Page:Condor20(1).djvu/22

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

Jan., 1918 NOTES ON SOME BIRDS I?ROM CENTRAL ARIZONA 2l of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and of certain of these specimens, as well as of some of the data gathered, it seems desirable that more formal record be made than can be done in the proposed general acco?mt. Collecting was carried on at Tempe (May 29-June 5), Roosevelt Lake (June 5-11, July 2-5), Sierra Ancha (June 11-July 2), and GlObe (July 5-7). Features of interest regarding ?he bird life of this part of Arizona' were found in the presence in the' mountains of certain Mexican species, here appar- ently at nearly their northern limit, 'these occurring together with species from the Rocky Mountain region to the northward, in the local distribution of ?me of the birds, and in the absence of several species which might be expected to occur here. It is fo? the mdst part of species from the Sierra Ancha that comments are called for. This range is a southern offshoot of the Mogoll n Mountains, lying a few miles north of Roosevelt Lake. My headquarters here was at Carr's Ranch, altitude 5400 feet, and collecting was carried on to points within a radius of twelve or fifteen miles. The southern slope of the Sierra Ancha is steep, hot and arid, and though the higher portion of this slope is in the Upper Sonoran Zone, the nature of the country is not such as to support a large or varied bird or mammal population, and consequently the presence of Upper Sonoran species is not conspicuously ap- parent. The northern exposures of the mo?mtains, however, from about 5000 feet upward, are thickly covered with vegetation, mostly of typical Transition Zone plants, while there are running streams in every canyon; birds in consequence are exceedingly abundant. The highest peaks reach an elevation of about 7500 feet. Although even at these points the mountains do not extend above the Transition Zone, there is, nev- ertheless, some difference between the animal life of the higher altitudes and that of the region lying from 5000 to 6000 feet. On the upper slopes of Aztec Peak, above 7000 feet, I saw a very few individuals of the following species: Red- backed Junco ( Junco phaeonotus dorsalis), Western Tanager ( Piranga ludovici- ana), Pigmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea pygmaea), and Mountain Chickadee (Penthestes gambeli gambeli). At the .6000 foot level there were no juncos, while the other three species mentioned were replaced by their near relatives, the Itepatic Tanager (Piranga hepatica), the Rocky Mountain Nuthatch (Sitta caro- linensis nelsoni) and the Bridled Titmouse ( Baeolophus wollweberi). Of Mexican species, the presence of which so strongly characterizes the a?i- fauna of the mountains of southern. Arizona, several were found to extend this far north, though only a few of these forms were really common. The Painted Redstart (Setophaga picta) was abundant. The Red-faced Warbler, of closely similar habits, was not seen by me, though it has been reported from points far- ther north. The Arizona Jay (Aphelocoma siebcri arizona,) was exceedingly numerous at from 5000 to 6500 feet, though these mountains must be close to the northern limit of the species. Coues Flycatcher (Myiochanes pertinax pallidi- ventris) was present in small numbers; the Olive-sided Flycatcher, which re- places the former species but a short distance to the northward, was not seen. Apparently none of the more southern species of h?unmingbirds reaches this far north, the Broad-tailed H?unmingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) being the only species seen in the Transition Zone of the Sierra Ancha, and the Costa (Calypic costae) and Black-chinned (Archilochus alexandri) at lower levels. In the Sierra Ancha there was a notable absence of several species of birds