Page:Condor16(6).djvu/17

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Nov., 1914 BREEDING OF THE BRONZED COWBIRD IN ARIZONA 259 was done in rivalry, for the edification of a female under another tree a few yards distant. I have heard them utter only two notes, the more common being a high- pitched squeak with a decided burr to it, somewhat similar to that of the Dwarf, which latter, however, lacks the burr. The other note, rarely heard, is like the least discordant note of the overture to the Yellow-headed Blackbird 's song. The birds, as stated, stay around the barnyard where they pick up corn and other grains and scraps from the table thrown to the chickens; and they also remain around the school yard, where they eat watermelon set in the shade for birds of all kinds. They are sometimes seen in company with the Dwarf Cowbirds, but they make them stand back when there is refreshment at hand. The Thrashers are about the only birds that do not take a back seat for them at the table, though they seem to observe a sort of truce with the Gila Woodpeckers, and eat from the same slice of melon. Sometimes one, and sometimes the other, gets peevish and ends the truce. Sacaton, Arizona, July 26, zOz4. FROM FIELD AND STUDY Arizona Records.--The following notes were suggested by the reading of Swarth's recently published "Distributional List of the Birds of Arizona". The records of the Band-tailed Pigeon breeding in the Santa Rita Mountains apparently give an additional breeding station for the species within the state, but with this excelation my remarks are mainly directed toward the correction of mistakes, which in one way or another have grown up about records made many years ago. Band-tailed Pigeon. Columba fascists. There apparently are no published state- ments of the breeding of this bird in the Santa Rita Mountains. Two nests were found by me in this range, in the vicinity of Greaterville, with data as follows. One on July 1884, the nest made of fine twigs, laid across a horizontal fork of a small branch of a pine tree, about twenty feet from the ground. Parent bird seen on the nest. Incuba- tion advanced. The second was found July 18, 1884. It also contained one egg, was placed in an oak tree, twelve feet from the ground, and the parent bird was flushed from the ne.st. Incubation begun. In this connection I wish, for the sake of emphasis, to repeat the statement I have already made (CoN?OR XV, 1918, p. 129), in regard to an early nest I found in the Laguna Mountains, San Diego County, California, on March 6, 1877. This record was mistakenly applied to Arizona by Bendire (Life Hist. N. Am. Birds, i, 1892, p. 124), giving an erron- eous idea of the length of the breeding season in that state. It has, in fact, been cited for that very purpose by Grinnell (CONDOR XV, 1918, p. 32) in his excellent account of the species. As a matter of fact the Band-tailed Pigeon is' a late breeder in Arizona, the sea- son when eggs may be found extending approximately from the first of July until toward the end of September. In the hope of correcting a mistake of long standing I may be excused for repeating this statement. Baird Sparrow. Ammodr?mus b?irdi. Two s?ecimens collected by myself, one on August 29, the other August 80, 1884, about eight miles north of Sasabe, Sonora, Mexico. These birds were recorded by Brewster (A?k, TT, 1885, la. 198). Mr. Swarth has not in- cluded this record in his "List", laerhalas being under the imlaression that it represents a Mexican locality, but the point of calature was north of the United States-Mexican boundary line, and in Arizona, about seventy miles southwest of Tucson. Slate-colored Sparrow. Pa?erel? il/?ca ?c?ist?cem Three specimens taken by my- self on Big Sandy Creek, near Signal, Mohave County, Arizona. A female shot February 6, and two males, February 9, 1880. Brewster's record for Tucson (A?k, TT, 1885, p. 198) was a mistake, as it referred to one of these birds.--F?N? STEPHENS, ? fornia.