Part 8

The Scarlet Tanagers (_Pyranga rubra_) first made their appearance about here in the summer of 1875, when a single pair nested. Since then they have gradually increased until probably twenty pairs nested the past season. Strange as it may seem, I have never taken the common Titlark (_Anthus ludovicianus_) during the spring migrations, although they are usually abundant in the fall.—F. H. KNOWLTON, _Brandon, Vt._

ERRATUM.—In Vol. VI, p. 199, lines 9 and 10. for “centimeters” read millimeters.

BULLETIN OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. VOL. VII. APRIL, 1882. NO. 2.

ON A COLLECTION OF BIRDS LATELY MADE BY MR. F. STEPHENS IN ARIZONA.

BY WILLIAM BREWSTER.

Early in 1881 I wrote to Mr. Stephens asking him to get me some Arizona birds during the following spring and summer. He replied that he was on the point of starting by wagon for California, but that being provided with a camping outfit, and feeling under no necessity of hurrying by the way, he was willing to give his whole attention, for several months at least, to collecting in my interest. It was accordingly arranged that the journey should take in as great a variety of country as possible, and, that the most productive points should be thoroughly worked. The energy, intelligence, and conscientiousness with which this plan was carried out are sufficiently attested by the material results upon which the present paper is based.

The route traversed was substantially as follows: Leaving Galeyville on March 3, Mr. Stephens drove southward to Cave Creek, where a few days’ collecting yielded a limited number of birds. At the end of this time he retraced his steps to Galeyville, and continuing northward, passed Camp Bowie, and crossed to the western side of the Chiricahua Mountains. Here a halt was made at Morse’s Mill, after a journey of seventy miles by wagon-road from Cave Creek, although the distance is less than twelve miles in an air line. This place is described in the notes as being at the head of a cañon, in a sort of basin, elevated about seven thousand feet above the sea, and encircled by mountains which rise from two to three thousand feet higher.

From some further remarks on the general character of the range, I quote the following: “The Chiricahua Mountains are situated in the southeast corner of Arizona, some of the foot-hills even reaching the line of New Mexico and the Mexican state of Sonora. Several small streams run east and west from their summits, those of the former division emptying into the San Simon Valley; of the latter into the Sulphur Spring and San Bernardino Valleys. The first two water-sheds are comprised in the Rio Gila system, while the San Bernardino Valley stretches southward, and water from it flows into the Pacific near Guaymas.”

“These valleys are usually grassy plains, but there are scattering bushes, mostly mesquite, in some of them. The scrub oaks begin with the foot-hills; they are evergreen, the leaves being insensibly replaced with new ones in May. A little higher the juniper (called ‘cedar’ by the people here) comes in. Still higher, on the north side of the hills, there is a little piñon and scrub pine, while the summits are heavily timbered with red and black pines. In the gulches some fir grows, and on the hillsides, mostly near the summits and facing the north, occasional patches of aspen.”

At Morse’s Mill three weeks were very profitably spent, and on April 1 a start was made for Tucson, the next objective point. The route led through Sulphur Spring Valley, Tombstone, and Cienega Station, and at all these places, as well as at some intermediate points, a longer or shorter stay was made for the purpose of collecting. These delays consumed so much time that Tucson was not reached until April 18.

The country lying about this town and the neighboring station, Camp Lowell, proved so rich in desirable birds that it engaged Mr. Stephens’ attention for nearly the whole of the two succeeding months, during which, however, a brief visit was paid to the Santa Rita Mountains, where some important observations were made.

The season practically ended with June, for the wagon-journey, begun on the 29th of that month, across the arid plains and scorching deserts of middle and western Arizona, was attended with such privations, and often positive suffering, that little attention could be paid to birds. Mr. Stephens arrived at Yuma on July 15, and by August 1 reached his final destination, Riverside, California.

The entire trip yielded about six hundred and fifty skins besides a fairly large number of nests and eggs. Under the terms of our agreement I had all the birds, a representative series of the nests and eggs, and the field notes relating to both. This collection, embracing the results of four months’ uninterrupted work in a region as yet only imperfectly known, seems to me too complete in itself to be merely skimmed of its _cream_. Accordingly in preparing the following paper I have included every species which is represented among the specimens or mentioned in the collector’s notes. It should be understood, however, that the latter were not kept with reference to this plan, and it is not unlikely that certain common birds, which are known to occur in Arizona, were inadvertently omitted. For similar reasons, the number of specimens obtained can seldom be taken as an exponent of the relative abundance of the species to which they belong, as a decided preference was given to the rarer kinds. Three species new to the “North American” fauna have already been announced (this Bulletin, Vol. VI, p. 252.).

