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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Birds of the Rockies, by Leander Sylvester
+Keyser, Illustrated by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Bruce Horsfall
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Birds of the Rockies
+
+
+Author: Leander Sylvester Keyser
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 5, 2008  [eBook #25973]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Leonard Johnson, and the
+Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 25973-h.htm or 25973-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/9/7/25973/25973-h/25973-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/9/7/25973/25973-h.zip)
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed between equal signs was in bold face in
+      the original (=bold face=).
+
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES
+
+by
+
+LEANDER S. KEYSER
+
+Author of "In Bird Land," Etc.
+
+With Eight Full-page Plates (four in color)
+by LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES; Many Illustrations
+in the Text by BRUCE HORSFALL, and
+Eight Views of Localities from Photographs
+
+
+With a Complete Check-List
+of Colorado Birds
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE I
+
+WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER _Sphyrapicus thyroideus_
+(Figure on left, male; on right, female)]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Chicago · A. C. McClurg and Co.
+Nineteen Hundred and Two
+
+Copyright
+A. C. McClurg & Co.
+1902
+
+Published September 27, 1902
+
+
+
+
+TO
+KATHERINE
+AND
+THE BOYS
+
+IN MEMORY OF MANY HAPPY DAYS
+BOTH INDOORS AND OUT
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+ UP AND DOWN THE HEIGHTS                                              19
+
+ INTRODUCTION TO SOME SPECIES                                         31
+
+ BALD PEAKS AND GREEN VALES                                           47
+
+ BIRDS OF THE ARID PLAIN                                              83
+
+ A PRETTY HUMMER                                                     103
+
+ OVER THE DIVIDE AND BACK                                            117
+
+ A ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAKE                                               139
+
+ A BIRD MISCELLANY                                                   149
+
+ PLAINS AND FOOTHILLS                                                177
+
+ RAMBLES ABOUT GEORGETOWN                                            197
+
+ HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK!                                                223
+
+ PLEASANT OUTINGS                                                    259
+
+ A NOTABLE QUARTETTE                                                 285
+
+ CHECK-LIST OF COLORADO BIRDS                                        307
+
+ INDEX                                                               349
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+FULL-PAGE PLATES
+
+
+ PLATE                                                       FACING PAGE
+
+    I. WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER--_Sphyrapicus
+       thyroideus_                                        _Frontispiece_
+
+   II. GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE--_Pipilo chlorurus_;
+         SPURRED TOWHEE--_Pipilo megalonyx_                           47
+
+  III. LAZULI BUNTING--_Cyanospiza amoena_                            83
+
+   IV. LARK BUNTING--_Calamospiza melanocorys_                       139
+
+    V. LOUISIANA TANAGER--_Pyranga ludoviciana_                      177
+
+   VI. TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE--_Myiadestes townsendii_                 223
+
+  VII. RUDDY DUCK--_Erismatura rubida_                               259
+
+ VIII. BROWN-CAPPED LEUCOSTICTE--_Leucosticte australis_             303
+
+
+SCENIC AND TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+ WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS ("Their grass-lined nests
+ by the babbling mountain brook")                                     21
+
+ TURTLE DOVES ("Darting across the turbulent stream")                 44
+
+ PIPITS ("Te-cheer! te-cheer!")                                       50
+
+ PIPITS ("Up over the Bottomless Pit")                                51
+
+ WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW ("Dear Whittier")                              55
+
+ RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET ("The singer elevated his crest
+ feathers")                                                           65
+
+ DESERT HORNED LARKS ("They were plentiful in this parched
+ region")                                                             84
+
+ HORNED LARK ("It was a dear little thing")                           88
+
+ COYOTE ("Looking back to see whether he were being pursued")        100
+
+ ONE OF THE SEVEN LAKES                                              105
+
+ SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK                                               111
+
+ "PIKE'S PEAK IN CLOUDLAND"                                          114
+
+ CLIFF-SWALLOWS ("On the rugged face of a cliff")                    118
+
+ ROYAL GORGE                                                         123
+
+ PINE SISKINS                                                        128
+
+ WILLOW THRUSH                                                       136
+
+ BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS ("An interesting place for bird study")         139
+
+ YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS ("There the youngsters
+ perched")                                                           142
+
+ "FROM THEIR PLACE AMONG THE REEDS"                                  146
+
+ THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN JAY ("Seeking a covert in the
+ dense pineries when a storm sweeps down from the mountains")        152
+
+ RAINBOW FALLS                                                       165
+
+ WATER-OUSEL ("Up, up, only a few inches from the dashing
+ current")                                                           167
+
+ WATER-OUSEL ("Three hungry mouths which were opened wide to
+ receive the food")                                                  171
+
+ "NO SNOWSTORM CAN DISCOURAGE HIM"                                   174
+
+ "THE DARK DOORWAY"                                                  179
+
+ SONG SPARROW ("His songs are bubbling over still with melody
+ and glee")                                                          194
+
+ CLEAR CREEK VALLEY                                                  201
+
+ WESTERN ROBIN ("Out-pouring joy")                                   207
+
+ RED-NAPED SAPSUCKERS ("Chiselling grubs out of the bark")           211
+
+ PIGEON HAWK ("Watching for quarry")                                 214
+
+ "SOLO SINGING IN THE THRUSH REALM"                                  218
+
+ GRAY'S AND TORREY'S PEAKS                                           245
+
+ PANORAMA FROM GRAY'S PEAK--NORTHWEST                                249
+
+ THISTLE BUTTERFLY                                                   252
+
+ WESTERN WHITE                                                       252
+
+ JUNCO ("Under a roof of green grass")                               255
+
+ SOUTH PARK FROM KENOSHA HILL                                        265
+
+ MAGPIE AND WESTERN ROBINS ("They were hot on his trail")            271
+
+ VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW ("Squatted on the dusty road and took a
+ sun-bath")                                                          279
+
+
+    "'What bird is that? Its song is good,'
+        And eager eyes
+    Go peering through the dusky wood
+        In glad surprise;
+    Then late at night when by his fire
+        The traveller sits,
+    Watching the flame grow brighter, higher,
+        The sweet song flits
+    By snatches through his weary brain
+        To help him rest."
+
+    HELEN HUNT JACKSON: _The Way to Sing_.
+
+
+
+
+BRIEF FOREWORD
+
+
+With sincere pleasure the author would acknowledge the uniform courtesy
+of editors and publishers in permitting him to reprint many of the
+articles comprised in this volume, from the various periodicals in which
+they first appeared.
+
+He also desires to express his special indebtedness to Mr. Charles E.
+Aiken, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, whose contributions to the
+ornithology of the West have been of great scientific value, and to
+whose large and varied collection of bird-skins the author had frequent
+access for the purpose of settling difficult points in bird
+identification. This obliging gentleman also spent many hours in
+conversation with the writer, answering his numerous questions with the
+intelligence of the scientifically trained observer. Lastly, he kindly
+corrected some errors into which the author had inadvertently fallen.
+
+While the area covered by the writer's personal observations may be
+somewhat restricted, yet the scientific bird-list at the close of the
+volume widens the field so as to include the entire avi-fauna of
+Colorado so far as known to systematic students. Besides, constant
+comparison has been made between the birds of the West and the allied
+species and genera of our Central and Eastern States. For this reason
+the range of the volume really extends from the Atlantic seaboard to the
+parks, valleys, and plateaus beyond the Continental Divide.
+
+L. S. K.
+
+
+    All are needed by each one;
+    Nothing is fair or good alone.
+    I thought the sparrow's note from heaven,
+    Singing at dawn on the alder bough;
+    I brought him home, in his nest, at even;
+    He sings the song, but it cheers not now,
+    For I did not bring home the river and sky;--
+    He sang to my ear,--they sang to my eye.
+
+RALPH WALDO EMERSON: _Each and All_.
+
+    Not from his fellows only man may learn
+    Rights to compare and duties to discern;
+    All creatures and all objects, in degree,
+    Are friends and patrons of humanity.
+    There are to whom the garden, grove, and field
+    Perpetual lessons of forbearance yield;
+    Who would not lightly violate the grace
+    The lowliest flower possesses in its place;
+    Nor shorten the sweet life, too fugitive,
+    Which nothing less than infinite Power could give.
+
+WILLIAM WORDSWORTH: _Humanity_.
+
+    Sounds drop in visiting from everywhere--
+    The bluebird's and the robin's trill are there,
+    Their sweet liquidity diluted some
+    By dewy orchard spaces they have come.
+
+JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY: _A Child World_.
+
+    Even in the city, I
+    Am ever conscious of the sky;
+    A portion of its frame no less
+    Than in the open wilderness.
+    The stars are in my heart by night,
+    I sing beneath the opening light,
+    As envious of the bird; I live
+    Upon the payment, yet I give
+    My soul to every growing tree
+    That in the narrow ways I see.
+    My heart is in the blade of grass
+    Within the courtyard where I pass;
+    And the small, half-discovered cloud
+    Compels me till I cry aloud.
+    I am the wind that beats the walls
+    And wander trembling till it falls;
+    The snow, the summer rain am I,
+    In close communion with the sky.
+
+PHILIP HENRY SAVAGE.
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES
+
+
+
+
+UP AND DOWN THE HEIGHTS
+
+
+To study the birds from the level plains to the crests of the peaks
+swimming in cloudland; to note the species that are peculiar to the
+various altitudes, as well as those that range from the lower areas to
+the alpine heights; to observe the behavior of all the birds encountered
+in the West, and compare their habits, songs, and general deportment
+with those of correlated species and genera in the East; to learn as
+much as possible about the migratory movements up and down the mountains
+as the seasons wax and wane,--surely that would be an inspiring prospect
+to any student of the feathered fraternity. For many years one of the
+writer's most cherished desires has been to investigate the bird life of
+the Rocky Mountains. In the spring of 1899, and again in 1901, fortune
+smiled upon him in the most genial way, and--in a mental state akin to
+rapture, it must be confessed--he found himself rambling over the plains
+and mesas and through the deep cañons, and clambering up the dizzy
+heights, in search of winged rarities.
+
+In this chapter attention will be called to a few general facts relative
+to bird life in the Rockies, leaving the details for subsequent recital.
+As might be expected, the towering elevations influence the movements of
+the feathered tenants of the district. There is here what might be
+called a vertical migration, aside from the usual pilgrimages north and
+south which are known to the more level portions of North America. The
+migratory journeys up and down the mountains occur with a regularity
+that amounts to a system; yet so far as regards these movements each
+species must be studied for itself, each having manners that are all its
+own.
+
+In regions of a comparatively low altitude many birds, as is well known,
+hie to the far North to find the proper climatic conditions in which to
+rear their broods and spend their summer vacation, some of them going to
+the subarctic provinces and others beyond. How different among the
+sublime heights of the Rockies! Here they are required to make a journey
+of only a few miles, say from five to one hundred or slightly more,
+according to the locality selected, up the defiles and cañons or over
+the ridges, to find the conditions as to temperature, food, nesting
+sites, etc., that are precisely to their taste. The wind blowing down to
+their haunts from the snowy summits carries on its wings the same
+keenness and invigoration that they would find if they went to British
+America, where the breezes would descend from the regions of snow and
+ice beyond the Arctic Circle.
+
+[Illustration: _White-Crowned Sparrows_]
+
+It will add a little spice of detail if we take a concrete case. There
+is the handsome and lyrical white-crowned sparrow; in my native State,
+Ohio, this bird is only a migrant, passing for the summer far up into
+Canada to court his mate and rear his family. Now remember that Colorado
+is in the same latitude as Ohio; but the Buckeye State, famous as it is
+for furnishing presidents, has no lofty elevations, and therefore no
+white-crowns as summer residents. However, Colorado may claim this
+distinction, as well as that of producing gold and silver, and
+furnishing some of the sublimest scenery on the earth; for on the side
+of Pike's Peak, in a green, well-watered valley just below timber-line,
+I was almost thrown into transports at finding the white-crowns,
+listening to their rhythmic choruses, and discovering their grass-lined
+nests by the side of the babbling mountain brook. Altitude accomplishes
+for these birds what latitude does for their brothers and sisters of
+eastern North America.
+
+There is almost endless variety in the avi-faunal life of the Rockies.
+Some species breed far above timber-line in the thickets that invade the
+open valleys, or clamber far up the steep mountain sides. Others ascend
+still higher, building their nests on the bald summits of the loftiest
+peaks at an altitude of fourteen thousand feet and more, living all
+summer long in an atmosphere that is as rare as it is refreshing and
+pure. Among these alpine dwellers may be mentioned the brown-capped
+leucostictes, which shall be accorded the attention they deserve in
+another chapter. Then, there are species which have representatives both
+on the plains and far up in the mountain parks and valleys, such as the
+western robin, the western meadow-lark, and the mountain bluebird.
+
+In this wonderful country there is to be observed every style of
+migratory habit. A twofold migrating current must be noticed. While
+there is a movement up and down the mountain heights, there is at the
+same time a movement north and south, making the migratory system a
+perfect network of lines of travel. Some species summer in the
+mountains and winter on the plains; others summer in the mountains pass
+down to the plains in the autumn, then wing their way farther south into
+New Mexico, Mexico, Central America, and even South America, where they
+spend the winter, reversing this order on their return to the north in
+the spring; others simply pass through this region in their vernal and
+autumnal pilgrimages, stopping for a short time, but spending neither
+the summer nor the winter in this latitude; still others come down from
+the remote north on the approach of autumn, and winter in this State,
+either on the plains or in the sheltering ravines and forests of the
+mountains, and then return to the north in the spring; and, lastly,
+there are species that remain here all the year round, some of them in
+the mountains, others on the plains, and others again in both
+localities. A number of hardy birds--genuine feathered Norsemen--brave
+the arctic winters of the upper mountain regions, fairly revelling in
+the swirling snow-storms, and it must be a terrific gale indeed that
+will drive them down from their favorite habitats toward the plains.
+
+Does the avi-fauna of the Rocky Mountain district differ widely from
+that of the Eastern States? The reply must be made in the affirmative.
+Therefore the first work of the bird-student from the East will be that
+of a tyro--the identification of species. For this purpose he must have
+frequent recourse to the useful manuals of Coues and Ridgway, and to the
+invaluable brochure of Professor Wells W. Cooke on the "Birds of
+Colorado." In passing, it may be said that the last-named gentleman
+might almost be called the Colorado Audubon or Wilson.
+
+In studying the birds of the West, one should note that there are
+western subspecies and varieties, which differ in some respects, though
+not materially, from their eastern cousins; for instance, the western
+robin, the western chipping sparrow, the western lark sparrow, and the
+western nighthawk. Besides, intermediate forms are to be met with and
+classified, the eastern types shading off in a very interesting process
+into the western. It would be impossible for any one but a systematist
+with the birds in hand to determine where the intermediate forms become
+either typical easterners or typical westerners.
