world, and form a well defined and easily recognized order of birds, strikingly analogous to the Rapacious Quadrupeds.

I. FAMILY VULTURIDÆ. THE VULTURES.

Head and neck usually naked, and the former frequently more or less carunculated, or with the skin wrinkled; bill, strong, rather lengthened and strongly hooked; claws, usually moderate, and but slightly curved; wings, usually long and powerful. Size, generally large; body, heavy. General structure adapted to the destruction of dead animals exclusively, but a few species do not hesitate to attack young or feeble animals when living.

Inhabit the temperate and the warm regions of the earth, but are much more numerous in the latter. There are about twenty known species of Vultures.

I. GENUS CATHARTES. Illigee Prodromus, p. 236. (1811.)

CATHARISTA. Viellot Analyse, p. 21. (1816.)

Head and upper part of the neck, naked, or partially covered with short downy feathers; the skin of the former generally wrinkled, or with wart-like excrescences. Bill, rather long, straight, curved at the end; nostrils, large, open, and unprotected, inserted near the middle of the bill. Wings, long, third and fourth primaries usually longest; tail, composed of twelve feathers, usually slightly rounded; legs and feet, moderate, rather strong, covered with scales, middle toe long, hind toe shortest; claws, rather strong, moderately curved, obtuse at their points. Colour of all known species, black.

Of this genus, which is peculiar to America, there are seven species; four of which are natives of the northern, and two of the southern portion of this continent, and one of the West Indies. All of them much resemble each other in their habits, and the two South American species are nearly related to similar species of the North, as will be pointed out in descriptions of the latter now to be given. In all its essential characters, this genus differs very little from _Sarcoramphus_, which includes the _Condor_ and the _King Vulture_ of South America.

A.

1. Cathartes aura. (Linn.) The Turkey Buzzard. The Turkey Vulture. Vultur aura. Linn. Syst. Nat., I. p. 122. (1766.) Cathartes septentrionalis. De Weid Reise, I. p. 162. (1839.)

Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina, I. pl. 6. Vieill. Ois. d’Am. Sept. I. pl. 2. Wilson Am. Orn. IX. pl. 75, fig. 1. Aud. B. of Am. pl. 151.

Plumage, commencing on the neck with a circular ruff of rather long and projecting feathers. Head and upper part of neck, naked, or with scattering, down-like feathers, especially on the vertex, and with the skin wrinkled. Nostrils, large, oval, communicating with each other; tail, rather long, rounded.

Entire plumage, brownish black, darkest on the neck, back and tail above; many feathers having a purple lustre on the upper and under parts of the body, and with pale brownish borders on the upper parts. Bill, yellowish white; wings and tail, paler beneath. Head and neck, in living bird, bright red.

Total length of skin about 30 inches; wing, 23; tail, 12 inches.

Hab. The entire territory of the United States—rare in New England. Wisconsin, (Dr. Hoy,) Oregon, (U. S. Ex. Exp. Vincennes.) New Mexico, (Dr. Henry.) California, (Dr. Gambel.) Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. This species is abundant in the Southern, and of quite frequent occurrence in the Middle States of the Union; but it rarely visits the northeastern, or on the Atlantic, is seldom met with north of New Jersey. In the southern part of the State of Delaware, and in Maryland, it is very abundant, migrating farther south in the winter. It subsists entirely on dead animals, which it devours in every stage of decomposition or putridity.

A South American species, long considered as identical with the present bird, is now well ascertained to be distinct, and is the _Vultur jota_. Molina. This name has been erroneously applied to the Carrion Crow or Black Vulture of the United States. The South American species is the smaller, is more slender in all its members, and all the specimens that we have seen have been of a more uniform clear black colour.

2. Cathartes atratus. (Bartram.) The Carrion Crow. The Black Vulture. Vultur atratus. Bartram Travels, p. 289. (1791.) Vultur urubu. Vieill. Ois. d’Am. Sept., p. 53. pl. 2. (1807.)

Wilson Am. Orn. IX. pl. 75, fig. 2. Aud. B. of Am. pl. 106.

Plumage commencing higher on the back of the neck than on its sides or in front, and there consisting of short feathers. Head and naked portion of the neck, warted or corrugated, and thinly covered with short hair-like feathers, bill rather long, nostrils large, and communicating with each other; tail, even; legs, rather long.

Entire plumage, deep uniform black, with a bluish gloss; under surface of primaries nearly white.

Total length (of skin) about 23 inches, wing 16½; tail 8½ inches.

Hab. Southern States, Texas (Audubon), California, Oregon (U. S. Ex. Exp. Vincennes). Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. Abundant in the Southern States, and gregarious, congregating in large numbers in the cities, where they are of service in the destruction of all descriptions of rejected or waste animal matter.