A few technical points require explanation. The catalogue numbers are usually those of the collector’s field-book, but in certain cases—as of specimens taken as types, or with birds obtained by Mr. Stephens before starting on the present trip—I have used my own numbers, either alone or in connection with the original ones. This double system need cause no confusion, however, for the field-numbers never reach 700, while those of my general catalogue are always above 5,000. Of the measurements, the length and stretch were taken in the field, the others from the dry skins. The biographical matter is of course based on Mr. Stephens’ notes, which are sometimes paraphrased, sometimes literally quoted, as convenience dictates. The frequent quotations of Mr. Henshaw’s experience or opinions are always, unless otherwise stated, from his Report in Volume V of “Explorations and Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian.”

1. =Turdus unalascæ= _Gmel._ DWARF THRUSH.—The only Hermit Thrush in the present collection is unmistakably referable to var. _unalascæ_. In fact it gives nearly the same measurements as the smallest extreme in the large series examined by Mr. Henshaw.[40] Mr. Stephens marks it as the first which he has seen in Arizona where, however, it was found sparingly by Mr. Henshaw in October, 1873.

283, ♀ ad., Tucson, April 25. Length, 6.40; extent, 10.10; wing. 3.26; tail, 2.61; culmen, .52. “Bill dark brown, yellowish at base of lower mandible; legs pale brownish; iris brown.”

2. =Turdus ustulatus= _Nutt._ RUSSET-BACKED THRUSH.—Under this heading I include with some hesitation, a Thrush killed May 17, in the Santa Rita Mountains. The specimen unfortunately was one of three or four which were accidentally destroyed while in the collector’s possession, but Mr. Stephens is positive that it was referable to the above variety. As he is perfectly familiar with _ustulatus_, having previously met with it in California, there can, I think, be little doubt of the correctness of his determination. This record, if accepted, will make the first for Arizona.

397, ♀ ad., Santa Rita Mountains, May 17. Length, 6.90; extent, 10.70; “Iris dark brown; bill black, brownish at base of lower mandible; legs very pale brown.”

3. =Turdus migratorius propinquus= _Ridgw._ WESTERN ROBIN.—Robins were met with only in or near the Chiricahua Mountains, where perhaps a dozen individuals were seen. The one mentioned below is typical of the slightly differentiated, but still apparently constant western race.

75, ♂ ad., Morse’s Mill, March 20. Length, 10; extent, 16.40; wing, 5.38; tail, 4.36. “Iris dark brown.”

4. =Oreoscoptes montanus= (_Towns._) _Baird._ MOUNTAIN MOCKINGBIRD. There is no mention of this species among the notes made during the late trip.

6313 (author’s coll.), ♀ ad., San Pedro River, Dec. 25, 1880. Length, 8.90; extent, 12.40.

5. =Mimus polyglottus= (_Linn._) _Boie_. MOCKINGBIRD.—“Generally distributed and common, but not as abundant as in Southern California” (Camp Lowell). “Common in the valleys; they are found but a short distance up the foot-hills of the mountain ranges” (near Tombstone).

181, ♀ ad., near Tombstone, April 8. Length, 9.80; extent, 13.10; wing, 4.30; tail, 5.03.

550, ♂ ad., Camp Lowell, June 20. Length, 10.20; extent, 14.10; wing, 4.40; tail, 5.20. “Iris golden brown; bill and legs black.”

6. =Harporhynchus bendirei= _Coues_. BENDIRE’S THRASHER.—Mr. Stephens’ notes contain few references to this species, and judging from the limited number of specimens which he obtained, it must be less abundant in Arizona than either _H. crissalis_ or _H. curvirostris palmeri_, a status which is in strict accordance with Mr. Henshaw’s experience. About half of the skins collected during the past season are labeled either Camp Lowell or Tucson, while the remainder were taken at various points directly north or south of the latter place, and not over twenty-five miles distant in either direction. Outside the limits of this desert region the bird was not anywhere met with, although it was common at Phœnix in February, 1880.