+
+Most interesting of all to the rambler on avian lore intent is the fact
+that there are many species and genera that are peculiar to the West,
+and therefore new to him, keeping him constantly on the _qui vive_. In
+Colorado you will look in vain for the common blue jay, so abundant in
+all parts of the East; but you will be more than compensated by the
+presence of seven other species of the jay household. The woodpeckers of
+the West (with one exception) are different from those of the East, and
+so are the flycatchers, the grosbeaks, the orioles, the tanagers, the
+humming-birds, and many of the sparrows. Instead of the purple and
+bronzed grackles (the latter are sometimes seen on the plains of
+Colorado, but are not common), the Rockies boast of Brewer's blackbird,
+whose habits are not as prosaic as his name would indicate. "Jim Crow"
+shuns the mountains for reasons satisfactory to himself; not so the
+magpie, the raven, and that mischief-maker, Clark's nutcracker. All of
+which keeps the bird-lover from the East in an ecstasy of surprises
+until he has become accustomed to his changed environment.
+
+One cannot help falling into the speculative mood in view of the sharp
+contrasts between the birds of the East and those of the West. Why does
+the hardy and almost ubiquitous blue jay studiously avoid the western
+plains and mountains? Why do not the magpie and the long-crested jay
+come east? What is there that prevents the indigo-bird from taking up
+residence in Colorado, where his pretty western cousin, the lazuli
+finch, finds himself so much at home? Why is the yellow-shafted flicker
+of the East replaced in the West by the red-shafted flicker? These
+questions are more easily asked than answered. From the writer's present
+home in eastern Kansas it is only six hundred miles to the foot of the
+Rockies; yet the avi-fauna of eastern Kansas is much more like that of
+the Eastern and New England States than that of the Colorado region.
+
+Perhaps the reason is largely, if not chiefly, physiological. Evidently
+there are birds that flourish best in a rare, dry atmosphere, while
+others naturally thrive in an atmosphere that is denser and more humid.
+The same is true of people. Many persons find the climate of Colorado
+especially adapted to their needs; indeed, to certain classes of
+invalids it is a veritable sanitarium. Others soon learn that it is
+detrimental to their health. Mayhap the same laws obtain in the bird
+realm.
+
+The altitude of my home is eight hundred and eighty feet above
+sea-level; that of Denver, Colorado, six thousand one hundred and sixty,
+making a difference of over five thousand feet, which may account for
+the absence of many eastern avian forms in the more elevated districts.
+Some day the dissector of birds may find a real difference in the
+physiological structure of the eastern and western meadow-larks. If so,
+it is to be hoped he will at once publish his discoveries for the
+satisfaction of all lovers of birds.
+
+If one had time and opportunity, some intensely interesting experiments
+might be tried. Suppose an eastern blue jay should be carried to the top
+of Pike's Peak, or Gray's, and then set free, how would he fare? Would
+the muscles and tendons of his wings have sufficient strength to bear
+him up in the rarefied atmosphere? One may easily imagine that he would
+go wabbling helplessly over the granite boulders, unable to lift himself
+more than a few feet in the air, while the pipit and the leucosticte,
+inured to the heights, would mount up to the sky and shout "Ha! ha!" in
+good-natured raillery at the blue tenderfoot. And would the feathered
+visitor feel a constriction in his chest and be compelled to gasp for
+breath, as the human tourists invariably do? It is even doubtful whether
+any eastern bird would be able to survive the changed meteorological
+conditions, Nature having designed him for a different environment.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION TO SOME SPECIES
+
+
+It was night when I found lodgings in the picturesque village of
+Manitou, nestling at the foot of the lower mountains that form the
+portico to Pike's Peak. Early the next morning I was out for a stroll
+along the bush-fringed mountain brook which had babbled me a serenade
+all night. To my delight, the place was rife with birds, the first to
+greet me being robins, catbirds, summer warblers, and warbling vireos,
+all of which, being well known in the East, need no description, but are
+mentioned here only to show the reader that some avian species are
+common to both the East and the West.
+
+But let me pause to pay a little tribute to the brave robin redbreast.
+Of course, here he is called the "western robin." His distribution is an
+interesting scientific fact. I found him everywhere--on the arid plains
+and mesas, in the solemn pines of the deep gulches and passes, and among
+the scraggy trees bordering on timber-line, over ten thousand feet above
+sea-level. In Colorado the robins are designated as "western," forms by
+the system-makers, but, even though called by a modified title, they
+deport themselves, build their nests, and sing their "cheerily,
+cheerily, cheer up," just as do their brothers and sisters of the land
+toward the rising sun. If there is any difference, their songs are not
+so loud and ringing, and their breasts not quite so ruddy as are those
+of the eastern types. Perhaps the incessant sunshine of Colorado
+bleaches out the tints somewhat.
+
+But in my ante-breakfast stroll at Manitou I soon stumbled upon
+feathered strangers. What was this little square-shouldered bird that
+kept uttering a shrill scream, which he seemed to mistake for a song? It
+was the western wood-pewee. Instead of piping the sweet, pensive
+"Pe-e-e-o-we-e-e-e" of the woodland bird of the Eastern States, this
+western swain persists in ringing the changes hour by hour upon that
+piercing scream, which sounds more like a cry of anguish than a song. At
+Buena Vista, where these birds are superabundant, their morning concerts
+were positively painful. One thing must be said, however, in defence of
+the western wood-pewee--he means well.
+
+Another acquaintance of my morning saunter was the debonair Arkansas
+goldfinch, which has received its bunglesome name, not from the State of
+Arkansas, but from the Arkansas River, dashing down from the mountains
+and flowing eastwardly through the southern part of Colorado. Most
+nattily this little bird wears his black cap, his olive-green frock,
+and his bright yellow vest. You will see at once that he dresses
+differently from the American goldfinch, so well known in the East, and,
+for that matter, just as well known on the plains of Colorado, where
+both species dwell in harmony. There are some white markings on the
+wings of _Spinus psaltria_ that give them a gauze-like appearance when
+they are rapidly fluttered.
+
+His song and some of his calls bear a close resemblance to those of the
+common goldfinch, but he is by no means a mere duplicate of that bird;
+he has an individuality of his own. While his flight is undulatory, the
+waviness is not so deeply and distinctly marked; nor does he sing a
+cheery cradle-song while swinging through the ether, although he often
+utters a series of unmusical chirps. One of the most pleasingly pensive
+sounds heard in my western rambles was the little coaxing call of this
+bird, whistled mostly by the female, I think. No doubt it is the tender
+love talk of a young wife or mother, which may account for its
+surpassing sweetness.
+
+Every lover of feathered kind is interested in what may be called
+comparative ornithology, and therefore I wish to speak of another
+western form and its eastern prototype--Bullock's oriole, which in
+Colorado takes the place of the Baltimore oriole known east of the
+plains all the way to the Atlantic coast. However, Bullock's is not
+merely a variety or subspecies, but a well-defined species of the oriole
+family, his scientific title being _Icterus bullocki_.
+
+Like our familiar Lord Baltimore, he bravely bears black and orange; but
+in _bullocki_ the latter color invades the sides of the neck, head, and
+forehead, leaving only a small black bow for the throat and a narrow
+black stripe running back over the crown and down the back of the neck;
+whereas in _Icterus galbula_ the entire head and neck are black.
+Brilliant as Bullock's oriole is, he does not seem to be anxious to
+display his fineries, for he usually makes it a point to keep himself
+ensconced behind a clump of foliage, so that, while you may hear a
+desultory piping in the trees, apparently inviting your confidence, it
+will be a long time before you can get more than a provoking glimpse of
+the jolly piper himself. "My gorgeous apparel was not made for parade,"
+seems to be his modest disclaimer.
+
+He is quite a vocalist. Here is a quotation from my lead-pencil, dashes
+and all: "Bullock's oriole--fine singer--voice stronger than orchard
+oriole's--song not quite so well articulated or so elaborate, but louder
+and more resonant--better singer than the Baltimore." It might be added
+that Bullock's, like the orchard, but unlike the Baltimore, pipes a real
+tune, with something of a theme running through its intermittent
+outbursts. The plumage of the young bird undergoes some curious
+changes, and what I took to be the year-old males seemed to be the most
+spirited musicians.
+
+Maurice Thompson's tribute to the Baltimore oriole will apply to that
+bird's western kinsman. He calls him:--
+
+    "Athlete of the air--
+    Of fire and song a glowing core;"
+
+and then adds, with tropical fervor:
+
+    "A hot flambeau on either wing
+      Rimples as you pass me by;
+    'T is seeing flame to hear you sing,
+      'T is hearing song to see you fly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "When flowery hints foresay the berry,
+      On spray of haw and tuft of brier,
+    Then, wandering incendiary,
+      You set the maple swamps afire!"
+
+Many nests of Bullock's oriole rewarded my slight search. They are
+larger and less compactly woven than the Baltimore's, and have a woolly
+appearance exteriorly, as if the down of the Cottonwood trees had been
+wrought into the fabric. Out on the plains I counted four dangling
+nests, old and new, on one small limb; but that, of course, was unusual,
+there being only one small clump of trees within a radius of many
+miles.
+
+In the vicinity of Manitou many trips were taken by the zealous
+pedestrian. Some of the dry, steep sides of the first range of mountains
+were hard climbing, but it was necessary to make the effort in order to
+discover their avian resources. One of the first birds met with on these
+unpromising acclivities was the spurred towhee of the Rockies. In his
+attire he closely resembles the towhee, or "chewink," of the East, but
+has as an extra ornament a beautiful sprinkling of white on his back and
+wings, which makes him look as if he had thrown a gauzy mantle of silver
+over his shoulders.
+
+But his song is different from our eastern towhee's. My notes say that
+it is "a cross between the song of the chewink and that of dickcissel,"
+and I shall stand by that assertion until I find good reason to disown
+it--should that time ever come. The opening syllabication is like
+dickcissel's; then follows a trill of no specially definable character.
+There are times when he sings with more than his wonted force, and it is
+then that his tune bears the strongest likeness to the eastern towhee's.
+But his alarm-call! It is no "chewink" at all, but almost as close a
+reproduction of a cat's mew as is the catbird's well-known call. Such
+crosses and anomalies does this country produce!
+
+On the arid mountain sides among the stunted bushes, cactus plants,
+sand, and rocks, this quaint bird makes his home, coming down into the
+valleys to drink at the tinkling brooks and trill his roundelays. Many,
+many times, as I was following a deep fissure in the mountains, his
+ditty came dripping down to me from some spot far up the steep mountain
+side--a little cascade of song mingling with the cascades of the brooks.
+The nests are usually placed under a bush on the sides of the mesas and
+mountains.
+
+And would you believe it? Colorado furnishes another towhee, though why
+he should have been put into the Pipilo group by the ornithologists is
+more than I can tell at this moment. He has no analogue in the East.
+True, he is a bird of the bushes, running sometimes like a little deer
+from one clump to another; but if you should see him mount a boulder or
+a bush, and hear him sing his rich, theme-like, finely modulated song,
+you would aver that he is closer kin to the thrushes or thrashers than
+to the towhees. There is not the remotest suggestion of the towhee
+minstrelsy in his prolonged and well-articulated melody. It would be
+difficult to find a finer lyrist among the mountains.
+
+But, hold! I have neglected to introduce this pretty Mozart of the West.
+He is known by an offensive and inapt title--the green-tailed towhee.
+Much more appropriately might he be called the chestnut-crowned towhee,
+for his cope is rich chestnut, and the crest is often held erect, making
+him look quite cavalier-like. It is the most conspicuous part of his
+toilet. His upper parts are grayish-green, becoming slightly deeper
+green on the tail, from which fact he derives his common name. His white
+throat and chin are a further diagnostic mark. The bright yellow of the
+edge of the wings, under coverts and axillaries is seldom seen, on
+account of the extreme wariness of the bird.
+
+In most of the dry and bushy places I found him at my elbow--or, rather,
+some distance away, but in evidence by his mellifluous song. Let me
+enumerate the localities in which I found my little favorite: Forty
+miles out on the plain among some bushes of a shallow dip; among the
+foothills about Colorado Springs and Manitou; on many of the open bushy
+slopes along the cog-road leading to Pike's Peak, but never in the dark
+ravines or thick timber; among the bushes just below timber-line on the
+southern acclivity of the peak; everywhere around the village of Buena
+Vista; about four miles below Leadville; and, lastly, beyond the range
+at Red Cliff and Glenwood.[1]
+
+    [1] This list was greatly enlarged in my second trip to Colorado in
+    1901.
+
+The song, besides its melodious quality, is full of expression. In this
+respect it excels the liquid chansons of the mountain hermit thrush,
+which is justly celebrated as a minstrel, but which does not rehearse a
+well-defined theme. The towhee's song is sprightly and cheerful, wild
+and free, has the swing of all outdoors, and is not pitched to a minor
+key. It gives you the impression that a bird which sings so blithesome a
+strain must surely be happy in his domestic relations.
+
+Among the Rockies the black-headed grosbeak is much in evidence, and so
+is his cheerful, good-tempered song, which is an exact counterpart of
+the song of the rose-breasted grosbeak, his eastern kinsman. Neither the
+rose-breast nor the cardinal is to be found in Colorado, but they are
+replaced by the black-headed and blue grosbeaks, the former dwelling
+among the lower mountains, the latter occurring along the streams of the
+plains. Master black-head and his mate are partial to the scrub oaks for
+nesting sites. I found one nest with four callow bantlings in it, but,
+much to my grief and anger, at my next call it had been robbed of its
+precious treasures. A few days later, not far from the same place, a
+female was building a nest, and I am disposed to believe that she was
+the mother whose children had been kidnapped.
+
+Instead of the scarlet and summer tanagers, the Rocky Mountain region is
+honored with that beautiful feathered gentleman, the Louisiana tanager,
+most of whose plumage is rich, glossy yellow, relieved by black on the
+wings, back, and tail; while his most conspicuous decoration is the
+scarlet or crimson tinting of his head and throat, shading off into the
+yellow of the breast. These colors form a picturesque combination,
+especially if set against a background of green. The crimson staining
+gives him the appearance of having washed his face in some bright-red
+pigment, and like an awkward child, blotched his bosom with it in the
+absence of a napkin.
+
+So far as I could analyze it, there is no appreciable difference between
+his lyrical performances and those of the scarlet tanager, both being a
+kind of lazy, drawling song, that is slightly better than no bird music
+at all. One nest was found without difficulty. It was placed on one of
+the lower branches of a pine tree by the roadside at the entrance to
+Engleman's Cañon. As a rule, the males are not excessively shy, as so
+many of the Rocky Mountain birds are. The tanagers were seen far up in
+the mountains, as well as among the foothills, and also at Red Cliff and
+Glenwood on the western side of the Divide.
