Part 18

“It was not at all shy, showing no concern when approached within a few rods. The procuring of a specimen was, however, a matter of some difficulty, as its constantly hopping or flying from branch to branch rendered an unobstructed shot the next thing to an impossibility. It was found in June, and the specimen obtained by me, now in the collection of the commission, is that of a male.”

Our figure is of the natural size.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Vireo. Vieillot, Ois d’Am., Sept. I, p. 83. (1807.)

Size small; bill rather short, strong, wide at base, compressed towards the point, which is curved downwards, and sharp; upper mandible with distinct notches near the point; nostrils basal, large; wing moderate or rather short, with the third and fourth quills usually longest; tail rather short; legs long, rather slender. An American genus, containing six species. The Red-eyed Flycatcher (_V. olivaceus_), and others of the long-billed species, are not included, but have properly been embraced in a new group, _Vireosylvia_, Bonaparte.

Vireo atricapillus. Woodhouse, Proc. Acad., Philada., VI. p. 60. (April, 1852.)

Form. Small, but compact, and rather broad; bill rather short, acute; wing with the third and fourth quills equal; tail rather short, even at the end, or slightly emarginate.

Dimensions. _Male._—Total length, 7½ inches; Wing, 2¼; tail, 1¾; expanse of Wings, 7¼.

Color. _Male._—Head above and cheeks black; stripe before the eye, and entire under parts, white, tinged with greenish-yellow on the sides and flanks; back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, dark olive-green; quills brownish-black, with a greenish tinge, and edged externally with greenish-yellow; wing-coverts tipped with greenish-white; tail feathers brownish-black, edged externally with greenish-yellow; bill and feet dark; iris light red.

Hab. Texas. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada., and Nat. Mus., Washington city.

Obs. This is a very distinct and peculiar species of this genus, not at all resembling any other, and readily distinguished by its black head. It belongs, however, strictly to the same group as _V. flavifrons_, _V. solitarius_, _V. noveboracencis_, and others, and is one of the most interesting of the more recent additions to the ornithology of the United States.

PICOLAPTES BRUNNEICAPILLUS.—La Fresnaye. The Brown-headed Creeper. PLATE XXV.—Adult Male.

This is a species belonging to a large family of birds, very numerous in the tropical and southern regions of the American continent, though of which not more than two species are known to venture so far north as to come within the limits of the United States. They subsist on insects, which they capture on the trunks and branches of trees, or, in the countries where such plants abound, on the large species of _Cactus_, and others of a similar character.

Some of the larger birds of this group have very long and singularly curved bills, which it is supposed are peculiarly adapted to searching for insects in the deep furrows or interstices of the rough barks of trees. All have more or less strong feet and claws, designed for their manner of creeping on trees, somewhat similar to that of the Woodpeckers, but more like the Nuthatches, or little Sapsuckers, as they are commonly designated in the United States, and the Brown Creeper of our woods (_Certhia americana_). The latter is in fact the only northern representative of the family to which our present species belongs, but so small, that it conveys but a faint idea of the form and colors of these birds generally. They are, however, for the greater part, birds of plain colors, frequently brown of various shades, or snuff-colored.

The bird figured in the present plate was first noticed in Texas, by Capt. J. P. McCown, of the United States Army, and is given by Mr. Lawrence as an addition to the ornithology of the North in the Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, V. p. 114 (1851), but with no account of its habits. Since that time, it has been again observed by Mr. Clark at several localities in Texas, and is known to be of frequent occurrence in the States of Mexico immediately south of the Rio Grande, and in other parts of the same country.

The Brown-headed Creeper was seen by Dr. Heermann in Mexico, and in his paper in the Journal of the Philadelphia Academy, II. p. 263, he thus mentions it:—

“I found this bird in the arid country back of Guaymas, on the Gulf of California. The country itself is the picture of desolation, presenting a broken surface, and a confused mass of volcanic rocks, covered by a scanty vegetation of thorny bushes and _cacti_. In this desert I found several interesting species, which enter into our fauna as birds of Texas, and this species was one of the number. It appeared to be a lively, sprightly bird, uttering at intervals a clear, loud, ringing note. The nest, composed of grasses, and lined with feathers, was in the shape of a long purse, laid flat between the forks or on the branches of a _Cactus_. The entrance was a covered passage, varying from six to ten inches in length. The eggs, six in number, are of a delicate salmon color, very pale, and often so thickly speckled with ash and darker salmon-colored spots, as to give a rich cast to the whole surface of the egg.”

In the original description of this bird by the Baron La Fresnaye, an eminent French ornithologist, in Guerin’s Magazine of Zoology, 1835, p. 61 (Paris), his specimen is represented as being probably from California. It has not been noticed in that country by either of our American naturalists, though found by Dr. Heermann, as above stated, near Guaymas, in Northern Mexico.

