SETOPHAGA RUTICILLA, (Linn.) Sw.

REDSTART.

Very abundant at Pembina, where it breeds. Early in June, the birds exhibited the incessant activity which marks the mating season, and were conspicuous in the sombre foliage of the dense timber along the river, no less by the brilliancy of their black, white, and red plumage, than by their noisiness and sprightly actions. Their characteristic habits of expanding and flirting the tail, and running sideways along the twigs of trees, and their wonderful agility in the pursuit of flying insects, are all particularly well displayed at this season.

Though I did not myself observe the species further westward along the Line, nor anywhere in the Missouri region, it has been traced by others, especially by Dr. J. G. Cooper, along the Upper Missouri and Milk Rivers, and thence to the Cœur d'Alêne Mountains. It is also known to occur in Colorado and Utah.

HIRUNDO ERYTHROGASTRA HORREORUM, (Barton,) Coues.

BARN SWALLOW.

I find no specimens of this species entered in my register from Pembina, where, according to my recollection, it was not breeding at the time of my visit, though the family was there well represented by numbers of Cliff and White-bellied Swallows. Nevertheless, Barn Swallows were commonly observed, during July and August, at various points along the Line, nearly to the Rocky Mountains. Eligible breeding-places for this species being few and far between in this country, it is correspond. ingly uncommon, at least in comparison with its numbers in most settled districts. A small colony of the birds which had located for the summer on a small stream west of the Sweetgrass Hills afforded me an opportunity of observing a curious modification of their nesting-habits, which I believe had not been known until I published a note upon the subject. The nests were built in little holes in the perpendicular side of a “cutbank",-whether dug by the birds themselves or not I could not satisfy myself, though I am inclined to think that they were. My assistant, Mr. Batty, seemed to feel quite confident in the matter; and the proba bility is, that if the holes were not wholly made by the birds, they were at least fitted up for the purpose.

Coll. No.

Ouly observed at Pembina, where it was breeding in small numbers about the Fort, together with large colouies of Cliff Swallows.

Observed on one occasion (June 26, 1874) on the Upper Missouri near Quaking Ash River.

PETROCHELIDON LUNIFRONS, (Say) Sel.

CLIFF SWALLOW.

This is the most abundant, generally distributed, and characteristic species of the family throughout the region under consideration. The various streams that cut their devious ways through the prairie afford an endless succession of steep banks exactly suited to its wants during the nesting-season, and at various places great clusters of the curious bottlenosed mud-nests were found, while the flocks of Swallows which often hung about our camps were mainly composed of this species. At some points, the Bank Swallows were breeding with them; the same banks being peppered with their little round holes, generally in the soft soil just below the surface, while the projecting nests of the Cliff Swallows studded the harder or rocky exposures below. At Fort Pembina, the Cliff Swallows were so numerous as to become a nuisance; their incessant twit tering was considered a bore, while the litter they brought and their droppings resulted in a sad breach of military decorum. Nevertheless, it was found almost impossible to dislodge them, and one could not but

AMPELIS CEDRORUM, (Vieill.) Gray.

CEDAR BIRD; CAROLINA WAXWING.

Not seen at Pembina but found at various other points along the Line, and ascertained to be particularily abundant in the Rocky Mountains. At this locality, two of its conspicuous traits were illustrated, namely, the lateness and the irregularity of its breeding. On the same day, August 19, that I took young birds fully fledged and on wing, a nest containing four eggs was found by one of my assistants, Mr. A. B. Chapin. This might be interpreted upon the supposition that two broods are reared in a season, but I do not think that such was the case in the present instance: the bird is too late a breeder for this, at any rate in such a high latitude, not far from its northernmost limit of its distribution.

Abundant at Pembina, where it was breeding in June, and again on the Upper Missouri between Fort Buford and the mouth of the Milk River. Though characteristically a bird of the Eastern Province, it has latterly been traced to the Rocky Mountains and somewhat beyoud. The late Dr. C. B. R. Kennerly found it in Washington Territory, and Mr. J. A. Allen at Ogden, Utah.

Wing.

Nature of specimen and remarks.

Nature of specimen and remarks.

VIREO PHILADELPHICUS, Cass.

BROTHERLY-LOVE VIREO.

This appears to be a species which, like the Mourning Warbler and some others, is more abundant in the interior, and especially in the Mississippi Valley, than in the Atlantic States. It was originally described, a few years since, from the vicinity of Philadelphia, as indicated by its name, and has been justly esteemed as rather a rare bird in the Eastern and Middle States, though its great similarity to V. gilvus may be a cause of its being partially overlooked. In New England, it has been found on two or three occasions, and Dr. Brewer informed me of its abundance in Wisconsin during the latter part of May. Mr. T. M. Trippe in querying V. gilvus as found by him in Minnesota, probably had the present species in view. It undoubtedly breeds about Pembina, in the heavy timber of the river-bottom, but I was not so fortunate as to discover its nest, a circumstance the more to be regretted since neither the nest or eggs have as yet come to light.

Observed in abundance at Pembina, and again found at the opposite extremity of the Line, the specimen captured in the Rocky Mountains, however, being probably of the slight variety swainsoni. At Pembina, the Warbling Vireo was in full song and breeding in June. A nest found on the 11th of that month was stili empty; but in this latitude few of the small insectivorous birds appear to lay before the third week in June.

Extent.

VIREO SOLITARIUS, (Wils.) Vieill.

SOLITARY VIREO.

One specimen of this rather rare species was secured at Pembina, which is probably about its northern limit. It was taken in the timber of the river-bottom, frequented by three other species of the same genus. A fifth species of Vireo, the White-eyed, probably also occurs in the same locality, since it has been found in Minnesota. ever, observed.

It was not, how

COLLURIO LUDOVICIANUS EXCUBITORIDES, (Sw.) Coues.

WHITE-RUMPED SHRIKE.

This is the characteristic species of the whole region explored,-the lar ger kind, C. borealis, probably only occurring during its migration to or from the north, and in winter; at any rate, it was not observed. The Whiterumped Shrike is common in suitable localities, and numerous specimens were secured at different points. At Turtle Mountain, during the last week in July, I found a family of these birds in an isolated clump of bushes. The young, four in number, had just left the nest, which was discovered in the crotch of a bush, five or six feet from the ground. It was one of the dirtiest nests I have ever handled, being fouled with excrement, and with a great deal of a scurfy or scaly substance, apparently cast from the feathers of the young during their growth. The nest proper rested upon a bulky mass of interlaced twigs; it was composed of some white weed that grew abundantly in the vicinity, matted together with strips of fibrous bark.