+
+A unique character in feathers, one that is peculiar to the West, is the
+magpie, who would attract notice wherever he should deign to live, being
+a sort of grand sachem of the outdoor aviary. In some respects the
+magpies are striking birds. In flight they present a peculiar
+appearance; in fact, they closely resemble boys' kites with their long,
+slender tails trailing in the breeze. I could not avoid the impression
+that their tails were superfluous appendages, but no doubt they serve
+the birds a useful purpose as rudders and balancing-poles. The magpie
+presents a handsome picture as he swings through the air, the iridescent
+black gleaming in the sun, beautifully set off with snowy-white
+trimmings on both the upper and lower surfaces of the wings. On the
+perch or on the wing he is an ornament to any landscape. As to his
+voice--well, he is a genuine squawker. There is not, so far as I have
+observed, a musical cord in his larynx,[2] and I am sure he does not
+profess to be a musical genius, so that my criticism will do him no
+injury. All the use he has for his voice seems to be to call his fellows
+to a new-found banquet, or give warning of the approach of an interloper
+upon his chosen preserves. His cry, if you climb up to his nest, is
+quite pitiful, proving that he has real love for his offspring. Perhaps
+the magpies have won their chief distinction as architects. Their nests
+are really remarkable structures, sometimes as large as fair-sized
+tubs, the framework composed of good-sized sticks, skilfully plaited
+together, and the cup lined with grass and other soft material, making a
+cosey nursery for the infantile magpies. Then the nest proper is roofed
+over, and has an entrance to the apartment on either side. When you
+examine the structure closely, you find that it fairly bristles with dry
+twigs and sticks, and it is surprising how large some of the branches
+are that are braided into the domicile. All but one of the many nests I
+found were deserted, for my visit was made in June, and the birds, as a
+rule, breed earlier than that month. Some were placed in bushes, some in
+willow and cottonwood trees, and others in pines; and the birds
+themselves were almost ubiquitous, being found on the plains, among the
+foothills, and up in the mountains as far as the timber-line, not only
+close to human neighborhoods, but also in the most inaccessible
+solitudes.
+
+    [2] In this volume the author has made use of the terminology
+    usually employed in describing bird music. Hence such words as
+    "song," "chant," "vocal cords," etc., are of frequent occurrence. In
+    reality the writer's personal view is that the birds are whistlers,
+    pipers, fluters, and not vocalists, none of the sounds they produce
+    being real voice tones. The reader who may desire to go into this
+    matter somewhat technically is referred to Maurice Thompson's
+    chapter entitled "The Anatomy of Bird-Song" in his "Sylvan Secrets,"
+    and the author's article, "Are Birds Singers or Whistlers?" in "Our
+    Animal Friends" for June, 1901.
+
+In one of my excursions along a stream below Colorado Springs, one nest
+was found that was still occupied by the brooding bird. It was a bulky
+affair, perhaps half as large as a bushel basket, placed in the crotch
+of a tree about thirty feet from the ground. Within this commodious
+structure was a globular apartment which constituted the nest proper.
+Thus it was roofed over, and had an entrance at each side, so that the
+bird could go into his house at one doorway and out at the other, the
+room being too small to permit of his turning around in it. Thinking the
+nest might be occupied, in a tentative way I tossed a small club up
+among the branches, when to my surprise a magpie sprang out of the nest,
+and, making no outcry, swung around among the trees, appearing quite
+nervous and shy. When she saw me climbing the tree, she set up such a
+heart-broken series of cries that I permitted sentiment to get the
+better of me, and clambered down as fast as I could, rather than prolong
+her distress. Since then I have greatly regretted my failure to climb up
+to the nest and examine its contents, which might have been done without
+the least injury to the owner's valuable treasures. A nestful of
+magpie's eggs or bairns would have been a gratifying sight to my
+bird-hungry eyes.
+
+One bird which is familiar in the East as well as the West deserves
+attention on account of its choice of haunts. I refer to the turtle
+dove, which is much hardier than its mild and innocent looks would seem
+to indicate. It may be remarked, in passing, that very few birds are
+found in the deep cañons and gorges leading up to the higher localities;
+but the doves seem to constitute the one exception to the rule; for I
+saw them in some of the gloomiest defiles through which the train
+scurried in crossing the mountains. For instance, in the cañon of the
+Arkansas River many of them were seen from the car window, a pair just
+beyond the Royal Gorge darting across the turbulent stream to the other
+side. A number were also noticed in the darkest portions of the cañon of
+the Grand River, where one would think not a living creature could coax
+subsistence from the bare rocks and beetling cliffs. Turtle doves are so
+plentiful in the West that their distribution over every available
+feeding ground seems to be a matter of social and economic necessity.
+
+[Illustration: "_Darting across the turbulent stream_"
+
+_Turtle Doves_]
+
+
+
+
+BALD PEAKS AND GREEN VALES
+
+[Illustration: PLATE II
+
+GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE--_Pipilo chlorurus_
+(Male)
+
+SPURRED TOWHEE--_Pipilo megalonyx_
+(Male)]
+
+
+One of my chief objects in visiting the Rockies was to ascend Pike's
+Peak from Manitou, and make observations on the birds from the base to
+the summit. A walk one afternoon up to the Halfway House and back--the
+Halfway House is only about one-third of the way to the top--convinced
+me that to climb the entire distance on foot would be a useless
+expenditure of time and effort. An idea struck me: Why not ride up on
+the cog-wheel train, and then walk down, going around by some of the
+valleys and taking all the time needed for observations on the
+avi-faunal tenantry? That was the plan pursued, and an excellent one it
+proved.
+
+When the puffing cog-wheel train landed me on the summit, I was fresh
+and vigorous, and therefore in excellent condition physically and
+mentally to enjoy the scenery and also to ride my hobby at will over the
+realm of cloudland. The summit is a bald area of several acres, strewn
+with immense fragments of granite, with not a spear of grass visible.
+One of the signal-station men asked a friend who had just come up from
+the plain, "Is there anything green down below? I'd give almost
+anything to see a green patch of some kind." There was a yearning strain
+in his tones that really struck me as pathetic. Here were visitors
+revelling in the magnificence of the panorama, their pulses tingling and
+their feelings in many cases too exalted for expression; but those whose
+business or duty it was to remain on the summit day after day soon found
+life growing monotonous, and longed to set their eyes on some patch of
+verdure. To the visitors, however, who were in hale physical condition,
+the panorama of snow-clad ranges and isolated peaks was almost
+overwhelming. In the gorges and sheltered depressions of the old
+mountain's sides large fields of snow still gleamed in the sun and
+imparted to the air a frosty crispness.
+
+When the crowd of tourists, after posing for their photographs, had
+departed on the descending car, I walked out over the summit to see what
+birds, if any, had selected an altitude of fourteen thousand one hundred
+and forty-seven feet above sea-level for their summer home. Below me, to
+the east, stretched the gray plains running off to the skyline, while
+the foothills and lower mountains, which had previously appeared so high
+and rugged and difficult of access, now seemed like ant-hills crouching
+at the foot of the giant on whose crown I stood. Off to the southwest,
+the west, and the northwest, the snowy ranges towered, iridescent in
+the sunlight. In contemplating this vast, overawing scene, I almost
+forgot my natural history, and wanted to feast my eyes for hours on its
+ever-changing beauty; but presently I was brought back to a
+consciousness of my special vocation by a sharp chirp. Was it a bird, or
+only one of those playful little chipmunks that abound in the Rockies?
+Directly there sounded out on the serene air another ringing chirp, this
+time overhead, and, to my delight and surprise, a little bird swung over
+the summit, then out over the edge of the cliff, and plunged down into
+the fearsome abyss of the "Bottomless Pit." Other birds of the same
+species soon followed his example, making it evident that this was not a
+birdless region. Unable to identify the winged aeronauts, I clambered
+about over the rocks of the summit for a while, then slowly made my way
+down the southern declivity of the mountain for a short distance. Again
+my ear was greeted with that loud, ringing chirp, and now the bird
+uttering it obligingly alighted on a stone not too far away to be seen
+distinctly through my binocular. Who was the little waif that had chosen
+this sky-invading summit for its summer habitat? At first I mistook it
+for a horned lark, and felt so sure my decision was correct that I did
+not look at the bird as searchingly as I should have done, thereby
+learning a valuable lesson in thoroughness. The error was corrected by
+my friend, Mr. Charles E. Aiken, of Colorado Springs, who has been of
+not a little service in determining and classifying the avian fauna of
+Colorado. My new-found friend (the feathered one, I mean) was the
+American pipit, which some years ago was known as the tit-lark.
+
+[Illustration: _Pipits_
+
+"_Te-cheer! Te-cheer!_"]
+
+"Te-cheer! te-cheer! te-cheer!" (accent strong on the second syllable)
+the birds exclaimed in half-petulant remonstrance at my intrusion as I
+hobbled about over the rocks. Presently one of them darted up into the
+air; up, up, up, he swung in a series of oblique leaps and circles, this
+way and that, until he became a mere speck in the sky, and then
+disappeared from sight in the cerulean depths beyond. All the while I
+could hear his emphatic and rapidly repeated call, "Te-cheer! te-cheer!"
+sifting down out of the blue canopy. How long he remained aloft in "his
+watch-tower in the skies" I do not know, for one cannot well count
+minutes in such exciting circumstances, but it seemed a long time. By
+and by the call appeared to be coming nearer, and the little aeronaut
+swept down with a swiftness that made my blood tingle, and alighted on a
+rock as lightly as a snowflake. Afterwards a number of other pipits
+performed the same aerial exploit. It was wonderful to see them rise
+several hundred feet into the rarefied atmosphere over an abyss so deep
+that it has been named the "Bottomless Pit."
+
+[Illustration: _Pipits_
+
+"_Up over the Bottomless Pit_"]
+
+The pipits frequently flitted from rock to rock, teetering their slender
+bodies like sandpipers, and chirping their disapproval of my presence.
+They furnished some evidence of having begun the work of nest
+construction, although no nests were found, as it was doubtless still
+too early in the season. In some respects the pipits are extremely
+interesting, for, while many of them breed in remote northern latitudes,
+others select the loftiest summits of the Rockies for summer homes,
+where they rear their broods and scour the alpine heights in search of
+food. The following interesting facts relative to them in this alpine
+country are gleaned from Professor Cooke's pamphlet on "The Birds of
+Colorado":
+
+    In migration they are common throughout the State, but breed only on
+    the loftiest mountains. They arrive on the plains from the South
+    about the last of April, tarry for nearly a month, then hie to the
+    upper mountain parks, stopping there to spend the month of May. By
+    the first of June they have ascended above timber-line to their
+    summer home amid the treeless slopes and acclivities. Laying begins
+    early in July, as soon as the first grass is started. Most of the
+    nests are to be found at an elevation of twelve thousand to thirteen
+    thousand feet, the lowest known being one on Mount Audubon,
+    discovered on the third of July with fresh eggs. During the breeding
+    season these birds never descend below timber-line. The young birds
+    having left the nest, in August both old and young gather in flocks
+    and range over the bald mountain peaks in quest of such dainties as
+    are to the pipit taste. Some of them remain above timber-line until
+    October although most of them have by that time gone down into the
+    upper parks of the mountains. During this month they descend to the
+    plains, and in November return to their winter residence in the
+    South.
+
+While watching the pipits, I had another surprise. On a small, grassy
+area amid the rocks, about a hundred feet below the summit, a
+white-crowned sparrow was hopping about on the ground, now leaping upon
+a large stone, now creeping into an open space under the rocks, all the
+while picking up some kind of seed or nut or insect. It was very
+confiding, coming close to me, but vouchsafing neither song nor chirp.
+Farther on I shall have more to say about these tuneful birds, but at
+this point it is interesting to observe that they breed abundantly
+among the mountains at a height of from eight thousand to eleven
+thousand feet, while the highest nest known to explorers was twelve
+thousand five hundred feet above the sea. One of Colorado's bird men has
+noted the curious fact that they change their location between the first
+and second broods--that is, in a certain park at an elevation of eight
+thousand feet they breed abundantly in June, and then most of them leave
+that region and become numerous among the stunted bushes above
+timber-line, where they raise a second brood. It only remains to be
+proved that the birds in both localities are the same individuals, which
+is probable.
+
+On a shoulder of the mountain below me, a flock of ravens alighted on
+the ground, walked about awhile, uttered their hoarse croaks, and then
+took their departure, apparently in sullen mood. I could not tell
+whether they croaked "Nevermore!" or not.
+
+Down the mountain side I clambered, occasionally picking a beautiful
+blossom from the many brilliant-hued clusters and inhaling its
+fragrance. Indeed, sometimes the breeze was laden with the aroma of
+these flowers, and in places the slope looked like a cultivated garden.
+The only birds seen that afternoon above timber-line were those already
+mentioned. What do the birds find to eat in these treeless and shrubless
+altitudes? There are many flies, some grasshoppers, bumble-bees,
+beetles, and other insects, even in these arctic regions, dwelling among
+the rocks and in the short grass below them watered by the melting
+snows.
+
+At about half-past four in the afternoon I reached the timber-line,
+indicated by a few small, scattering pines and many thick clumps of
+bushes. Suddenly a loud, melodious song brought me to a standstill. It
+came from the bushes at the side of the trail. Although I turned aside
+and sought diligently, I could not find the shy lyrist. Another song of
+the same kind soon reached me from a distance. Farther down the path a
+white-crowned sparrow appeared, courting his mate. With crown-feathers
+and head and tail erect, he would glide to the top of a stone, then down
+into the grass where his lady-love sat; up and down, up and down he
+scuttled again and again. My approach put an end to the picturesque
+little comedy. The lady scurried away into hiding, while the little
+prince with the snow-white diadem mounted to the top of a bush and
+whistled the very strain that had surprised me so a little while before,
+farther up the slope. Yes, I had stumbled into the summer home of the
+white-crowned sparrow, which on the Atlantic coast and the central
+portions of the American continent breeds far in the North.
+
+It was not long before I was regaled with a white-crown vesper concert.
+From every part of the lonely valley the voices sounded. And what did
+they say? "Oh, de-e-e-ar, de-e-ar, Whittier, Whittier," sometimes
+adding, in low, caressing tones, "Dear Whittier"--one of the most
+melodious tributes to the Quaker poet I have ever heard. Here I also saw
+my first mountain bluebird, whose back and breast are wholly blue, there
+being no rufous at all in his plumage. He was feeding a youngster
+somewhere among the snags. A red-shafted flicker flew across the vale
+and called, "Zwick-ah! zwick-ah!" and then pealed out his loud call just
+like the eastern yellow-shafted high-holder. Why the Rocky Mountain
+region changes the lining of the flicker's wings from gold to
+crimson--who can tell? A robin--the western variety--sang his
+"Cheerily," a short distance up the hollow, right at the boundary of the
+timber-line.