Our figure is rather less than two-thirds of the size of life.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Picolaptes. Lesson, Traité d’Ornithologie, I. p. 313. (1831.)

Bill moderate, or rather long, curved, rather wide at base, but compressed towards the end; apertures of the nostrils large; wings rather short, rounded; first quill short; fourth, fifth, and sixth, usually longest and nearly equal; tail moderate, or rather long, soft at the end; legs and feet rather large and robust; claws curved, sharp. An American genus, nearly allied to others, and containing numerous species.

Picolaptes brunneicapillus. La Fresnaye, Guerin’s Mag. de Zoologie, 1835, p. 61.

Form. Bill curved; culmen distinct; wings short; tail rather long; tarsi and toes strong, and covered with scales; tail wide, with its feathers broad and soft.

Dimensions. Total length of skin, about 8¼ inches; wing, 3½; tail, 3½ inches. Female rather smaller.

Colors. Entire plumage above, brown, darkest and unspotted on the head; but on other upper parts with every feather having a central stripe or oblong spots of white, disposed to form longitudinal stripes; quills with numerous spots of white on the edges of their outer webs, forming somewhat regular oblique stripes, and on their inner webs with regular transverse stripes of white; tail, with its central two feathers, grayish-brown, transversely barred with brownish-black; other tail feathers brownish black, with irregular wide transverse bands of white, more numerous on the two outermost feathers.

Under parts white, tinged with fulvous on the flanks and abdomen; feathers of the throat and neck before tipped with black; those of other under parts with circular or oblong spots of black, large on the under tail-coverts; bill and feet horn-color. Sexes alike.

Hab. Texas and Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada., and Nat. Mus., Washington.

Obs. This bird somewhat resembles several of its genus, but is not difficult to distinguish. In many specimens, especially of the male bird, the black predominates on the throat and neck before, so as to present an almost uniform color.

Several late writers have placed this species in the genus _Campylorhynchus_ (Spix).

ARCHIBUTEO FERRUGINEUS.—(Lichtenstein). The Ferruginous Buzzard. PLATE XXVI.—Adult and Young.

This is one of the largest and most handsomely plumaged of the Rapacious birds of North America, though belonging to a division characterized by heavy and comparatively slow flight, and not manifesting any considerable degree of that courage and cunning which are generally so remarkable in this great group of the ornithological kingdom. In fact, on examination of the fine bird now before us, or of the Black Hawk of the Atlantic States, which is nearly related to it, one would scarcely infer that the object of such an admirable organization is nothing more important than the destruction of the smallest and most defenceless of quadrupeds or of reptiles. Yet such is apparently the case; many of the birds of this group, though powerful in structure, and furnished with the usual apparatus of strong and sharp bills and claws, and other accompaniments of predatory habits, rarely attack any animal more formidable than a mouse or ground-squirrel, or in some cases a frog or other of the weaker species of reptiles.

It is, however, entirely erroneous to attribute a noble or generous character to any of the predatory animals, though from an early period of history several species have been so regarded. On the contrary, there is in all these classes, whether of birds or of other animals, a marked absence of the very traits which are in some measure assigned to them, and even more unmistakably so in some of the more celebrated, as the Eagles and Lions, than in the more humble species. Yet the rapacious animals present a study in natural history of deep interest. Owing the sustaining of their existence for the greater part to rapine and violence, yet holding an important place in the great design of the physical universe, they appear to personate a principle, if we may be allowed to use the expression, involving one of the most momentous and mysterious of problems, the existence of evil in the world. The prowling and treacherous Lion, and the robber Wolf, have unfortunately but too strong analogies in that race which is the head of the visible creation, and they and their kind everywhere present the same intrinsic meanness which is characteristic of violence and injustice, of vice and of crime amongst men.

The bird now before the reader is, so far as known, exclusively a Western species. It was first made known to American naturalists by Mr. Edward M. Kern of this city, who, when attached as artist to Colonel Frémont’s Expedition of 1846, obtained it in California and brought home specimens in a collection made by him, of the birds of that country. It had however been previously noticed and described as a bird of California by Professor Lichtenstein, a distinguished European naturalist, in a paper on the natural history of that country, in the Transactions of the Royal Academy of Berlin (1838, p. 428).