The South American bird usually regarded as identical with this bird, is the _Vultur brasiliensis_. Ray. It is considerably smaller, and otherwise quite distinct.

3. Cathartes californianus. (Shaw) The Californian Vulture. Vultur californianus. Shaw, Nat. Misc. IX. p. 1, pl. 301. (1797.) Vultur columbianus. Ord. Guthries’ Geog. II. p. 315. (1815.) Cathartes vulturinus. Temm. Pl. col. I. pl. 31. (1820.)

Aud. B. of Am. pl. 411. Gray Gen. of B. pl. 2. Licht. Trans. Berlin Acad. 1838, pl. 1.

Size, large. Plumage commencing on the neck near the body, with a ruff of long, lanceolate feathers, which are continued on the breast. Head and neck bare, or with a few short feathers on the vertex, and at the base of the upper mandible; bill rather long, nostrils small, communicating with each other; wings long, primaries pointed; tail long, slightly rounded; tarsi and feet very strong.

Entire plumage black, many feathers narrowly tipped with brown, secondary quills with a grayish tinge, greater coverts tipped with white, which forms a transverse bar on the wing. Bill, yellowish white. Iris, carmine. Head and neck, in living bird, orange yellow. (Gambel.)

Total length (of skin) about 45 inches, wing 31, tail 15 inches.

Hab. California, Oregon. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.

Obs. This large Vulture is inferior only in this family to the Condor of South America. It is restricted to the countries west of the Rocky mountains, where in the vicinity of rivers it is occasionally abundant, living principally on dead fishes. It appears to be, however, more cautious and timid in its habits than the other birds of this group, and constructs its nest in the remote recesses of the mountains.

B. SPECIES PROBABLY OCCURRING IN THE UNITED STATES.

1. Cathartes burrovianus. Cassin, Proc. Acad. Philada. II. p. 212, (1845.) Burrough’s Vulture.

Resembling _C. aura_, but much smaller. Plumage on the neck ascending behind, as in _C. atratus_; bill, rather short; tail, rounded; tarsi, rather long. Entire plumage, deep uniform black, without brown edgings.

Total length of prepared specimen, from tip of bill to end of tail, about 22 inches, wing 18, tail 8½ inches.

Hab. Mexico, Vera Cruz (Dr. Burrough), Mazatlan (Dr. Gambel). Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.

Obs. This is the smallest of all known Vultures, and though strictly of the same genus as _C. aura_, may readily be recognized by its small size. It is very probably to be found in California, and the late Dr. Gambel thought that he had seen it in that country, and at Mazatlan. (Jour. Acad. Philada. I. p. 26, quarto.)

II. GENUS SARCORAMPHUS. Dumeril Anal. p. 32, (1806.)

GYPAGUS. Vieill, Anal. p. 21, (1816.)

Head and neck naked, the former with an elevated fleshy caruncle. In all other characters much resembling _Cathartes_.

2. Sarcoramphus sacer. (Bartram) The Sacred Vulture. Vultur sacra. Bartram, Travels in Florida, p. 150, (1791.)

Original description.—“The bill is long, and straight almost to the point, where it is hooked or bent suddenly down, and sharp; the head and neck bare of feathers nearly down to the stomach, when the feathers begin to cover the skin, and soon become long and of a soft texture, forming a ruff or tippet, in which the bird, by contracting his neck, can hide that as well as his head; the bare skin on the neck appears loose and wrinkled, which is of a bright yellow colour, intermixed with coral red; the hinder part of the neck is nearly covered with short stiff hair; and the skin of this part of the neck is of a dun purple colour, gradually becoming red as it approaches the yellow of the sides and forepart. The crown of the head is red; there are lobed lappets of a reddish orange colour, which lay on the base of the upper mandible. The plumage of the bird is generally white or cream colour, except the quill feathers of the wings and two or three rows of the coverts, which are beautiful dark brown; the tail, which is rather large and _white_, is tipped with this dark brown or black; the legs and feet of a clear white; the eye is encircled with a gold coloured iris, the pupil black.” Bartram, as above, p. 150, 151.

Obs. The identification of the bird here described, may be considered as one of the most important services to be performed in North American Ornithology. Its occurrence has never been noticed since the time of the accurate and veracious naturalist who first described it, and his careful description above quoted seems to clearly indicate it to be a species entirely unknown. The white tail especially is characteristic, and establishes a clear distinction from any other known species. It is related evidently to the King Vulture, (_S. papa_,) but that species has a black tail, and in case of mistake or misprint in Bartram’s description, it may be presumed at any rate to relate to an occurrence of that species within the United States. There is no more inviting nor more singular problem in North American Ornithology.