+
+[Illustration: "_Dear Whittier_"
+
+_White-Crowned Sparrow_]
+
+About half-past five I found myself a few hundred feet below timber-line
+in the lone valley, which was already beginning to look shadowy and a
+little uncanny, the tall ridges that leaped up at the right obscuring
+the light of the declining sun. My purpose had been to find
+accommodations at a mountaineer's cabin far down the valley, in the
+neighborhood of the Seven Lakes; but I had tarried too long on the
+mountain, absorbed in watching the birds, and the danger now was that,
+if I ventured farther down the hollow, I should lose my way and be
+compelled to spend the night alone in this deserted place. I am neither
+very brave nor very cowardly; but, in any case, such a prospect was not
+pleasing to contemplate. Besides, I was by no means sure of being able
+to secure lodgings at the mountaineer's shanty, even if I should be able
+to find it in the dark. There seemed to be only one thing to do--to
+climb back to the signal station on the summit.
+
+I turned about and began the ascent. How much steeper the acclivities
+were than they had seemed to be when I came down! My limbs ached before
+I had gone many rods, and my breath came short. Upward I toiled, and by
+the time my trail reached the cog-road I was ready to drop from
+exhaustion. Yet I had not gone more than a third of the way to the top.
+I had had no supper, but was too weary even to crave food, my only
+desire being to find some place wherein to rest. Night had now come, but
+fortunately the moon shone brightly from a sky that was almost clear,
+and I had no difficulty in following the road.
+
+Wearily I began to climb up the steep cog-wheel track. Having trudged
+around one curve, I came to a portion of the road that stretched
+straight up before me for what seemed an almost interminable distance,
+and, oh! the way looked so steep, almost as if it would tumble back upon
+my head. Could I ever drag myself up to the next bend in the track? By
+a prodigious effort I did this at last--it seemed "at last" to me, at
+all events--and, lo! there gleamed before me another long stretch of
+four steel rails.
+
+My breath came shorter and shorter, until I was compelled to open my
+mouth widely and gasp the cold, rarefied air, which, it seemed, would
+not fill my chest with the needed oxygen. Sharp pains shot through my
+lungs, especially in the extremities far down in the chest; my head and
+eye-balls ached, and it seemed sometimes as if they would burst; my
+limbs trembled with weakness, and I tottered and reeled like a drunken
+man from side to side of the road, having to watch carefully lest I
+might topple over the edge and meet with a serious accident. Still that
+relentless track, with its quartette of steel rails, stretched steep
+before me in the distance.
+
+For the last half mile or more I was compelled to fling myself down upon
+the track every few rods to rest and recover breath. Up, up, the road
+climbed, until at length I reached the point where it ceases to swing
+around the shoulders of the mountain, and ascends directly to the
+summit. Here was the steepest climb of all. By throwing my weary frame
+on the track at frequent intervals and resting for five minutes, taking
+deep draughts of air between my parched lips, I at last came in sight of
+the government building. It is neither a mansion nor a palace, not even
+a cottage, but never before was I so glad to get a glimpse of a building
+erected by human hands. It was past nine o'clock when I staggered up to
+the door and rang the night bell, having spent more than three hours and
+a half in climbing about two miles and a half. Too weary to sleep, I
+tossed for hours on my bed. At last, however, "nature's sweet restorer"
+came to my relief, and I slept the deep sleep of unconsciousness until
+seven o'clock the next morning, allowing the sun to rise upon the Peak
+without getting up to greet him. That omission may have been an
+unpardonable sin, for one of the chief fads of visitors is to see the
+sun rise from the Peak; but I must say in my defence that, in the first
+place, I failed to wake up in time to witness the Day King's advent,
+and, in a second place, being on bird lore intent rather than scenic
+wonders, my principal need was to recruit my strength for the tramping
+to be done during the day. The sequel proved that, for my special
+purpose, I had chosen the wiser course.
+
+By eight o'clock I had written a letter home, eaten a refreshing
+breakfast, paying a dollar for it, and another for lodging, and was
+starting down the mountain, surprised at the exhilaration I felt, in
+view of my extreme exhaustion of the evening before. I naturally
+expected to feel stiff and sore in every joint, languid and woe-be-gone;
+but such was not the case. It is wonderful how soon one recovers
+strength among these heights. How bracing is the cool mountain air, if
+you breathe it deeply! As I began the descent, I whistled and
+sang,--that is, I tried to. To be frank, it was all noise and no music,
+but I must have some way of giving expression to the uplifted emotions
+that filled my breast. Again and again I said to myself, "I'm so glad!
+I'm so glad! I'm so glad!" It was gladness pure and simple,--the
+dictionary has no other word to express it. No pen can do justice to the
+panorama of mountain and valley and plain as viewed from such a height
+on a clear, crisp morning of June. One felt like exclaiming with George
+Herbert:
+
+    "Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
+      The bridal of the earth and sky!"
+
+So far as the æsthetic value of it went, I was monarch of all I
+surveyed, even though mile on mile of grandeur and glory was spread out
+before me. The quatrain of Lowell recurred to my mind:
+
+    "'Tis heaven alone that is given away,
+    'Tis only God may be had for the asking;
+    No price is set on the lavish summer;
+    June may be had by poorest comer."
+
+Before leaving the Peak, I watched a flock of birds eating from the
+waste-heap at the Summit House. They were the brown-capped rosy finches,
+called scientifically _Leucosticte australis_. Their plumage was a rich
+chocolate, suffused over neck, breast, and back with intense crimson,
+while the pileum was quite black. With one exception--the white-tailed
+ptarmigan--they range the highest in summer of all Colorado birds. They
+are never seen below timber-line in that season, and are not known to
+breed below twelve thousand feet; thence to the tops of the highest
+peaks they hatch and rear their young. In August old and young swarm
+over the summits picking edible insects from the snow, while in winter
+they descend to timber-line, where most of them remain to brave the
+arctic weather and its frequent storms.
+
+Bidding a regretful good-by to the summit, for it held me as by a
+magician's spell, I hastened down the steep incline of the cog-wheel
+road, past Windy Point, and turning to the right, descended across the
+green slope below the boulder region to the open, sunlit valley which I
+had visited on the previous afternoon. It was an idyllic place, a
+veritable paradise for birds. Such a chorus as greeted me from the
+throats of I know not how many white-crowned sparrows,--several dozen,
+perhaps,--it would have done the heart of any lover of avian minstrelsy
+good to listen to. The whole valley seemed to be transfigured by their
+roundelays, which have about them such an air of poetry and old-world
+romance. During the morning I was so fortunate as to find a nest, the
+first of this species that I had ever discovered. Providence had never
+before cast my lot with these birds in their breeding haunts. The nest
+was a pretty structure placed on the ground, beneath a bush amid the
+green grass, its holdings consisting of four dainty, pale-blue eggs,
+speckled with brown. The female leaped from her seat as I passed near,
+and in that act divulged her little family secret. Although she chirped
+uneasily as I bent over her treasures, she had all her solicitude for
+nothing; the last thing I would think of doing would be to mar her
+maternal prospects. As has been said, in this valley these handsome
+sparrows were quite plentiful; but when, toward evening, I clambered
+over a ridge, and descended into the valley of Moraine Lake, several
+hundred feet lower than the Seven Lakes valley, what was my surprise to
+find not a white-crown there! The next day I trudged up to the Seven
+Lakes, and found the white-crowns quite abundant in the copses, as they
+had been farther up the hollow on the previous day; and, besides, in a
+boggy place about two miles below Moraine Lake there were several pairs,
+and I was fortunate enough to find a nest. Strange--was it not?--that
+these birds should avoid the copsy swamps near Moraine Lake, and yet
+select for breeding homes the valleys both above and below it. Perhaps
+the valley of Moraine Lake is a little too secluded and shut in by the
+towering mountains on three sides, the other places being more open and
+sunshiny.
+
+The upper valley was the summer home of that musician _par excellence_
+of the Rockies, the green-tailed towhee, and he sang most divinely,
+pouring out his
+
+                                 "full heart
+    In profuse strains of unpremeditated art."
+
+Having elsewhere described his minstrelsy and habits with more or less
+fulness, I need give him only this passing reference here. A little bird
+with which I here first made acquaintance was an elegant species known
+as Audubon's warbler, which may be regarded as the western
+representative of the myrtle warbler of the East. The two birds are
+almost counterparts. Indeed, at first I mistook the Audubon for the
+myrtle. The former has a yellow throat, while the latter's throat is
+white.
+
+In all the upper mountain valleys, and on the steep slopes of the
+western as well as the eastern side of the Divide, I had the Audubon
+warblers often at my elbow. In summer they make their homes at an
+altitude of seven to eleven thousand feet, and are partial to pine
+timber; indeed, I think I never found them elsewhere, save occasionally
+among the quaking asps. I learned to distinguish Audubon's chanson from
+those of his fellow-minstrels. It is not much of a song--a rather weak
+little trill, with a kind of drawl in the vocalization that forms its
+diagnostic feature. The persistency with which it is repeated on the
+solitary pine-clad mountain sides constitutes its principal charm.
+
+The winter haunts of Audubon's warblers are farther south than Colorado,
+mostly in Mexico and Guatemala, although a few of them remain in the
+sheltered mountain valleys of the western part of the United States.
+Early in May they appear on the plains of eastern Colorado, where they
+are known only as migrants. Here a double movement presently takes
+place--what might be called a longitudinal and a vertical migration--one
+division of the warbler army sweeping north to their breeding grounds in
+Canada, and the other wheeling westward and ascending to the alpine
+heights among the mountains, where they find the subartic conditions
+that are congenial to their natures without travelling so great a
+distance. Here they build their nests in the pine or spruce trees, rear
+their families, and as autumn approaches, descend to the plains, tarry
+there a week or two, then hie to their winter homes in the South.
+
+One of the most gorgeous tenants of this valley was Wilson's warbler.[3]
+It wears a dainty little cap that is jet black, bordered in front and
+below with golden yellow, while the upper parts are rich olive and the
+lower parts bright yellow. These warblers were quite abundant, and were
+evidently partial to the thickets covering the boggy portions of the
+vale. While Audubon's warblers kept themselves for the most part among
+the pines on the slopes and acclivities, the little black-caps preferred
+the lower ground. Their songs were not brilliant performances, though
+rather pleasing, being short, jerky trills, somewhat lower in the scale
+than those of the well-known summer warbler.
+
+    [3] Mr. Aiken says, "The Rocky Mountain representative of Wilson's
+    warbler is an intermediate form, nearest the Pacific coast bird
+    which is distinguished as the pileolated warbler."
+
+While I was stalking about in the low, boggy part of the hollow, my
+attention was attracted by an odd little song that came rolling down
+from the pines on the mountain side. At length, time was found to go to
+the place whence the song came. What could the gay little minstrel be?
+Somewhere I had heard such minstrelsy--but where? There were runs in it
+that bore some resemblance to certain strains of the Carolina wren's
+vigorous lays, but this songster's voice was of a finer quality and had
+less volume than that of the Carolina. The little bird was found
+flitting among the pines, and continued to sing his gay little ballad
+with as much vigor as before. Indeed, my presence seemed to inspire him
+to redouble his efforts and to sing with more snap and challenge. He
+acted somewhat like a wren, but was smaller than any species of that
+family with which I was acquainted, and no part of his plumage was
+barred with brown and white.
+
+Now the midget in feathers leaped up the alternating branches of a pine,
+and now he flew down and fluttered amid the chaos of dead logs and
+boughs on the ground, all the while rolling his ditty from his limber
+tongue. Beginning with an exceedingly fine whistle, which could not
+be heard far away, he descanted in sounds that it is impossible to
+convey in syllables. The best literation of his song that I was
+able to make was the following: "Tse-e-ek, tse-e-ek, tse-e-e-ek,
+cholly-cholly-cholly, che-che-che, pur-tie, pur-tie, pur-tie!" the
+_pur-tie_ accented strongly on the second syllable and the whole
+performance closing with an interrogative inflection.
+
+For a long time I watched the little acrobat, but could not settle his
+identity. Some hours later, while stalking along the other side of the
+valley, I heard the song duplicated; this time the singer elevated his
+crest feathers, and at once I recognized him; he was the ruby-crowned
+kinglet, of course, of course! It was a shame not to identify him at
+first sight. In Ohio I had often heard his song during the migrating
+season, and now remembered it well; but never dreaming that the
+ruby-crown would be found in these alpine districts, I was completely
+thrown off my reckoning on hearing his quaint melodies.
+
+[Illustration: _Ruby-Crowned Kinglet_
+
+"_The singer elevated his crest feathers_"]
+
+The ruby-crowned kinglet migrates to these heights in the spring and
+rears his brood at an elevation of from nine thousand feet to the
+timber-line, building a nest far up in a pine tree; whereas his eastern
+kindred hie to the northern part of the United States and beyond, to
+find summer homes and suitable breeding grounds. Within their chosen
+boundaries the rubies are very plentiful in the Rockies, their quaint
+rondeaus tumbling down from every pine-clad acclivity. In October they
+descend to the plains, and in the latter part of the month hurry off to
+a more southerly clime.
+
+The birds were most abundant in the upper part of the valley, keeping
+close to the precipitous heights of the Peak. It was a long walk down to
+the mountaineer's cabin, and I had reason to be glad for not having
+undertaken to find it the evening before, as I should certainly have
+lost my way in the darkness. No one was at home now, but through the
+screen door I could see a canary in a cage. Not a very inviting place to
+spend the night, I reflected, and I crossed the valley, climbed a steep
+ridge, following a slightly used wagon road, and trudged down the other
+side into what I afterwards found was the valley of Moraine Lake, one of
+the crystal sheets of water that are seen from the summit of Pike's Peak
+sparkling in the sunshine. While climbing the ridge, I saw my first
+mountain chickadee, capering about in the trees. He called like the
+familiar black-cap, and his behavior was much like that bird's. As will
+be seen in another chapter, I afterwards heard the mountain chickadee's
+song on the western side of the range, and found it to be quite unlike
+the minor strain of our pleasant black-cap of the East.
+
+On the mountain side forming the descent to Moraine Lake a flock of
+Clark's nutcrackers were flying about in the pine woods, giving
+expression to their feelings in a great variety of calls, some of them
+quite strident. A little junco came in sight by the side of the trail,
+and hopped about on the ground, and I was surprised to note a reddish
+patch ornamenting the centre of his back. Afterwards I learned that it
+was the gray-headed junco, which is distinctly a western species,
+breeding among the mountains of Colorado. Thrashing about among some
+dead boles, and making a great to-do, were a pair of small woodpeckers,
+which closely resembled the well-known downies of our eastern
+longitudes. I suppose them to have been their western representatives,
+which are known, according to Mr. Aiken and Professor Cooke, as
+Batchelder's woodpecker. Near the same place I saw a second pair of
+mountain bluebirds, flitting about somewhat nervously, and uttering a
+gentle sigh at intervals; but as evening was now rapidly approaching, I
+felt the need of finding lodging for the night, and could not stop to
+hunt for their nest.
+
+Faring down the mountain side to the lake, I circled around its lower
+end until I came to the cottage of the family who have the care of the
+reservoirs that supply the three towns at the foot of the mountains
+with water fresh from the snow-fields. Here, to my intense relief, I was
+able to secure lodging and board as long as I desired to remain.
