Page:Condor7(3).djvu/18

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May, 1905
MIDWINTER BIRDS ON THE MOHAVE DESERT
73

work among the crevices of the cottonwood bark, but they were seldom seen, their faint notes being the principal evidence of their presence. Mountain chickadees, which one naturally associates with mountains and coniferous trees, were quite numerous, their cheery song being heard even under the most unfavorable weather conditions. An active company was frequently encountered among the cottonwoods busily engaged in their usual business of hunting up food, their utter fearlessness showing in strong contrast to the timidity of many of the other species.

TREE YUCCAS, SHOWING THINNESS OF DESERT BRUSH

Intermediate sparrows and Sierra juncos were very numerous in places along the railroad, the former as usual making it exasperating work for the collector to single out and pursue any other species in their vicinity. The intermediates were sure to scatter in all directions and mix up with anything else that happened to be near them. The juncos, too, were somewhat disturbing for the reason that we always felt there might be some unsuspected subspecies among them; and yet we were always loth to destroy more than seemed necessary to establish the identity of the majority. However, it was our good fortune to capture a few specimens of the slate-colored junco. The records of this eastern race have become so numerous for southern California, that we must begin to consider it a regular winter visitant, rather than a casual or "accidental" one. The taking of two orange-crowned warblers leads to similar views. It is scarcely possible that we came across every individual in the vicinity during our short stay, but on the contrary it is reasonable to assume that we saw but a small proportion of the total number of these birds so seldom met with in California, and that thorough investigation would show them to be fairly common in this part of the State.

The capture of three horned owls was a great piece of good fortune, but we were disappointed in not finding any screech or pigmy owls in this locality, though of course any bird taken here in midwinter might have come down the river from