C. SPECIES, THE OCCURRENCE OF WHICH IN THE UNITED STATES IS DOUBTFUL.

1. Sarcoramphus gryphus. (Linn.) The Condor.

Bonap. Am. Orn. IV. pl. 22. Temm. pl. col. 133, 408, 464. Zool. Voy. Bonité, Birds, pl. 2, (Paris, 1841.)

Size, large. Head, neck, and large space on the breast, bare. Plumage, black, with a white space on the wing; neck, with a collar or ruff of white downy feathers; plumage of the back, the quills and tail frequently with a gray tinge. Head above with a large caruncle or comb, and others on the sides of the head and neck.

Total length of skin, about 4 feet, wing about 2 feet 6 inches, tail about 15 inches.

Hab. South America.

Obs. The famous Condor of the Andes, though it has been admitted as a North American bird into the works of Bonaparte and Nuttall, cannot at present, in our opinion, be so regarded. The description in the History of the Expedition of Lewis and Clarke, which was supposed to relate to this bird, and has been the sole authority for its introduction by the authors just mentioned, very probably applies to the Californian Vulture. No other travellers have seen the Condor, either at the localities mentioned by Lewis and Clarke, or elsewhere in North America. It is common in the western parts of South America. The most complete descriptions with which we are acquainted are by Humboldt, in Zoological Observations, I. p. 26, (Recuil d’Observationes de Zoologie et d’Anatomie comparée Paris, 1811, quarto,) and by Darwin in Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, Birds, p. 3, (London, 1841,) and by the same author in Voyage of a Naturalist, I. p. 234, 238, (American edition, New York, 1846, duodecimo.)

2. Sarcoramphus papa. (Linn.) The King Vulture.

Spix. Av. Bras. pl. 1. Buff. Pl. Enl. 428. Vieill. Gal. pl. 3.

Plumage on the neck, dusky cinereous; wings and tail, glossy black; all other parts, fine pale fulvous. Head and upper part of neck naked, the former with an elevated and conspicuous caruncle arising from the cere.

Total length of skin about 28 inches, wing 18, tail about 9 inches.

Hab. South and Central America. Mexico.

Obs. The King Vulture is the most handsome bird of its family. Though admitted by Nuttall as a bird of the United States (Manuel, I. p. 40, Boston, 1840,) no instance is recorded, or has otherwise come to our knowledge, of its having been observed north of Mexico. It is not improbable, however, that it may yet be found in Texas or in California, or possibly in Florida. It is described by Hernandez as an inhabitant of Mexico, in his “New History of the Plants, Animals, and Minerals of Mexico,” p. 319, (Nova, plantarum, animalium et mineralium Mexicanorum, Historia, Rome, 1651, folio,) and has found a place in the works of all authors on general Ornithology, and been noticed by many travellers.

The above comprise all the Vultures which have been hitherto known or supposed to inhabit America, north of Mexico. There are three other species which appear to be peculiar to South America and the islands of West Indies, (particularly the more southern of them,) all of which more or less intimately resemble our species of the North. They are _Cathartes jota_ (Molina), described in Geog. Nat. and Civil Hist. of Chili, American edition, I. p. 185, (Middletown Conn. 1808, octavo,) _Cathartes Brasiliensis_, Bonaparte Consp. Av. p. 9, and _Cathartes urbicola_, Des Murs Rev. and Mag. de Zool. April, 1853. The latter is a large and very remarkable species which has only recently been ascertained to frequent the cities of several of the West Indies.

Nearly all of the American Vultures are remarkable for a disposition manifested, in a greater or less degree, to resort to cities, or even more isolated abodes of men, for the purpose of procuring food. In the southern cities of the United States, the Black Vulture congregates in large numbers; its relative of South America (_Cathartes Brasiliensis_) possesses the same habit, and is exceedingly abundant in the cities of the countries that it inhabits. Even the gigantic Condor does not hesitate to make its appearance in the vicinity of villages or dwellings in the western countries of South America for the same purpose. In this respect these birds resemble the most common European bird of their family which inhabits southern Europe, and also Asia and northern Africa; the _Neophron percnopterus_ or Egyptian Vulture. The latter is, however, very different in colour, being nearly white when adult, and _clean_, which is an important consideration in a bird of habitually filthy habits.

Travellers have represented the male of the Condor as larger and as having more handsome plumage than the female. We hope to be excused for here asking attention to this point, should opportunity occur to any of our readers. It is the only known or supposed instance in the order of Rapacious Birds, of the male being the larger, and, if true, of course establishes an exception hitherto not recognized by naturalists. In these birds, and especially in the Falcons and Eagles, the difference in the size of the sexes of the same species is often very remarkable, but the larger is invariably the female.