+
+I enjoyed the generous hospitality offered me for two nights and
+considerably more than one day. It was a genuine retreat, right at the
+foot of a tall mountain, embowered in a grove of quaking asps. Several
+persons from Colorado Springs, one of them a professor of the college,
+were spending their outing at the cottage, and a delightful fellowship
+we had, discussing birds, literature, and mountain climbing.
+
+After resting awhile, I strolled up the valley to listen to the vesper
+concert of the birds, and a rich one it was. The western robins were
+piping their blithesome "Cheerilies," Audubon's warblers were trilling
+in the pines, and, most of all--but here I had one of the most
+gratifying finds in all my mountain quest. It will perhaps be remembered
+that the white-crowned sparrows, so plentiful in the upper valley, were
+not to be seen in the valley of Moraine Lake. Still there were
+compensations in this cloistered dip among the towering mountains; the
+mountain hermit thrushes--sometimes called Audubon's thrushes--found the
+sequestered valley precisely to their liking, and on the evening in
+question I saw them and heard their pensive cadences for the first time.
+Such exquisite tones, which seemed to take vocal possession of the vale
+and the steep, pine-clad mountain side, it has seldom been my good
+fortune to hear. Scores of the birds were singing simultaneously, some
+of their voices pitched high in the scale and others quite low, as
+though they were furnishing both the air and the contralto of the
+chorus. It was my first opportunity to listen to the songs of any of the
+several varieties of hermit thrushes, and I freely confess that I came,
+a willing captive, under the spell of their minstrelsy, so sweet and sad
+and far away, and yet so rich in vocal expression. In the latter part of
+the run, which is all too brief, there is a strain which bears close
+resemblance to the liquid melody of the eastern wood-thrush, but the
+opening notes have a pathetic quality all their own. Perhaps Charles G.
+D. Roberts can give some idea of one's feelings at a time like this:
+
+    "O hermit of evening! thine hour
+      Is the sacrament of desire,
+    When love hath a heavenlier flower,
+      And passion a holier fire."
+
+A happy moment it was when a nest of this mountain hermit was
+discovered, saddled on one of the lower limbs of a pine and containing
+four eggs of a rich green color. These birds are partial to dense pine
+forests on the steep, rocky mountain sides. They are extremely shy and
+elusive, evidently believing that hermit thrushes ought to be heard and
+not seen. A score or more may be singing at a stone's throw up an
+acclivity, but if you clamber toward them they will simply remove
+further up the mountain, making your effort to see and hear them at
+close range unavailing. That evening, however, as the gloaming settled
+upon the valley, one selected a perch on a dead branch some distance up
+the hillside, and obligingly permitted me to obtain a fair view of him
+with my glass. The hermits breed far up in the mountains, the greatest
+altitude at which I found them being on the sides of Bald Mountain,
+above Seven Lakes and a little below the timber-line. To this day their
+sad refrains are ringing in my ears, bringing back the thought of many
+half-mournful facts and incidents that haunt the memory.
+
+A good night's rest in the cottage, close beneath the unceiled roof,
+prepared the bird-lover for an all-day ramble. The matutinal concert was
+early in full swing, the hermit thrushes, western robins, and Audubon's
+warblers being the chief choralists. One gaudy Audubon's warbler visited
+the quaking asp grove surrounding the cottage, and trilled the choicest
+selections of his repertory. Farther up the valley several Wilson's
+warblers were seen and heard. A shy little bird flitting about in the
+tangle of grass and bushes in the swampy ground above the lake was a
+conundrum to me for a long time, but I now know that it was Lincoln's
+sparrow, which was later found in other ravines among the mountains. It
+is an exceedingly wary bird, keeping itself hidden amid the bushy
+clusters for the greater part of the time, now and then venturing to
+peep out at the intruder, and then bolting quickly into a safe covert.
+Occasionally it will hop out upon the top of a bush in plain sight, and
+remain for a few moments, just long enough for you to fix its identity
+and note the character of its pleasing trill. Some of these points were
+settled afterwards and not on the morning of my first meeting with the
+chary little songster.
+
+My plan for the day was to retrace my steps of the previous afternoon,
+by climbing over the ridge into the upper valley and visiting the famous
+Seven Lakes, which I had missed the day before through a miscalculation
+in my direction. Clark's crows and the mountain jays were abundant on
+the acclivities. One of the latter dashed out of a pine bush with a
+clatter that almost raised the echoes, but, look as I would, I could
+find no nest or young or anything else that would account for the
+racket.
+
+The Seven Lakes are beautiful little sheets of transparent water,
+embosomed among the mountains in a somewhat open valley where there is
+plenty of sunshine. They are visible from the summit of Pike's Peak,
+from which distant viewpoint they sparkle like sapphire gems in a
+setting of green. As seen from the Peak they appear to be quite close
+together, and the land about them seems perfectly level, but when you
+visit the place itself, you learn that some of them are separated from
+the others by ridges of considerable height. Beautiful and sequestered
+as the spot is, I did not find as many birds as I expected. Not a duck
+or water bird of any kind was seen. Perhaps there is too much hunting
+about the lakes, and, besides, winged visitors here would have
+absolutely no protection, for the banks are free of bushes of any
+description, and no rushes or flags grow in the shallower parts. On the
+ridges and mountain sides the kinglets and hermit thrushes were
+abundant, a robin was carolling, a Batchelder woodpecker chirped and
+pounded in his tumultuous way, Clark's crows and several magpies lilted
+about, while below the lakes in the copses the white-crowned sparrows
+and green-tailed towhees held lyrical carnival, their sway disputed only
+by the natty Wilson's warblers.
+
+It was a pleasure to be alive and well in such a place, where one
+breathed invigoration at every draught of the fresh, untainted mountain
+air; nor was it less a delight to sit on the bank of one of the
+transparent lakes and eat my luncheon and quaff from a pellucid spring
+that gushed as cold as ice and as sweet as nectar from the sand, while
+the white-crowned sparrows trilled a serenade in the copses.
+
+Toward evening I clambered down to the cottage by Moraine Lake. The next
+morning, in addition to the birds already observed in the valley, I
+listened to the theme-like recitative of a warbling vireo, and also
+watched a sandpiper teetering about the edge of the water, while a
+red-shafted flicker dashed across the lake to a pine tree on the
+opposite side. As I left this attractive valley, the hermit thrushes
+seemed to waft me a sad farewell.
+
+A little over half a day was spent in walking down from Moraine Lake to
+the Halfway House. It was a saunter that shall never be forgotten, for I
+gathered a half day's tribute of lore from the birds. A narrow green
+hollow, wedging itself into one of the gorges of the towering Peak, and
+watered by a snow-fed mountain brook, proved a very paradise for birds.
+Here was that queer little midget of the Rockies, the broad-tailed
+humming-bird, which performs such wonderful feats of balancing in the
+air; the red-shafted flicker; the western robin, singing precisely like
+his eastern half-brother; a pair of house-wrens guarding their
+treasures; Lincoln's sparrows, not quite so shy as those at Moraine
+Lake; mountain chickadees; olive-sided flycatchers; on the pine-clad
+mountain sides the lyrical hermit thrushes; and finally those
+ballad-singers of the mountain vales, the white-crowned sparrows, one of
+whose nests I was so fortunate as to come upon. It was placed in a small
+pine bush, and was just in process of construction. One of the birds
+flew fiercely at a mischievous chipmunk, and drove him away, as if he
+knew him for an arrant nest-robber.
+
+Leaving this enchanting spot, I trudged down the mountain valleys and
+ravines, holding silent converse everywhere with the birds, and at
+length reached a small park, green and bushy, a short distance above the
+Halfway House. While jogging along, my eye caught sight of a gray-headed
+junco, which flitted from a clump of bushes bordering the stream to a
+spot on the ground close to some shrubs. The act appeared so suggestive
+that I decided to reconnoitre. I walked cautiously to the spot where the
+bird had dropped down, and in a moment she flew up with a scolding
+chipper. There was the nest, set on the ground in the grass and cosily
+hidden beneath the over-arching branches of a low bush. Had the mother
+bird been wise and courageous enough to retain her place, her secret
+would not have been betrayed, the nest was so well concealed.
+
+The pretty couch contained four juvenile juncos covered only with down,
+and yet, in spite of their extreme youth, their foreheads and lores
+showed black, and their backs a distinctly reddish tint, so early in
+life were they adopting the pattern worn by their parents. The
+persistency of species in the floral and faunal realms presents some
+hard nuts for the evolutionist to crack. But that is an excursus, and
+would lead us too far afield. This was the first junco's nest I had ever
+found, and no one can blame me for feeling gratified with the
+discovery. The gray-headed juncos were very abundant in the Rockies, and
+are the only species at present known to breed in the State of Colorado.
+They are differentiated from the common slate-colored snowbird by their
+ash-gray suits, modestly decorated with a rust-colored patch on the
+back.
+
+It was now far past noon, and beginning to feel weak with hunger, I
+reluctantly said adieu to the junco and her brood, and hurried on to the
+Halfway House, where a luncheon of sandwiches, pie and coffee
+strengthened me for the remainder of my tramp down the mountain to
+Manitou. That was a walk which lingers like a Greek legend in my memory
+on account of--well, that is the story that remains to be told.
+
+On a former visit to the Halfway House I was mentally knocked off my
+feet by several glimpses of a woodpecker which was entirely new to me,
+and of whose existence I was not even aware until this gorgeous
+gentleman hove in sight. He was the handsomest member of the _Picidæ_
+family I have ever seen--his upper parts glossy black, some portions
+showing a bluish iridescence; his belly rich sulphur yellow, a bright
+red median stripe on the throat, set in the midst of the black, looking
+like a small necktie; two white stripes running along the side of the
+head, and a large white patch covering the middle and greater
+wing-coverts. Altogether, an odd livery for a woodpecker. Silently he
+swung from bole to bole for a few minutes, and then disappeared.
+
+Not until I reached my room in Manitou could I fix the bird's place in
+the avicular system. By consulting Coues's _Key_ and Professor Cooke's
+brochure on the _Birds of Colorado_, I found this quaintly costumed
+woodpecker to be Williamson's sapsucker (_Sphyrapicus thyroideus_),
+known only in the western part of the United States from the Rocky
+Mountains to the Pacific coast. I now lingered in the beautiful pine
+grove surrounding the Halfway House, hoping to see him again, but he did
+not appear, and I reluctantly started down the cog-wheel track.
+
+As I was turning a bend in the road, I caught sight of a mountain
+chickadee flitting to a dead snag on the slope at the right, the next
+moment slipping into a small hole leading inside. I climbed up to the
+shelf, a small level nook among the tall pines on the mountain side, to
+inspect her retreat, for it was the first nest of this interesting
+species that I found. The chickadee flashed in and out of the orifice,
+carrying food to her little ones, surreptitiously executing her
+housewifely duties. The mountain tit seems to be a shy and quiet little
+body when compared with the common black-cap known in the East.
+
+While watching this bird from my place of concealment, I became
+conscious of the half-suppressed chirping of a woodpecker, and, to my
+intense joy, a moment later a Williamson's sapsucker swung to a pine
+bole a little below me and began pecking leisurely and with assumed
+nonchalance for grubs in the fissures of the bark. From my hiding-place
+behind some bushes I kept my eye on the handsome creature. An artist
+might well covet the privilege of painting this elegant bird as he
+scales the wall of a pine tree. Presently he glided to a snag not more
+than a rod from the chickadee's domicile, and then I noticed that the
+dead bole was perforated by a number of woodpecker holes, into one of
+which the sapsucker presently slipped with the tidbit he held in his
+bill. The doorway was almost too small for him, obliging him to turn
+slightly sidewise and make some effort to effect an entrance. Fortune
+had treated me as one of her favorites: I had discovered the nest of
+Williamson's sapsucker.
+
+But still another surprise was in store. A low, dubious chirping was
+heard, and then the female ambled leisurely to the snag and hitched up
+to the orifice. She made several efforts to enter, but could not while
+her spouse was within. Presently he wormed himself out, whereupon she
+went in, and remained for some time. At length I crept to the snag and
+beat against it with my cane. She was loath to leave the nest, but after
+a little while decided that discretion was the better part of valor.
+When she came out, my presence so near her nursery caused her not a
+little agitation, which she displayed by flinging about from bole to
+bole and uttering a nervous chirp.
+
+As to costume, the male and the female had little in common. Her back
+was picturesquely mottled and barred with black and white, her head
+light brown, her breast decorated with a large black patch, and her
+other under parts yellow. Had the couple not been seen together flitting
+about the nest, they would not have been regarded as mates, so
+differently were they habited.
+
+Standing before the doorway of the nursery--it was not quite so high as
+my head--I could plainly hear the chirping of the youngsters within.
+Much as I coveted the sight of a brood of this rare species, I could not
+bring myself to break down the walls of their cottage and thus expose
+them to the claws and beaks of their foes. Even scientific curiosity
+must be restrained by considerations of mercy.
+
+The liege lord of the family had now disappeared. Desirous of seeing him
+once more, I hid myself in a bush-clump near at hand and awaited his
+return. Presently he came ambling along and scrambled into the orifice,
+turning his body sidewise, as he had done before. I made my way quietly
+to the snag and tapped upon it with my cane, but he did not come out, as
+I expected him to do. Then I struck the snag more vigorously. No result.
+Then I whacked the bole directly in the rear of the nest, while I stood
+close at one side watching the doorway. The bird came to the orifice,
+peeped out, then, seeing me, quickly drew back, determined not to desert
+his brood in what he must have regarded as an emergency. In spite of all
+my pounding and coaxing and feigned scolding--and I kept up the racket
+for several minutes--I did not succeed in driving the _pater familias_
+from his post of duty. Once he apparently made a slight effort to
+escape, but evidently stuck fast in the entrance, and so dropped back
+and would not leave, only springing up to the door and peeping out at me
+when my appeals became especially vigorous. It appeared like a genuine
+case of "I'm determined to defend my children, or die in the attempt!"
+
+Meanwhile the mother bird was flitting about in an agitated way,
+uttering piteous cries of remonstrance and entreaty. Did that bandit
+intend to rob her of both her husband and her children? It was useless,
+if not wanton, to hector the poor creatures any longer, even to study
+their behavior under trying circumstances; and I left them in peace, and
+hurried down to my lodgings in Manitou, satisfied with the results of my
+day's ramble.
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS OF THE ARID PLAIN
+
+[Illustration: PLATE III
+
+LAZULI BUNTING--_Cyanospiza amoena_
+(Upper figure, male; lower, female)]
+
+
+Having explored the summit of Pike's Peak and part of its southern slope
+down to the timber-line, and spent several delightful days in the upper
+valleys of the mountains, as well as in exploring several cañons, the
+rambler was desirous of knowing what species of birds reside on the
+plain stretching eastward from the bases of the towering ranges. One
+afternoon in the latter part of June, I found myself in a straggling
+village about forty miles east of Colorado Springs.