Since Mr. Kern, the only American naturalist who has noticed this bird is Dr. Heermann, who has met with it during both of his visits to California, but especially during his connection with a party under command of Lieut. Williamson, of the U. S. Topographical Engineers, which has recently completed an examination and survey for a route for a Railroad to the Pacific Ocean through the southern portion of the territory of the United States. For our present article, Dr. Heermann has with great kindness allowed us to make the following extract from his journal, kept during the survey to which we have alluded:

“During a previous visit to California, I had seen this species in the valley of the Sacramento river, and had considered it as rare in that section of the country, but during the recent survey in which I have been engaged in the southern part of the state, I found it very abundant, and on one occasion saw five or six individuals in view at the same moment, in the mountains, about sixty miles east of San Diego. It was there much more frequently seen than any other species.

“As large tracts of that country inhabited by this bird are often entirely without trees, it alights on the ground or on some slightly elevated tuft of grass or a stone, where it sits patiently for hours watching for its prey. Its food, on dissection, I found to consist almost entirely of small quadrupeds, principally various species of mice, and in one instance the crop was filled with the remains of a ground-squirrel. In plumage it appears to vary as much as its allied species, _A. sancti-johannis_. One specimen, which was shot by a soldier attached to our party, had the tail strongly tinged with the red color which characterizes that appendage in the red-tailed Hawk, (_B. borealis_).

“I have several times seen a bird sailing over the prairies, about the size of the present species, but with its entire plumage deep-black and of heavy and continued flight. It was I think certainly of this genus; but never having been so fortunate as to have procured a specimen, I am unable to decide whether it was this bird, the Black Hawk (_A. sancti-johannis_), or a new species to add to this group. My impression is that it was the Black Hawk, but it may have been the present in a stage of plumage yet undescribed.

“The nest and eggs of the present bird I procured on the Consumnes river, in 1851. The nest was in the forks of an oak and was composed of coarse twigs and lined with grasses; the eggs, two in number, were white, marked with faint brown dashes. This nest was placed in the centre of a large bunch of _Misletoe_, and would not have been discovered, but having occasion to climb the tree to examine some Magpie’s nests, the Hawk in flying off betrayed her retreat. The eggs of this species are quite different from those of the European _A. lagopus_, but with those of _A. sancti-johannis_, I have never had an opportunity of comparing them.”

Mr. Kern’s specimens are marked as having been procured in the Tulavie valley, California, in January, 1846. He observes, in his notes in our possession, that finding this bird remarkably fat and in excellent general condition, some of the party shot it for the mess-kettle whenever opportunity offered, and found it “very good eating.” Possibly under stress of capital appetites.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Archibuteo. Brehm. in Oken’s Isis, 1828, p. 1269.

Tarsi feathered in front to the toes, but more or less naked behind. General form, compact and heavy; wings, long and broad, formed for long-continued but not very rapid flight; bill, short, curved, edges of the upper mandible festooned; tail, moderate, wide, tarsi rather long; toes, short; claws, moderately strong, curved, very sharp. Contains about six species, three of which are American.

Archibuteo ferrugineus. (Lichtenstein.) Buteo ferrugineus. Licht. Trans. Berlin Academy, 1838, p. 428. Archibuteo regalis. Gray, Genera of Birds, 1 pl. 6 (1849, plate only).

Form. Robust and compact; bill, rather large; wings, long, with the third quills longest, all the primaries more or less incised on their inner webs near the end; tarsi feathered in front to the toes, naked and scaled behind; toes, short; claws, strong.

Dimensions. Total length (of skin), female, about 22 inches; wing, 16½ to 17; tail, 9 inches.

Color. _Adult._—Tibiae and tarsi bright ferruginous, with transverse stripes of brownish-black, irregular and indistinct on the latter. Entire upper parts with irregular longitudinal stripes of dark-brown and light ferruginous, the latter color predominating on the shoulders and rump. All the upper plumage white at the bases of the feathers, and on the back with concealed irregular transverse stripes of brownish-black. Quills, ashy-brown, lighter on the outer webs, and with a part of the inner webs white, and with obscure brown bands. Tail, above, ashy-white, tinged with pale ferruginous, and mottled obscurely with ashy-brown, in some specimens narrowly tipped with black; tail, beneath, yellowish-white, unspotted. Entire under parts of the body white, slightly tinged with yellowish, with narrow longitudinal lines and dashes of reddish-brown on the breast, and narrow irregular transverse lines of the same color, and others of black, on the sides, flanks, and abdomen; under tail coverts, white; axillary feathers and some of the inferior coverts of the wing, bright ferruginous; toes, yellow; bill and claws, dark.

_Young._—Entire upper parts dark umber-brown, a few feathers edged and tipped with pale ferruginous; upper coverts of the tail white, spotted with dark-brown; entire under parts pure white, with a few longitudinal lines and dashes of dark brown on the breast, and arrow-heads or irregularly shaped spots of the same color on the sides and abdomen, larger and more numerous on the flanks. Tibiæ and tarsi white, irregularly spotted with dark-brown; axillary feathers, white, with large subterminal spots of brown; under wing coverts and edges of the wings white, with a few brown spots; under tail coverts, white.