A nest taken June 16 near Tucson, and identified by the capture of one of the parent birds, was placed in a “cat-claw mesquite” at a height of about five feet from the ground. It is a deeply-hollowed, smoothly-lined structure, composed of fine grasses and soft, hemp-like vegetable fibres, which are protected externally, in a manner common to the nests of nearly all Thrashers, by a bristling array of interlaced twigs and thorny sticks. The interior cup measures two inches in depth by three in width. The two eggs which it contained, like those described by Dr. Coues, are readily separable from eggs of _H. palmeri_ by their grayish-white instead of dull green ground-color. They are faintly marked with reddish-brown and lavender, the spots being confined chiefly to the larger ends, where many of them assume the character of blotches or dashes of color. These eggs measure respectively 1.02 × .79 and .96 × .79. The greatest number of eggs found in any of the several nests examined by Mr. Stephens was three, but two seemed to be the usual complement.

Of the birds before me four are in first plumage, a stage which, if I am not mistaken, has never been previously examined. The first of these (No. 426, twenty-five miles south of Tucson, May 22) was unable to fly, and was taken from the nest. It differs from the adult in the following particulars: The upper parts, with nearly the same ground-color, have a tinge of reddish-brown which, on the rump, wing-coverts, and tips and outer webs of the primaries and secondaries, shades into brownish-chestnut. The sprouting rectrices are also tipped with the same color. The under parts generally are warm fulvous, which becomes nearly pure cinnamon on the sides and crissum, and along the median line pales to fulvous-white. The breast and abdomen are everywhere thickly but finely spotted with dull _black_, these markings becoming finer and fainter where they border on the anal region. The remaining three (Nos. 538, ♀; 539, —; and 540, ♂: twenty-five miles north of Tucson, June 16) have the wings fully developed, and were all out of the nests when shot. They are apparently of about the same respective ages, but nevertheless exhibit a good deal of individual variation. No. 538 has the breast and sides finely spotted with dark brown, but a central space extending forward along the abdomen nearly to the breast is entirely unmarked. No. 535 has large, rounded, but indistinct blotches of light brown, thickly and evenly distributed over the entire under parts, excepting the throat, anal region and crissum. No. 539 has a cluster of faint, sagittate spots on the centre of the breast, but otherwise is entirely immaculate beneath. All three are essentially similar above, and differ from No. 426 in having the crown, nape, back, wing-coverts and outer webs of the secondaries pale reddish-brown, which, on the rump, is only tinged with chestnut. The primaries are dark brown edged with hoary; the rectrices, dull black with a terminal band of pale reddish-chestnut crossing both webs of all the feathers, but most broadly those of the outer pairs.

The adults making up the rest of this series vary a good deal with the season at which they were taken. A specimen killed in February is clear grayish-brown above, with the breast and abdomen thickly spotted; and one or two others shot early in May are nearly as deeply colored and distinctly marked. But most of the breeding birds are either entirely immaculate beneath, or with only a few faint specks scattered here and there upon the abdomen. Several of the latter are nearly as pale as my specimens of _H. lecontei_, and equally devoid of any special markings. This condition apparently is due mainly to the wearing off of the tips of the feathers, although the continued action of the sun’s rays doubtless lends its aid, and still further bleaches the plumage.

453, ♂ ad., Camp Lowell, May 30. Length, 10.30; extent, 13.30.

4987, (author’s coll.) ♂ ad., Tucson, Feb. 28, 1880. Wing, 4.25; tail, 4.84; culmen (chord), .99.

423, ♂ ad., twenty-five miles south of Tucson, May 21. Length, 10.40; extent, 14.20; wing, 4.30; tail, 4.92; culmen, 1.06.

425, ♂ ad., same locality, May 22. Length, 10.30; extent, 13.10; wing, 4.01; tail, 4.96; culmen, 1.05.

455, ♂ ad., Camp Lowell, May 30. Length, 10.18; extent, 13.30; wing, 4.20; tail, 4.96; culmen, 1.05.

537, ♂ ad., twenty-five miles north of Tucson, June 16. Length, 10.10; extent, 12.70; wing, 4.14; tail, 4.78; culmen, 1.01.