+
+On looking around, I was discouraged, and almost wished I had not come;
+for all about me extended the parched and treeless plain, with only here
+and there a spot that had a cast of verdure, and even that was of a dull
+and sickly hue. Far off to the northeast rose a range of low hills
+sparsely covered with scraggy pines, but they were at least ten miles
+away, perhaps twenty, and had almost as arid an aspect as that of the
+plains themselves. Only one small cluster of deciduous trees was
+visible, about a mile up a shallow valley or "draw." Surely this was a
+most unpromising field for bird study. If I had only been content to
+remain among the mountains, where, even though the climbing was
+difficult, there were brawling brooks, shady woodlands, and green, copsy
+vales in which many feathered friends had lurked!
+
+[Illustration: _Desert Horned Larks_
+
+"_They were plentiful in this parched region_"]
+
+But wherever the bird-lover chances to be, his mania leads him to look
+for his favorites, and he is seldom disappointed; rather, he is often
+delightfully surprised. People were able to make a livelihood here, as
+was proved by the presence of the village and a few scattering dwellings
+on the plain; then why not the birds, which are as thrifty and wise in
+many ways as their human relatives? In a short time my baggage was
+stowed in a safe place, and, field-glass in hand, I sallied forth for my
+first jaunt on a Colorado plain. But, hold! what were these active
+little birds, hopping about on the street and sipping from the pool by
+the village well? They were the desert horned larks, so called because
+they select the dry plains of the West as their dwelling place. They are
+interesting birds. The fewer trees and the less humidity, provided
+there is a spot not too far away at which they may quench their thirst
+and rinse their feathers, the better they seem to be pleased. They were
+plentiful in this parched region, running or flying cheerfully before me
+wherever my steps were bent. I could not help wondering how many
+thousands of them--and millions, perhaps--had taken up free homesteads
+on the seemingly limitless plains of eastern Colorado.
+
+Most of the young had already left the nest, and were flying about in
+the company of their elders, learning the fine art of making a living
+for themselves and evading the many dangers to which bird flesh is heir.
+The youngsters could readily be distinguished from their seniors by the
+absence of distinct black markings on throat, chest, and forehead, and
+the lighter cast of their entire plumage.
+
+Sometimes these birds are called shore larks; but that is evidently a
+misnomer, or at least a very inapt name, for they are not in the least
+partial to the sea-shore or even the shores of lakes, but are more
+disposed to take up their residence in inland and comparatively dry
+regions. There are several varieties, all bearing a very close
+resemblance, so close, indeed, that only an expert ornithologist can
+distinguish them, even with the birds in hand. The common horned lark is
+well known in the eastern part of the United States as a winter
+resident, while in the middle West, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, etc.,
+are to be found the prairie horned larks, which, as their name
+indicates, choose the open prairie for their home. The desert horned
+larks are tenants exclusively of the arid plains, mesas, and mountain
+parks of the West. There is still another variety, called the pallid
+horned lark, which spends the winter in Colorado, then hies himself
+farther north in summer to rear his brood.
+
+As I pursued my walk, one of these birds suddenly assumed an alert
+attitude, then darted into the air, mounting up, up, up, in a series of
+swift leaps, like "an embodied joy whose race has just begun." Up he
+soared until he could no longer be seen with the naked eye, and even
+through my field-glass he was a mere speck against the blue canopy, and
+yet, high as he had gone, his ditty filtered down to me through the
+still, rarefied atmosphere, like a sifting of fine sand. His descent was
+a grand plunge, made with the swiftness of an Indian's arrow, his head
+bent downward, his wings partly folded, and his tail perked upward at
+precisely the proper angle to make a rudder, all the various organs so
+finely adjusted as to convert him into a perfectly dirigible parachute.
+Swift as his descent was, he alighted on the ground as lightly as a tuft
+of down. It was the poetry of motion. One or two writers have insisted
+that the horned lark's empyrean song compares favorably with that of
+the European skylark; but, loyal and patriotic an American as we are,
+honesty compels us to concede that our bird's voice is much feebler and
+less musical than that of his celebrated relative across the sea. It
+sounds like the unmelodious clicking of pebbles, while the song of the
+skylark is loud, clear, and ringing.
+
+Our birds of the plain find insects to their taste in the short grass
+which carpets the land with greenish or olive gray. The following
+morning a mother lark was seen gathering insects and holding them in her
+bill--a sure sign of fledglings in the near neighborhood. I decided to
+watch her, and, if possible, find her bantlings. It required not a
+little patience, for she was wary and the sun poured down a flood of
+almost blistering heat. This way and that she scurried over the ground,
+now picking up an insect and adding it to the store already in her bill,
+and now standing almost erect to eye me narrowly and with some
+suspicion. At length she seemed to settle down for a moment upon a
+particular spot, and when I looked again with my glass, her beak was
+empty. I examined every inch of ground, as I thought, in the
+neighborhood of the place where she had stopped, but could find neither
+nest nor nestlings.
+
+Again I turned my attention to the mother bird, which meanwhile had
+gathered another bunch of insects and was hopping about with them
+through the croppy grass, now and then adding to her accumulation until
+her mouth was full. For a long time she zigzagged about, going by
+provoking fits and starts. At length fortune favored me, for through my
+levelled glass I suddenly caught sight of a small, grayish-looking ball
+hopping and tumbling from a cactus clump toward the mother bird, who
+jabbed the contents of her bill into a small, open mouth. I followed a
+bee-line to the spot, and actually had to scan the ground sharply for a
+few moments before I could distinguish the youngster from its
+surroundings, for it had squatted flat, its gray and white plumage
+harmonizing perfectly with the grayish desert grass.
+
+[Illustration: _Lark_
+
+"_It was a dear little thing_"]
+
+It was a dear little thing, and did not try to escape, although I took
+it up in my hand and stroked its downy back again and again. Sometimes
+it closed its eyes as if it were sleepy. When I placed it on the ground,
+it hopped away a few inches, and by accident punctured the fleshy corner
+of its mouth with a sharp cactus thorn, and had to jerk itself loose,
+bringing the blood from the lacerated part. Meanwhile the mother lark
+went calmly about her household duties, merely keeping a watchful eye
+on the human meddler, and making no outcry when she saw her infant in my
+possession. I may have been _persona non grata_, but, if so, she did not
+express her feeling. This was the youngest horned lark seen by me in my
+rambles on the plains.
+
+Perhaps the reader will care to know something about the winter habits
+of these birds. They do not spend the season of cold and storm in the
+mountains, not even those that breed there, for the snow is very deep
+and the tempests especially fierce. Many of them, however, remain in the
+foothills and on the mesas and plains, where they find plenty of seeds
+and berries for their sustenance, unless the weather chances to be
+unusually severe. One winter, not long ago, the snow continued to lie
+much longer than usual, cutting off the natural food supply of the
+larks. What regimen did they adopt in that exigency? They simply went to
+town. Many of the kindly disposed citizens of Colorado Springs scattered
+crumbs and millet seeds on the streets and lawns, and of this supply the
+little visitors ate greedily, becoming quite tame. As soon, however, as
+the snow disappeared they took their departure, not even stopping to say
+thanks or adieu; although we may take it for granted that they felt
+grateful for favors bestowed.
+
+Besides the horned larks, many other birds were found on the plain. Next
+in abundance were the western meadow-larks. Persons who live in the
+East and are familiar with the songs of the common meadow-lark, should
+hear the vocal performances of the westerners. The first time I heard
+one of them, the minstrelsy was so strange to my ear, so different from
+anything I had ever heard, I was thrown into an ecstasy of delight, and
+could not imagine from what kind of bird larynx so quaint a medley could
+emanate. The song opened with a loud, fine, piercing whistle, and ended
+with an abrupt staccato gurgle much lower in the musical staff, sounding
+precisely as if the soloist's performance had been suddenly choked off
+by the rising of water in the windpipe. It was something after the order
+of the purple martin's melodious sputter, only the tones were richer and
+fuller and the music better defined, as became a genuine oscine. His
+sudden and emphatic cessation seemed to indicate that he was in a
+petulant mood, perhaps impatient with the intruder, or angry with a
+rival songster.
+
+Afterwards I heard him--or, rather, one of his brothers--sing arias so
+surpassingly sweet that I voted him the master minstrel of the western
+plains, prairies, and meadows. One evening as I was returning to
+Colorado Springs from a long tramp through one of the cañons of the
+mountains, a western meadow-lark sat on a small tree and sang six
+different tunes within the space of a few minutes. Two of them were so
+exquisite and unique that I involuntarily sprang to my feet with a cry
+of delight. There he sat in the lengthening shadows of Cheyenne
+Mountain, the champion phrase-fluter of the irrigated meadow in which he
+and a number of his comrades had found a summer home.
+
+On the plain, at the time of my visit, the meadow-larks were not quite
+so tuneful, for here the seasons are somewhat earlier than in the
+proximity of the mountains, and the time of courtship and incubation was
+over. Still, they sang enough to prove themselves members of a gifted
+musical family. Observers in the East will remember the sputtering call
+of the eastern larks when they are alarmed or their suspicions are
+aroused. The western larks do not utter alarums of that kind, but a
+harsh "chack" instead, very similar to the call of the grackles. The
+nesting habits of the eastern and western species are the same, their
+domiciles being placed on the ground amid the grass, often prettily
+arched over in the rear and made snug and neat.
+
+It must not be thought, because my monograph on the western larks is
+included in this chapter, that they dwell exclusively on the arid plain.
+No; they revel likewise in the areas of verdure bordering the streams,
+in the irrigated fields and meadows, and in the watered portions of the
+upper mountain parks.
+
+An interesting question is the following: Are the eastern and western
+meadow-larks distinct species, or only varieties somewhat specialized by
+differences of locality and environment? It is a problem over which the
+scientific professors have had not a little disputation. My own opinion
+is that they are distinct species and do not cohabit, and the conviction
+is based on some special investigations, though not of the kind that are
+made with the birds in hand. It has been my privilege to study both
+forms in the field. In the first place, their vocal exhibitions are very
+different, so much so as to indicate a marked diversity in the organic
+structure of their larynxes. Much as I have listened to their
+minstrelsy, I have never known one kind to borrow from the musical
+repertory of the other. True, there are strains in the arias of the
+westerners that closely resemble the clear, liquid whistle of the
+eastern larks, but they occur right in the midst of the song and are
+part and parcel of it, and therefore afford no evidence of mimicry or
+amalgamation. Even the trills of the grassfinch and the song-sparrow
+have points of similarity; does that prove that they borrow from each
+other, or that espousals sometimes occur between the two species?
+
+The habiliments of the two forms of larks are more divergent than would
+appear at first blush. Above, the coloration of _neglecta_ (the western)
+is paler and grayer than that of _magna_, the black markings being less
+conspicuous, and those on the tertials and middle tail-feathers being
+arranged in narrow, isolated bars, and not connected along the shaft.
+While the flanks and under tail-coverts of _magna_ are distinctly washed
+with buff, those of _neglecta_ are white, very faintly tinged with buff,
+if at all. The yellow of the throat of the eastern form does not spread
+out laterally over the malar region, as does that of the western lark.
+All of which tends to prove that the two forms are distinct.
+
+Early in the spring of 1901 the writer took a trip to Oklahoma in the
+interest of bird-study, and found both kinds of meadow-larks extremely
+abundant and lavish of their melodies on the fertile prairies. He
+decided to carry on a little original investigation in the field of
+inquiry now under discussion. One day, in a draw of the prairie, he
+noticed a western meadow-lark which was unusually lyrical, having the
+skill of a past-master in the art of trilling and gurgling and fluting.
+Again and again I went to the place, on the same day and on different
+days, and invariably found the westerner there, perching on the fence or
+a weed-stem, and greeting me with his exultant lays. But, mark: no
+eastern lark ever intruded on his preserve. In other and more distant
+parts of the broad field the easterners were blowing their piccolos, but
+they did not encroach on the domain of the lyrical westerner, who, with
+his mate--now on her nest in the grass--had evidently jumped his claim
+and held it with a high hand. In many other places in Oklahoma and
+Kansas where both species dwell, I have noticed the same interesting
+fact--that in the breeding season each form selects a special precinct,
+into which the other form does not intrude. They perhaps put up some
+kind of trespass sign. These observations have all but convinced me that
+_S. magna_ and _S. neglecta_ are distinct species, and avoid getting
+mixed up in their family affairs.
+
+Nor is that all. While both forms dwell on the vast prairies of
+Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, yet, as you travel eastward, the western
+larks gradually diminish in number until at length they entirely
+disappear; whereas, if you journey westward, the precise opposite
+occurs. I have never heard _neglecta_ east of the Missouri River,[4] nor
+_magna_ on the plains of Colorado. Therefore the conclusion is almost
+forced upon the observer that there are structural and organic
+differences between the two forms.
+
+    [4] He sometimes ventures, though sparingly, as far east as Illinois
+    and Wisconsin; still my statement is true--I have never heard the
+    western lark even in the bottoms and meadows of the broad valley
+    east of the Missouri River, while, one spring morning, I did hear
+    one of these birds fluting in the top of a cottonwood tree in my
+    yard on the high western bluff of that stream.
+
+After the foregoing deductions had been reached, the writer bethought
+him of consulting Ridgway's Manual on the subject, and was gratified to
+find his views corroborated by a footnote answering to an asterisk
+affixed to the name of the western lark:
+
+    "Without much doubt a distinct species. The occurrence of both _S.
+    neglecta_ and _S. magna_ together in many portions of the
+    Mississippi Valley, each in its typical style (the ranges of the two
+    overlapping, in fact, for a distance of several hundred miles),
+    taken together with the excessive rarity of intermediate specimens
+    and the universally attested radical difference in their notes, are
+    facts wholly incompatible with the theory of their being merely
+    geographical races of the same species."
+
+This has been a long _excursus_, and we must get back to our jaunt on
+the plain. While I was engaged in watching the birds already named, my
+ear was greeted by a loud, clear, bell-like call; and, on looking in the
+direction from which it came, I observed a bird hovering over a ploughed
+field not far away, and then descending with graceful, poising flight to
+the ground. It proved to be the Arkansas flycatcher, a large, elegant
+bird that is restricted to the West. I had never seen this species.
+Nothing like him is known in the East, the crested flycatcher being most
+nearly a copy of him, although the manners of the two birds are quite
+unlike. The body of the western bird is as large as that of the robin,
+and he must be considerably longer from tip of beak to tip of tail. He
+is a fine-looking fellow, presenting a handsome picture as he stands on
+a weed-stalk or a fence-post, his yellow jacket gleaming in the sun. He
+is the possessor of a clear, musical voice, and if he had the vocal
+organs of some of the oscines, he certainly would be one of the best
+feathered lyrists of America. Unfortunately he is able to do nothing but
+chirp and chatter, although he puts not a little music into his simple
+vocal exercises.
+
+It was surprising to note on how slender a weed-stalk so large a bird
+was able to perch. There being few trees and fences in this region, he
+has doubtless gained expertness through practice in the art of securing
+a foot-hold on the tops of the weed-stems. Some of the weeds on which he
+stood with perfect ease and grace were extremely lithe and flexible and
+almost devoid of branches.