Hab. California. (Mr. Kern, Dr. Heermann.) Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.

Obs. This very distinctly characterized species somewhat resembles some stages of plumage of the Rough-legged Hawk and of the Black Hawk (_Archibuteo lagopus_ and _sancti-johannis_) but not sufficiently to render it necessary to point out differences. It has, as yet, only been observed in California, but will, very probably, like many other species of Western birds, be found to inhabit also the northern regions of this continent.

CULICIVORA MEXICANA.—Bonaparte. The Black-headed Gnat-catcher. PLATE XXVII.—Male and Female.

This delicate little bird is an inhabitant of Texas, where it was first noticed by Capt. J. P. McCown, of the U. S. Army. He obtained it near Ringgold Barracks, in 1850, since which period specimens have been brought in the collections of various other officers and naturalists. It is also known as a bird of Mexico.

This species belongs to a small group of little fly-catching birds, of which several others are found in America, though two of them only come within the limits of the fauna of the United States. Of these, one, the little blue gray Flycatcher (_Culicivora cœrulea_), has been long known as a summer resident in the woods and forests of the Middle and Northern States, and is one of the earliest to return, from its winter journey in the south, to its northern home. The other is the bird now before the reader.

These little Flycatchers are amongst the smallest of our native birds. They almost exclusively inhabit the woods, and are constantly seen actively engaged in the capture of the minute insects on which they feed, in pursuit of which they search very industriously, not only shrubbery, but trees of the greatest height. The present is the smaller of the two northern species, and is represented in our plate of the size of life.

For the following memorandum relating to this little bird we are again indebted to the kindness of Dr. Heermann:

“I first met with this species near San Diego, California, in 1851, and during the recent survey found it abundant in the vicinity of Fort Yuma. Its habits much resemble those of the Blue-gray Gnat-catcher of the Eastern States (_Culicivora cœrulea_), it is very quick in its movements, searching actively for food, preferring, apparently, the low trees and bushes, and at times darting about in the air in pursuit of small insects. The only note that I ever heard it utter was a chirp, so feeble in its tone that it could be heard but a short distance.

“The last specimen procured by me was shot in a hedge bordering a field cultivated by the Pimos Indians, whose village is situated about two hundred miles above the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers.”

The figures in the present plate, which we regard as those of adult male and female, are of the size of life.

The plant is _Zauschneria californica_, a native of California.

DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Culicivora. Swainson, Zoological Journal, III., p. 359. (1827.)

Small, bill rather long, compressed towards the tip, wider at base, upper mandible somewhat curved, base with about five pairs of rather long, weak bristles; wing, moderate or rather short, first quill very short, fourth and fifth, longest and nearly equal; tail, long, with the feathers graduated, outer shortest; legs, long, slender; toes, rather short. Colors usually cinereous and black. A genus exclusively American and containing several species.

Culicivora Mexicana. Bonap. Cons. Av., p. 316. (1850.)

Form. Small and slender; bill, moderate, rather long; wings, moderate; tail, long, several of the central feathers equal, others shorter and graduated, outer feathers shortest; legs and feet, long and slender.

Dimensions. Total length (of skin) about 4¼ inches; wing, 12¾; tail, 2¼; inches.

Colors. _Male._—Head, above, glossy black; upper parts of the body and wings, grayish-cinereous or lead-colored; lower parts very pale ashy-white, deeper on the sides and flanks; quills, brownish-black, edged externally with ashy-white; tail, black, the two outer feathers tipped with white, having their outer webs of that color, the next two also edged on their outer webs with white and tipped with the same, readily seen on the inferior surface of the tail; bill and legs, dark. _Female_, with the head above uniform with the other parts—not black—otherwise, like the male.

Hab. Texas, Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada., and Nat. Mus., Washington city.

Obs. This species very much resembles the South American _Culicivora leucogastra_, De Wied, (which is _C. atricapilla_, Swainson,) but is smaller. We have never seen specimens of the present species with the under parts of such a clear white as is usual in the larger bird just mentioned, though it may assume it in its perfectly mature plumage. The South American bird measures in total length about five inches.

The Prince of Canino’s description of _Culicivora mexicana_ as cited above, we regard as applicable to the female of the present species. All the species of this genus more or less resemble each other, and now require careful revision, having the appearance to us of being rather confused than otherwise, and but imperfectly described.

GYMNOKITTA CYANOCEPHALA.—(De Wied.) The Prince Maximilian’s Jay. PLATE XXVIII.—Adult Male.

We have the pleasure of presenting to the reader, in the plate now before him, one of the most singular of the birds of the family of Crows and Jays yet known to inhabit North America.