Phænopepla nitens (I, 405). Captain Bendire writes me that he found this species common in the vicinity of Tucson, Arizona, during the summer, a few only remaining during the winter; most of these had white edgings on all their feathers, and were probably young of the year. Their flight is described as wavering, something like that of Colaptes mexicanus. While flying they utter a high note, resembling whuif-whuif, repeated several times. He never heard them sing, as they are said to do, although he has watched them frequently. They are very restless, and are always found about the mistletoe, on the berries of which they feed almost exclusively. The nest is saddled on a horizontal branch, generally of a mesquite-tree. It is a shallow structure, about 4 inches across; its inner diameter is 2½ inches, depth ½ an inch. It is composed of fine sticks, fibres of plants, and lined with a little cottonwood down and a stray feather. The first nest was found May 16. This was principally lined with the shells of empty cocoons. The number of eggs was two. Though he found more than a dozen nests with eggs and young, he never found more than two in a nest. Their ground-color varies from a greenish-white to a lavender and a grayish-white, spotted all over with different shades of brown. The spots are all small, and most abundant about the larger end, and vary greatly in their distributions. In size they range from .97 of an inch to .84 in length, and in breadth from .66 to .60.
Collurio ludovicianus, var. robustus (I, 420). See Am. Nat. VII, October, 1873, p. 609.
Certhiola newtoni (I, 427). See Am. Nat. VII, October, 1873, p. 611.
Certhiola caboti (I, 427). See Am. Nat. VII, October, 1873, p. 612.
Certhiola barbadensis, Certhiola frontalis (I, 427). See Am. Nat. VII, October, 1873, p. 612.
Pyranga hepatica (I, 440). Captain Bendire found what he identified as this species breeding near Tucson, Arizona. Its nests and eggs resembled those of P. æstiva. The latter vary in length from 1.02 inches to .95, and in breadth from .70 to .67 of an inch. Their ground-color is a pale light green. Some are sparingly marked over the entire egg with very distinctive and conspicuous blotches of purplish-brown; others are covered more generally with finer dottings of the same hue, and these are so numerous as partly to obscure the ground. In shape the eggs are oblong oval, and are of nearly equal size at either end. This species was also obtained by Mr. Henshaw, at Apache, Arizona.
As no skins of the parent appear to have been preserved, it is not improbable that the bird in question may be really P. æstiva, var. cooperi.
Hesperiphona vespertina, var. montana (I, 450). Two adult males obtained at Waukegan, Illinois, in January, 1873, by Mr. Charles Douglass, are typical examples of the Rocky Mountain form.
Pinicola enucleator (I, 453). Dr. Cooper mentions having shot a fine male of this species near the summit of the Central Railroad Pass at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. It was in a fine orange-red plumage. It was moulting, and appeared to be a straggler.
Pyrrhula cassini (I, 457). Since the publication of the article on this species we learn from Cabanis (Journal für Ornithologie, 1871, 318, 1872, 315) that the species is not uncommon in the vicinity of Lake Baikal, in Siberia, and that it has even been observed in Belgium (Crommelin, Archives Neérlandaises). The bird, therefore, like the Phyllopneuste borealis (P. kennicotti, Baird) and Motacilla flava, is to be considered as Siberian, straggling to continental Alaska in the summer season.