+
+But what was the cause of this particular bird's intense solicitude? It
+was obvious there was a nest in the neighborhood. As I sought in the
+grass and weed-clumps, he uttered his piercing calls of protest and
+circled and hovered overhead like a red-winged blackbird. Suddenly the
+thought occurred to me that the flycatchers of my acquaintance do not
+nest on the ground, but on trees. I looked around, and, sure enough, in
+the shallow hollow below me stood a solitary willow tree not more than
+fifteen or twenty feet high, the only tree to be seen within a mile. And
+that lone tree on the plain was occupied by the flycatcher and his mate
+for a nesting place. In a crotch the gray cottage was set, containing
+three callow babies and one beautifully mottled egg.
+
+In another fork of the same small tree a pair of kingbirds--the same
+species as our well-known eastern bee-martins--had built their nest, in
+the downy cup of which lay four eggs similarly decorated with brown
+spots. The birds now all circled overhead and joined in an earnest plea
+with me not to destroy their homes and little ones, and I hurriedly
+climbed down from the tree to relieve their agitation, stopping only a
+moment to examine the twine plaited into the felted nests of the
+kingbirds. The willow sapling contained also the nest of a turtle dove.
+
+"If there are three nests in this small tree, there may be a large
+number in the cluster of trees beyond the swell about a mile away," I
+mused, and forthwith made haste to go to the place indicated. I was not
+disappointed. Had the effort been made, I am sure two score of nests
+might have been found in these trees, for they were liberally decorated
+with bird cots and hammocks. Most of these were kingbirds' and Arkansas
+flycatchers' nests, but there were others as well. On one small limb
+there were four of the dangling nests of Bullock's orioles, one of them
+fresh, the rest more or less weather beaten, proving that this bird had
+been rearing broods here for a number of seasons.
+
+Whose song was this ringing from one of the larger trees a little
+farther down the glade? I could scarcely believe the testimony of my
+ears and eyes, yet there could be no mistake--it was the vivacious
+mimicry of the mocking-bird, which had travelled far across the plain to
+this solitary clump of trees to find singing perches and a site for his
+nests. He piped his musical miscellany with as much good-cheer as if he
+were dwelling in the neighborhood of some embowered cottage in
+Dixie-land. In suitable localities on the plains of Colorado the mockers
+were found to be quite plentiful, but none were seen among the
+mountains.
+
+A network of twigs and vines in one of the small willows afforded a
+support and partial covert for the nest of a pair of white-rumped
+shrikes. It contained six thickly speckled eggs, and was the first nest
+of this species I had ever found. The same hollow,--if so shallow a dip
+in the plain can be called a hollow,--was selected as the home of
+several pairs of red-winged and Brewer's blackbirds, which built their
+grassy cots in the low bushes of a slightly boggy spot, where a feeble
+spring oozed from the ground. It was a special pleasure to find a
+green-tailed towhee in the copse of the draw, for I had supposed that he
+always hugged close to the steep mountain sides.
+
+A walk before breakfast the next morning added several more avian
+species to my roll. To my surprise, a pair of mountain bluebirds had
+chosen the village for their summer residence, and were building a nest
+in the coupler of a freight car standing on a side track. The domicile
+was almost completed, and I could not help feeling sorry for the pretty,
+innocent couple, at the thought that the car would soon be rolling
+hundreds of miles away, and all their loving toil would go for naught.
+Bluebirds had previously been seen at the timber-line among the
+mountains, and here was a pair forty miles out on the plain--quite a
+range for this species, both longitudinally and vertically.
+
+During the forenoon the following birds were observed: A family of
+juvenile Arkansas flycatchers, which were being fed by their parents; a
+half-dozen or more western grassfinches, trilling the same pensive tunes
+as their eastern half-brothers; a small, long-tailed sparrow, which I
+could not identify at the time, but which I now feel certain was
+Lincoln's sparrow; these, with a large marsh-harrier and a colony of
+cliff-swallows, completed my bird catalogue at this place. It may not be
+amiss to add that several jack-rabbits went skipping over the swells;
+that many families of prairie dogs were visited, and that a coyotte
+galloped lightly across the plain, stopping and looking back
+occasionally to see whether he were being pursued.
+
+It was no difficult task to study the birds on the plain. Having few
+hiding-places in a locality almost destitute of trees and bushes, where
+even the grass was too short to afford a covert, they naturally felt
+little fear of man, and hence were easily approached. Their cousins
+residing in the mountains were, as a rule, provokingly wary. The number
+of birds that had pre-empted homesteads on the treeless wastes was
+indeed a gratifying surprise, and I went back to the mountains refreshed
+by the pleasant change my brief excursion upon the plains had afforded
+me.
+
+[Illustration: _Coyotte_
+
+"_Looking back to see whether he were being pursued_"]
+
+
+
+
+A PRETTY HUMMER
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Where do you suppose I got my first glimpse of the mite in feathers
+called the broad-tailed humming-bird? It was in a green bower in the
+Rocky Mountains in plain sight of the towering summit of Pike's Peak,
+which seemed almost to be standing guard over the place. Two brawling
+mountain brooks met here, and, joining their forces, went with increased
+speed and gurgle down the glades and gorges. As they sped through this
+ravine, they slightly overflowed their banks, making a boggy area of
+about an acre as green as green could be; and here amid the grass and
+bushes a number of birds found a pleasant summer home, among them the
+dainty hummer.
+
+From the snow-drifts, still to be seen in the sheltered gorges of Pike's
+Peak, the breezes would frequently blow down into the nook with a
+freshness that stimulated like wine with no danger of intoxicating; and
+it was no wonder that the white-crowned sparrows, Lincoln's sparrows,
+the robins and wrens, and several other species, found in this spot a
+pleasant place to live. One of the narrow valleys led directly up to the
+base of the massive cone of the Peak, its stream fed by the snow-fields
+shining in the sun. Going around by the valley of Seven Lakes, I had
+walked down from the summit, but nowhere had I seen the tiny hummer
+until I reached the green nook just described. Still, he sometimes
+ascends to an elevation of eleven thousand feet above the level of the
+sea.
+
+_ONE OF THE SEVEN LAKES_
+
+_PIKE'S PEAK shows dimly in the background, more plainly in the
+reflection. Viewed from the peak, the lakes sparkle like opaline gems in
+the sun. The waters are so clear that an inverted world is seen in their
+transparent depths. The valley is an elysium for many kinds of birds,
+most of them described in the text. The white-crowned sparrows love the
+shores of these beautiful lakes, which mirror the blithe forms of the
+birds. The pine forests of the mountain sides are vocal with the
+refrains of the hermit thrushes._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Our feathered dot is gorgeous with his metallic green upper parts,
+bordered on the tail with purplish black, his white or grayish under
+parts, and his gorget of purple which gleams in bright, varying tints in
+the sun. He closely resembles our common ruby-throated humming-bird,
+whose gorget is intense crimson instead of purple, and who does not
+venture into the Rocky Mountain region, but dwells exclusively in the
+eastern part of North America. It is a little strange that the eastern
+part of our country attracts only one species of the large hummer
+family, while the western portion, including the Rocky Mountain region,
+can boast of at least seventeen different kinds as summer residents or
+visitors.
+
+My attention was first directed to the broad-tailed hummer by seeing him
+darting about in the air with the swiftness of an arrow, sipping honey
+from the flower cups, and then flying to the twigs of a dead tree that
+stood in the marsh. There he sat, turning his head this way and that,
+and watching me with his keen little eyes. It was plain he did not trust
+me, and therefore resented my presence. Though an unwelcome guest, I
+prolonged my call for several hours, during which I made many heroic but
+vain attempts to find his nest.
+
+But what was the meaning of a sharp, insect-like buzzing that fell at
+intervals on my ear? Presently I succeeded in tracing the sound to the
+hummer, which utters it whenever he darts from his perch and back again,
+especially if there is a spectator or a rival near at hand, for whom he
+seems in this way to express his contempt. It is a vocal sound, or, at
+least, it comes from his throat, and is much louder and sharper than the
+_susurrus_ produced by the rapid movement of his wings. This I ascertain
+by hearing both the sounds at the same time.
+
+But the oddest prank which this hummer performs is to dart up in the
+air, and then down, almost striking a bush or a clump of grass at each
+descent, repeating this feat a number of times with a swiftness that the
+eye can scarcely follow. Having done this, he will swing up into the air
+so far that you can scarcely see him with the naked eye; the next moment
+he will drop into view, poise in mid-air seventy-five or a hundred feet
+above your head, supporting himself by a swift motion of the wings, and
+simply hitching to right and left in short arcs, as if he were fixed on
+a pivot, sometimes meanwhile whirling clear around. There he hangs on
+his invisible axis until you grow tired watching him, and then he darts
+to his favorite perch on the dead tree.
+
+No doubt John Vance Cheney had in mind another species when he composed
+the following metrical description, but it aptly characterized the
+volatile broad-tail as well:
+
+    "Voyager on golden air,
+    Type of all that's fleet and fair,
+    Incarnate gem,
+    Live diadem,
+    Bird-beam of the summer day,--
+    Whither on your sunny way?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Stay, forget lost Paradise,
+    Star-bird fallen from happy skies."
+
+After that first meeting the broad-tailed hummers were frequently seen
+in my rambles among the Rockies. In some places there were small
+colonies of them. They did not always dwell together in harmony, but
+often pursued one another like tiny furies, with a loud z-z-z-zip that
+meant defiance and war. The swiftness of their movements often excited
+my wonder, and it was difficult to see how they kept from impaling
+themselves on thorns or snags, so reckless were their lightning-like
+passages through the bushes and trees. When four or five of them were
+found in one place, they would fairly thread the air with green and
+purple as they described their circles and loops and festoons with a
+rapidity that fairly made my head whirl. At one place several of them
+grew very bold, dashing at me or wheeling around my head, coming so
+close that I could hear the _susurrus_ of their wings as well as the
+sharp, challenging buzz from their throats.
+
+Perhaps it would interest you to know where the rambler found these tiny
+hummers. They were never in the dark cañons and gorges, nor in the
+ravines that were heavily wooded with pine, but in the open, sunshiny
+glades and valleys, where there were green grass and bright flowers. In
+the upper part of both North and South Cheyenne Cañons they were
+plentiful, although they avoided the most scenic parts of these
+wonderful mountain gorges. Another place where they found a pleasant
+summer home was in a green pocket of the mountain above Red Cliff, a
+village on the western side of the great range. On descending the
+mountains to the town of Glenwood, I did not find them, and therefore am
+disposed to think that in the breeding season they do not choose to
+dwell in too low or too high an altitude, but seek suitable places at an
+elevation of from seven thousand to nine thousand feet.
+
+_SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK_
+
+_Only a small portion of the peak is shown in the view. The
+comparatively level area referred to in the text lies back of the signal
+station on the crest. At a garbage heap near the building a flock of
+leucostictes were seen, and the writer was told that they came there
+regularly to feed. From this sublime height the American pipits rise on
+resilient wings hundreds of feet into the air until they disappear in
+the cerulean depths of the sky, singing all the while at "heaven's
+gate."_
+
+[Illustration]
+
+One day, while staying at Buena Vista, Colorado, I hired a saddle-horse
+and rode to Cottonwood Lake, twelve miles away, among the rugged
+mountains. The valley is wide enough here to admit of a good deal of
+sunshine, and therefore flowers studded the ground in places. It was
+here I saw the only female broad-tailed hummer that was met with in my
+rambles in the Rockies. She was flitting among the flowers, and did not
+make the buzzing sound that the males produce wherever found. She was
+not clad so elegantly as were her masculine relatives, for the
+throat-patch was white instead of purple, and the green on her back did
+not gleam so brightly. But, oddly enough, her sides and under
+tail-coverts were stained with a rufous tint--a color that does not
+appear at all in the costume of the male.
+
+A curious habit of these hummers is worth describing. The males remain
+in the breeding haunts until the young are out of the nest and are
+beginning to be able to shift for themselves. Then the papas begin to
+disappear, and in about ten days all have gone, leaving the mothers and
+the youngsters to tarry about the summer home until the latter are
+strong enough to make the journey to some resort lower in the mountains
+or farther south. The reason the males do this is perhaps evident
+enough, for at a certain date the flowers upon whose sweets the birds
+largely subsist begin to grow scant, and so if they remained there
+would not be enough for all.
+
+In the San Francisco Mountains of Arizona, Doctor Merriam found the
+broad-tails very abundant in the balsam timber and the upper part of the
+pine belt, where they breed in the latter part of July; after which they
+remain in that region until the middle of September, even though the
+weather often becomes quite frosty at night. At break of day, in spite
+of the cold, they will gather in large flocks at some spring to drink
+and bathe. Doctor Merriam says about them at such times:
+
+    "They were like swarms of bees, buzzing about one's head and darting
+    to and fro in every direction. The air was full of them. They would
+    drop down to the water, dip their feet and bellies, and rise and
+    shoot away as if propelled by an unseen power. They would often dart
+    at the face of an intruder as if bent on piercing the eye with their
+    needle-like bills, and then poise for a moment almost within reach
+    before turning, when they were again lost in the busy throng.
+    Whether this act was prompted by curiosity or resentment I was not
+    able to ascertain."
+
+As has already been said, there is not always unruffled peace in the
+hummer family. Among the Rocky Mountains, and especially on the western
+side of the range, there dwells another little hummer called the rufous
+humming-bird, because the prevailing color of his plumage is reddish,
+and between this family and the broad-tails there exists a bitter feud.
+When, in the migrating season, a large number of both species gather
+together in a locality where there is a cluster of wild-flowers, the
+picture they make as they dart to and fro and bicker and fight for some
+choice blossom, their metallic colors flashing in the sun, is so
+brilliant as never to be forgotten by the spectator who is fortunate
+enough to witness it.
+
+[Illustration: "_Pike's Peak in cloudland_"]
+
+
+
+
+OVER THE DIVIDE AND BACK
+
+
+One June day a Denver & Rio Grande train bore the bird-lover from
+Colorado Springs to Pueblo, thence westward to the mountains, up the
+Grand Cañon of the Arkansas River, through the Royal Gorge, past the
+smiling, sunshiny upper mountain valleys, over the Divide at Tennessee
+Pass, and then down the western slopes to the next stopping-place, which
+was Red Cliff, a village nestling in a deep mountain ravine at the
+junction of Eagle River and Turkey Creek. The following day, a little
+after "peep o' dawn," I was out on the street, and was impressed by a
+song coming from the trees on the acclivity above the village. "Surely
+that is a new song," I said to myself; "and yet it seems to have a
+familiar air." A few minutes of hard climbing brought me near enough to
+get my glass on the little lyrist, and then I found it was only the
+house-wren! "How could you be led astray by so familiar a song?" you
+inquire. Well, that is the humiliating part of the incident, for I have
+been listening to the house-wren's gurgling sonata for some twenty
+years--rather more than less--and should have recognized it at once;
+only it must be remembered that I was in a strange place, and had my
+ears and eyes set for avian rarities, and therefore blundered.[5]
+
+    [5] On this incident I quote a personal note from my friend, Mr.