Further experiments and observations by persons having suitable opportunities and facilities are very desirable for the purpose of ascertaining the degree of development of the senses of sight and smell in the Vultures. Eminent authors have maintained quite opposite views on this subject, some attributing the fact that they perceive objects suitable for their food from a distance, to the acuteness of their sight and others to their power of smelling. This is yet an open question, though there is a very considerable amount of evidence on each side, and may be regarded as presenting an interesting field for further investigation.

[Illustration: Plate 11 Kirtland’s Owl Nyctale Kirtlandii (_Hoy_)]

NYCTALE KIRTLANDII.—(Hoy.) Kirtland’s Owl. PLATE XI.—Adult Male.

Having in the eastern portion of the United States no traditions nor architectural remains which date beyond the first settlement of the white man, our people are but little prone to many of the superstitions which have prevailed in the old world. In the absence of the ruined monastery or crumbling abbey, of the ivy-covered baronial castle and haunted tower, local and legendary superstitions especially, have found no considerable nor permanent place in the popular mind.

Some reliance in the influence of the moon, and a small degree of attention to the aspect of the sign of the zodiac according to the time-honored frontispiece in the almanac, both materially lacking in the important requisite of full and trusting faith, are very nearly the only mysteries which can be regarded as having acquired a practical adoption in any appreciable degree. Others, as the witchcraft of former and the Spiritualism of latter times, as in other countries, have temporarily assumed aspects of more or less importance, but have either disappeared, or, awaiting the certain test of Christian enlightenment and unprejudiced examination, have taken the form of religious faith, and are held in conscientious veneration. An occasional exception may be found, too, in the local transplanting of an European, or perhaps of an African tradition, but many superstitions of the old world are almost absolutely unknown; the evil Banshee, the gentler Brownie, Puck and Oberon, Mab and Titania have no local habitation, though well beloved as beautiful accessories in the immortal productions of the poets, or as told by an humble mother to her children in tales of remembrance of her native land.

In the higher order of legends—in those which record facts or dim histories of exceeding antiquity, or in which are embalmed the deeds of the remote hero, though even more faded than his features on the mouldering wall or the faded marble—young America pleads her youth. But not without product—and as that which has been shall be again, as legends and traditions like to those of other nations will very probably be amongst the results of American mind, there is one American name, perhaps as yet one only, which may become mythical or even now is. When thousands of years shall have rolled away, and the annals of the present age shall be known only to the scholar and the antiquary of those times in precious scraps and fragments, the adjusting of which shall require the skilfulness of learning, some future Lepsius or Layard may recognise in a wise Minos or in a just Nemesis, the American Washington.

The Republic of the United States has acquired its position as a nation, and in fact has existed only in an age of enlightenment, and the universal attention to education and the diffusion of general knowledge which happily has ever prevailed in a degree not exceeded in any country, has necessarily prevented in a great measure the forming of orally transmitted histories or of legendary fables, and there being no ruins of buildings nor other evidences of the decay of past ages, our people do not associate with ideas of desolation, animals which might have found suitable habitations in such localities, nor have they attributed traditional associations or characters.

We have no birds of ill omen, and even the long-defamed Owl has escaped his usual reputation; not that he is regarded with favor, rather the reverse; but for other reason than attributed connexion with supernatural agents; nor is his appearance in the neighborhood of the farm-house or the settler’s cabin regarded as at all ominous, except of immediate danger to whatever of the domestic poultry may have attracted his attention, or in any degree foreboding, unless of his own abrupt demise in case he happens to be observed by the proprietor, having at hand his trusty rifle or fowling-piece. The owl takes the greater risk in such an adventure.

On account, in some measure, of their peculiar forms, particularly their large heads and staring eyes, their nocturnal habits, and their habitually resorting in the day-time to secluded haunts in the forest or other little-frequented localities, no animals have been more invariably regarded as of evil portent than owls. And in this character they have found a place in the literature, and especially the poetry, of nearly all nations ancient and modern. The Latin writers seldom fail to mention the appearance of the owl among the omens and prodigies which they frequently enumerate as having preceded disasters to the state or to distinguished personages. Pliny in his Natural History, gravely devotes a chapter to Inauspicious Birds, and gives the owl a post of distinction in this manner: “The owl, a dismal bird, and very much dreaded in public auguries, inhabits deserts which are not only desolate, but dreary and inaccessible: it is a monster of night, nor does it possess any voice but a groan. Thus, when it is seen in towns or in daylight, it is an omen to be dreaded.”