583, ♂ ad., Camp Lowell, June 24. Length, 10.50; extent, 13; wing, 3.99; tail, 4.95; culmen, 1.05.

454, ♀ ad., Camp Lowell, May 30. Length, 10.10; extent, 12.70; wing, 3.95; tail, 4.43; culmen, 1.

529, ♀ ad., twenty-five miles north of Tucson, June 16. Length, 10.20; extent, 12.10; wing, 3.63; tail, 4.50; culmen, 1.01. “Iris yellow; legs dull bluish.”

557, ♀ ad., Camp Lowell, June 21. Length, 10; extent, 13.20; wing, 4.10; tail, 4.60; culmen, .95.

426, ♀ juv. first plumage, twenty-five miles south of Tucson, May 22. Length, 6.10; extent, 9.40; “Iris light gray; bill dark brown, lighter below; legs pale bluish.” Taken from the nest; wings and tail only partly developed.

538, ♀ juv. first plumage, twenty-five miles north of Tucson, June 16. Length, 10.10; extent, 12.50; wing, 3.77; tail, 4.59; culmen, .96.

539, — juv. first plumage, same locality and date. Length, 9.80; extent, 12.70; wing, 3.92; tail, 4.67; culmen, .92.

540, ♂ juv. first plumage, same locality and date. Length, 10; extent, 12.80; wing, 3.90; tail, 4.55; culmen, .95.

7. =Harporhynchus curvirostris palmeri= _Ridgw._ PALMER’S THRASHER.—During the present trip this Thrasher was met with at various points in the desert region about Tucson and Camp Lowell, where it was one of the most abundant and characteristic summer birds. Its favorite haunts were barren wastes covered with cactuses and stunted mesquites; but, like many other desert species, it occasionally visited the more fertile valleys to drink at the springs and water-holes. At these latter places specimens were obtained without much difficulty, but on all other occasions they were exceedingly shy and wary. In February, 1880, Mr. Stephens found Palmer’s Thrasher at Phœnix, and he also took winter specimens along the San Pedro River.[41]

Numerous nests were taken. The one before me was placed in a cholla at a height of about seven feet. It is composed outwardly of large twigs, and is lined with bleached grasses. Although by no means a rude structure, it suffers by comparison with the nest of _H. bendirei_, its construction being simpler, and all the materials much coarser. The three eggs which it contained were only slightly incubated on June 14. They measure respectively 1.05×.82, 1.09×.82, and 1.08×.83. They are pale greenish-blue, finely and very evenly spotted with brown and lavender. The number of eggs making up this set was not exceeded in any of the others examined by Mr. Stephens.

The series of skins embraces no less than twenty-two examples, and very fully illustrates all the variations of age and season. Among the number are several in the hitherto undescribed first plumage. The

youngest of these (No. 480, ♂?, Camp Lowell, June 2), although well feathered, has the wings and tail undeveloped, and was taken from the nest. Its entire upper plumage is rusty brown with a chestnut tinge which deepens on the rump and outer webs of the secondaries to decided chestnut brown. The general coloring of the under parts is pale fulvous with a strong tinge of rusty chestnut across the breast, along the sides, and over the anal region and crissum. The breast is obsoletely spotted, but the plumage elsewhere, both above and below, is entirely immaculate. An older bird (No. 577, Camp Lowell, June 23) with the wings and tail fully grown out, differs in having the back (excepting a narrow anterior space bordering on the nape), with the exposed webs and coverts of the wings, and a broad tipping on the tail feathers, bright rusty;—while in a third of about the same age (No. 614, ♂, Camp Lowell, June 28), the rusty color, although paler, is uniformly distributed over the entire upper surface save upon the wings and tail feathers, which are only edged and tipped with that color. This last example is so faintly marked beneath that the plumage at first sight appears immaculate; but a closer inspection reveals a few spots here and there among the central feathers of the breast. A fourth (No. 487, Camp Lowell, June 3), although apparently no older, has the breast and sides spotted more sharply than in any of the adults, while the rusty tinge above is chiefly confined to the rump, posterior half of the back, and the outer webs of the wing feathers.

Several of these young birds are so nearly similar to specimens of _H. bendirei_ in corresponding stages that they can be separated only with great difficulty. The stouter bill and entirely black lower mandible of _palmeri_ may, however, always be depended upon as distinguishing characters; and, moreover, the pectoral spotting of _bendirei_ is usually (but not invariably) finer and sharper, and the rusty tinge above paler and less extended.

