A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 2 of 3Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Science
A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 2 of 3
Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Birds -- North America
Dr. Kennerly met with it at Camp No. 114, New Mexico, February 6, and
again at Bill Williams Fork, February 12. He states that while
travelling down the Big Sandy Creek and Bill Williams Fork, in the
month of February, he found them very abundant. They confined
themselves to the thick bushes near the water. Generally two or three
were seen together. Their motions were very rapid, and their note was
a peculiar, loud, chattering sound, sharp but not disagreeable. After
leaving the Great Colorado he did not see it again.
On the borders of the Gila, east of Fort Yuma, Dr. Heermann found this
bird in great abundance. It kept in the close sheltered thickets,
where, secure from intrusion, it sought among the dead leaves for
various seeds and insects and their larvæ, on which it feeds. In its
habits it very much resembles the _Pipilo fuscus_, or Cañon Finch,
diving into the bushes when alarmed, and repeating, at intervals, a
short chirp. After leaving the Gila River he did not meet with any
more, as he followed no longer the course of any large stream, for the
borders of which these birds seem to have a decided preference.
Dr. Cooper regards this species as the almost exact counterpart of the
_Pipilo fuscus_. The only difference he noticed in habits was in the
character of its loud note of alarm, remarkably similar, however, to
that of two very distinct birds of the same valley, namely, _Centurus
uropygialis_ and _Phainopepla nitens_. Like the Cañon Finch, this
species is said to live almost constantly on the ground, but appears
rather more gregarious, especially in winter.
About the first of April Dr. Cooper met with many of their nests. They
were generally built in thorny shrubs, and were composed of a flooring
of coarse twigs, or of green herbs, and strongly interwoven with
strips of bark, grass, and leaves. One bird had taken advantage of the
recent introduction of horses into the valley to obtain a lining of
horse-hair for its nest. The eggs were in all cases only three,
bluish-white, with brown spots and streaks in a ring near the large
end, quite variable in number, and measuring one inch by .70. One of
the nests was in a low mesquite-tree, another in a dense cluster of
dead twigs hanging from a cottonwood. The time required for hatching
was twelve or thirteen days, and in a fortnight more the young left
the nest. Dr. Cooper found nests with eggs as late as May 25, and had
no doubt that they raise two or more broods in a season. He adds that
the song of the male, throughout April and May, is precisely like that
of _P. fuscus_, and also reminded him of the notes of _P. oregonus_
and of the eastern Black-throated Bunting (_Euspiza americana_).
Dr. Coues has kindly supplied me with the following interesting sketch
of this species, as observed by him in Arizona:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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