The adults present a good deal of variation, most of which is apparently seasonal. Winter specimens have the lower abdomen, with the anal region and crissum, rich rusty-fulvous, while the markings beneath are similar in character to those of true _curvirostris_, and the spots equally distinct, numerous and widely distributed. With the advance of the season, and the consequent wear and tear of the plumage, the spots gradually fade or disappear. Indeed some of the June specimens are absolutely immaculate beneath, although most of them, like Mr. Ridgway’s types, have a few faint markings on the abdomen. In this condition the general coloring is also paler and grayer, and the fulvous of the crissum and neighboring parts often entirely wanting.

But although the evidence of this series tends to demolish several of the characters upon which _palmeri_ has been based, enough remain to separate it from its ally the true _curvirostris_ of Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. The best of these, perhaps, is to be found in the different marking of the tail feathers. In _curvirostris_ the three outer pairs are broadly tipped with pure white which, on the inner web, extends twice as deep, basally, as on the outer one, and has its boundaries everywhere sharply defined; in _palmeri_ the outer rectrices are, at the most, barely tipped with pale brown, which either extends squarely across both webs, or fades insensibly into the darker color of the feather. The bill of _palmeri_, also, is usually longer and more curved than that of _curvirostris_.

8. =Harporhynchus lecontei= _Bonap._ LECONTE’S THRASHER.—The great rarity of Leconte’s Thrasher, even in the heart of the desolate regions where alone it has so far been found, is still further attested by Mr. Stephens’ experience during the past season, for although he searched for it carefully in all suitable places between Camp Lowell and Riverside (California), he met with only two individuals. These occurred about fifteen miles west of Maricopa, Arizona, in a locality which the accompanying notes describe as follows: “Near the middle of ‘Forty-five-mile Desert,’ between Maricopa Wells and Gila Bend. No chollas or other cactuses in the immediate neighborhood, but some giant cactuses about a mile away in the hills; a few mesquites and much scattering low brush in the vicinity; nearest water twenty miles away.”

Dr. Cooper is said to have found the species “rather common” in the desert between Fort Mohave and the San Bernardino Mountains, California, but Mr. Stephens has thrice traversed this route without seeing a single specimen. In a recent number[42] of the American Naturalist, however, Mr. E. Holterhoff, Jr., speaks of seeing the bird “on the Colorado desert, at a station called Flowing Wells,” and gives an interesting description of a nest and set of eggs taken there. “The nest was placed in a palo verde tree, and was a very bulky affair, measuring externally nine inches in depth and six in width; the hollow of the nest was fully three inches in depth. It was so awkwardly situated that much of the base of the nest had evidently been filled in to firmly support the structure. The two eggs were somewhat smaller than those of _H. redivivus_, lighter in color, and marked all over with finer reddish spots, thicker at the larger end.”

I am inclined to consider the Maricopa specimens above referred to as adults, although this is not so clear in the case of the male, portions of whose plumage suggest that of a young bird. Both are in worn, ragged condition, but there is no indication of any moult, save upon the wings and tail, where many of the feathers have been replaced by new ones which are conspicuous among the others by their fresher coloring.

On a former occasion[43] I urged the specific distinctness of this Thrasher from _H. redivivus_, and to this conviction I still hold, although a comparison of additional specimens of both species inclines me to believe with Dr. Coues that Leconte’s Thrasher is, on the whole, more nearly related to _redivivus_ than to any other United States form.

616, ♂ ad., near Maricopa Wells, July 5. Length, 10.80; extent, 12.30; wing, 3.85; tarsus, 1.27; tail, 5.35; culmen (chord), 1.30; bill from nostrils, .91; width below posterior angle of nostrils, .23.

617, ♀ ad., same locality and date. Length, 10.60; extent, 12; wing, 3.78; tarsus, 1.32; tail, 4.91; bill (chord of culmen), 1.32; bill from nostril, .94; width below posterior angle of nostril, .24. “Iris reddish-brown; bill black; legs nearly black. Stomach contained a small species of katydid and some ants.”

9. =Harporhynchus crissalis= _Henry_. CRISSAL THRASHER.—Not uncommon near Tombstone, Tucson and Camp Lowell.