+    Aiken: "The wren of the Rockies is the western house-wren, but is
+    the same form as that found in the Mississippi Valley. It is quite
+    possible that a difference in song may occur, but I have not noticed
+    any."
+
+[Illustration: _Cliff-Swallows_
+
+"_On the rugged face of a cliff_"]
+
+To my surprise, I found many birds on those steep mountain sides, which
+were quite well timbered. Above the village a colony of cliff-swallows
+had a nesting place on the rugged face of a cliff, and were soaring
+about catching insects and attending to the wants of their greedy young.
+
+Besides the species named, I here found warbling vireos, broad-tailed
+humming-birds, western nighthawks, ruby-crowned kinglets, magpies,
+summer warblers, mountain chickadees, western wood-pewees, Louisiana
+tanagers, long-crested jays, kingfishers, gray-headed juncos,
+red-shafted flickers, pygmy nuthatches, house-finches, mountain jays,
+and Clarke's nutcrackers. The only species noted here that had not
+previously been seen east of the Divide was the pygmy nuthatch, a little
+bird which scales the trunks and branches of trees like all his family,
+but which is restricted to the Rocky Mountains. Like the white-breasted
+nuthatch, he utters an alto call, "Yang! yang! yang!" only it is soft
+and low--a miniature edition of the call of its eastern relative.
+
+A mountain chickadee's nest was also found, and here I heard for the
+first time one of these birds sing. Its performance was quite an
+affecting little minor whistle, usually composed of four distinct notes,
+though sometimes the vocalist contented himself with a song of two or
+three syllables. The ordinary run might be represented phonetically in
+this way, "Phee, ph-e-e-e, phe-phe," with the chief emphasis on the
+second syllable, which is considerably prolonged. The song is quite
+different from that of the black-capped chickadee both in the intoning
+and the technical arrangement, while it does not run so high in the
+scale, nor does it impress me as being quite so much of a minor strain,
+if such a distinction can be made in music. Both birds' tunes, however,
+have the character of being whistled.
+
+Glenwood is a charming summer resort in Colorado on the western side of
+the Rocky Mountain range, and can be reached by both the Denver & Rio
+Grande and the Colorado Midland Railways. Beautifully situated in an
+open mountain valley, it possesses many attractions in the way of
+natural scenery, while the cool breezes blow down from the snow-mantled
+ranges gleaming in the distance, and the medicinal springs draw many
+tourists in search of health and recuperation.
+
+My purpose, however, in visiting this idyllic spot--I went there from
+Red Cliff--was not primarily to view the scenery, nor to make use of the
+healing waters, but to gratify my thirst for bird-lore. Having spent
+some weeks in observing the avi-fauna east of the range, I had a
+curiosity to know something of bird life west of the great chain of
+alpine heights, and therefore I selected Glenwood as a fertile field in
+which to carry on some investigations. While my stay at this resort was
+all too short, it was of sufficient length to put me in possession of a
+number of facts that may prove to be of general interest.
+
+For one thing I learned, somewhat to my surprise, that the avian fauna
+on both sides of the Divide is much the same. Indeed, with one
+exception--to be noted more at length hereafter--I found no birds on
+the western side that I had not previously seen on the eastern side,
+although a longer and minuter examination would undoubtedly have
+resulted in the discovery of a few species that are peculiar to the
+regions beyond the range. In the extreme western and southwestern
+portions of Colorado there are quite a number of species that are seldom
+or never seen in the eastern part of the State. However, keeping to the
+mountainous districts, and given the same altitude and other conditions,
+you will be likely to find the same kinds of feathered folk on both
+sides of the range. A few concrete cases will make this statement clear.
+The elevation of Glenwood is five thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight
+feet; that of Colorado Springs, five thousand nine hundred and
+ninety-two feet; and the climatic conditions otherwise are practically
+the same. Hence at both places the following species were found: Lazuli
+buntings, Arkansas goldfinches, American goldfinches, western
+wood-pewees, Arkansas kingbirds, Bullock's orioles, grassfinches, and
+catbirds. At the same time there were a number of species in both
+localities that have a more extensive vertical range, as, for example,
+the western robins, which were seen in many places from the bases of the
+mountains up to the timber-line, over eleven thousand five hundred feet
+above sea-level.
+
+_ROYAL GORGE_
+
+_In the Grand Cañon of the Arkansas River. In cañons like this, their
+walls rising almost vertically from one thousand to fifteen hundred
+feet, few birds are to be seen. Occasionally a dove will fly from one
+side of the gorge to the other before the scurrying train. From below a
+magpie or a Clark's crow may sometimes be seen flying overhead across
+the fearful chasm from one wall to the other, turning its head at
+intervals as if to inspect and question the spectator over a thousand
+feet below._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The presence of practically the same avian fauna on both sides of the
+great range suggests some speculations as to their movements in the
+migrating season. Do those on the western side of the mountains travel
+over the towering summits from the eastern plains? Or do they come up
+from their southern winter homes by way of the valleys and plains west
+of the range? Undoubtedly the latter is the correct surmise, for there
+were birds at Glenwood that are never known to ascend far into the
+mountains, and should they attempt to cross the Divide in the early
+spring, they would surely perish in the intense cold of those elevated
+regions, where snow often falls even in June, July, and August. One can
+easily imagine some of the eastern and western residents meeting in the
+autumn on the plains at the southern extremity of the mountain range,
+dwelling together in some southern locality throughout the winter, and
+then, when spring approaches, taking their separate routes, part going
+east and part west of the range, for their breeding haunts in the North.
+More than likely they do not meet again until the following autumn.
+There are individuals, doubtless, that never catch a glimpse of the
+western side of the great American watershed, while others are deprived
+of the privilege of looking upon the majestic panoramas of the eastern
+side.
+
+What has just been said applies, of course, only to those species that
+prefer to dwell in the lower altitudes. There are other species that
+find habitats to their taste in the most elevated localities, ranging
+at will in the summer time over the bald summits in the regions of
+perpetual snow. Among these may be mentioned the brown-capped
+leucostictes, the American pipits, the ravens, and Brewer's blackbirds.
+These species will often have the privilege of looking upon the scenery
+on both sides of the range, and you and I can scarcely repress a feeling
+of envy when we think of their happy freedom, and their frequent
+opportunities to go sightseeing.
+
+While taking an early morning stroll along one of the streets of
+Glenwood, I caught sight of a new member of the phoebe family, its
+reddish breast and sides differentiating it from the familiar phoebe
+of the East. Afterwards I identified it as Say's phoebe, a distinctly
+western species. Its habits are like those of its eastern relative. A
+pair of Say's phoebes had placed their nest on a beam of a veranda,
+near the roof, where they could be seen carrying food to their young. My
+notes say nothing of their singing a tune or even uttering a chirp. This
+was my first observation of Say's phoebe, although, as will be seen, I
+subsequently saw one under somewhat peculiar circumstances.
+
+Having spent all the time I could spare at Glenwood, one morning I
+boarded the eastward-bound train, and was soon whirling up through the
+sublime cañons of Grand and Eagle Rivers, keeping on the alert for such
+birds as I could see from the car-window. Few birds, as has been said,
+can be seen in the dark gorges of the mountains, the species that are
+most frequently descried being the turtle doves, with now and then a
+small flock of blackbirds. The open, sunlit valleys of the upper
+mountains, watered by the brawling streams, are much more to the liking
+of many birds, especially the mountain song-sparrows, the white-crowned
+sparrows, the green-tailed towhees, and Audubon's and Wilson's warblers.
+Up, up, for many miles the double-headed train crept, tooting and
+puffing hard, until at length it reached the highest point on the route,
+which is Tennessee Pass, through the tunnel of which it swept with a
+sullen roar, issuing into daylight on the eastern side, where the waters
+of the streams flow eastward instead of westward. The elevation of this
+tunnel is ten thousand four hundred and eighteen feet, which is still
+about a thousand feet below the timber-line. A minute after emerging
+from the tunnel's mouth I caught sight of a red-shafted flicker which
+went bolting across the narrow valley. The train swept down the valley
+for some miles, stopped long enough to have another engine coupled to
+the one that had brought us down from the tunnel, then wheeled to the
+left and began the ascent to the city of Leadville. This city is
+situated on a sloping plain on the mountain side, in full view of many
+bald mountain peaks whose gorges are filled with deep snow-drifts
+throughout the summer. For some purposes Leadville may be an exceedingly
+desirable city, but it has few attractions for the ornithologist. I took
+a long walk through a part of the city, and, whether you will believe it
+or not, I did not see a single bird outside of a cage, not even a
+house-finch or an English sparrow, nor did I see one tree in my entire
+stroll along the busy streets. The caged birds seen were a canary and a
+cardinal, and, oddly enough, both of them were singing, mayhap for very
+homesickness.
+
+Why should a bird student tarry here? What was there to keep him in a
+birdless place like this? I decided to leave at once, and so, checking
+my baggage through to Buena Vista, I started afoot down the mountain
+side, determined to walk to Malta, a station five miles below, observing
+the birds along the way. Not a feathered lilter was seen until I had
+gone about a mile from Leadville, when a disconsolate robin appeared
+among some scraggy pine bushes, not uttering so much as a chirp by way
+of greeting.
+
+A few minutes later I heard a vigorous and musical chirping in the pine
+bushes, and, turning aside, found a flock of small, finch-like birds.
+They flitted about so rapidly that it was impossible to get a good view
+of them with my glasses; but such glimpses as I obtained revealed a
+prevailing grayish, streaked with some darker color, while a glint of
+yellow in their wings and tails was displayed as the birds flew from
+bush to bush. When the wings were spread, a narrow bar of yellow or
+whitish-yellow seemed to stretch across them lengthwise, giving them a
+gauzy appearance. The birds remained together in a more or less compact
+flock. They uttered a loud, clear chirp that was almost musical, and
+also piped a quaint trill that was almost as low and harsh as that of
+the little clay-colored sparrow, although occasionally one would lift
+his voice to a much higher pitch. What were these tenants of the dry and
+piney mountain side? They were pine siskins, which I had ample
+opportunity to study in my rambles among the mountains in 1901.
+
+[Illustration: _Pine Siskins_]
+
+A mile farther down, a lone mountain bluebird appeared in sight, perched
+on a gray stump on the gray hillside, and keeping as silent as if it
+were a crime in bluebird-land to utter a sound. This bird's breeding
+range extends from the plains to the timber-line; and he dwells on both
+sides of the mountains, for I met with him at Glenwood. About a half
+mile above Malta a western nighthawk was seen, hurtling in his
+eccentric, zigzag flight overhead, uttering his strident call, and
+"hawking for flies," as White of Selborne would phrase it. A western
+grassfinch flew over to some bushes with a morsel in its bill, but I
+could not discover its nest or young, search as I would. Afterwards it
+perched on a telegraph wire and poured out its evening voluntary, which
+was the precise duplicate of the trills of the grassfinches of eastern
+North America. There seems to be only a slight difference between the
+eastern and western forms of these birds, so slight, indeed, that they
+can be distinguished only by having the birds in hand.
+
+Turtle doves were also plentiful in the valley above Malta, as they were
+in most suitable localities. Here were also several western robins, one
+of which saluted me with a cheerful carol, whose tone and syllabling
+were exactly like those of the merry redbreast of our Eastern States. I
+was delighted to find the sweet-voiced white-crowned sparrows tenants of
+this valley, although they were not so abundant here as they had been a
+little over a week before in the hollows below the summit of Pike's
+Peak. But what was the bird which was singing so blithely a short
+distance up the slope? He remained hidden until I drew near, when he
+ran off on the ground like a frightened doe, and was soon ensconced in a
+sage bush. Note his chestnut crest and greenish back. This is the
+green-tailed towhee. He is one of the finest vocalists of the Rocky
+Mountains, his tones being strong and well modulated, his execution
+almost perfect as to technique, and his entire song characterized by a
+quality that might be defined as human expressiveness.
+
+A pair of western chipping sparrows were feeding their young in one of
+the sage bushes. I hoped to find a nest, but my quest simply proved that
+the bantlings had already left their nurseries. It was some
+satisfaction, however, to establish the fact at first hand that the
+western chipping sparrows breed at an elevation of nine thousand five
+hundred and eighty feet above sea-level.
+
+While strolling about a short distance above the town, I discovered an
+underground passage leading to some of the factories, or perhaps the
+smelting works, a few miles farther up the valley. The over-arching
+ground and timbers forming the roof were broken through at various
+places, making convenient openings for the unwary pedestrian to tumble
+through should he venture to stroll about here by night. Suddenly a
+little broad-shouldered bird appeared from some mysterious quarter, and
+flitted silently about from bush to bush or from one tussock of grass to
+another. To my surprise, he presently dropped into one of the openings
+of the subterranean passage, disappeared for a few moments, and then
+emerged from another opening a little farther away. The bird--let me say
+at once--was Say's phoebe, with which, as previously told, I made
+acquaintance at Glenwood. He may be recognized by the reddish or
+cinnamon-brown cast of his abdomen and sides. Again and again he darted
+into the passage, perhaps to make sure that his bairns had not been
+kidnapped, and then came up to keep a vigilant eye on his visitor, whom
+he was not wholly disposed to trust. I am not sure that there was a nest
+in the subterranean passage, as my time was too short to look for it.
+Others may not regard it as an important ornithological discovery, and I
+do not pretend that it was epoch-making, but to me it was at least
+interesting to find this species, which was new to me, dwelling at an
+elevation of five thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight feet on the
+western side of the range, and on the eastern side at an elevation of
+nine thousand five hundred and eighty feet. Nowhere else in my
+peregrinations among the Rockies did I so much as catch a glimpse of
+Say's phoebe.[6]
+
+    [6] In 1901 this bird was seen by me in South Park, and its quaint
+    whistle was heard,--it says _Phe-by_, but its tone and expression
+    are different from those of its eastern relative. See the chapter
+    entitled "Pleasant Outings."
+
+With the exception of some swallows circling about in the air, I saw no
+other birds during my brief stay at Malta. I was sorely disappointed in
+not being able to find accommodation at this place, for it had been my
+intention to remain here for the night, and walk the next day to a
+station called Granite, some seventeen miles farther down the valley,
+making observations on bird life in the region by the way. To this day I
+regret that my calculations went "agley"; but I was told that
+accommodation was not to be secured at Malta "for love or money," and so
+I shook the dust from my feet, and boarded an evening train for my next
+stopping-place, which was Buena Vista.
+
+The elevation of this beautiful mountain town is seven thousand nine
+hundred and sixty-seven feet. It nestles amid cottonwood trees and green
+meadows in a wide valley or park, and is flanked on the east by the
+rolling and roaring Arkansas River, while to the west the plain slopes
+up gradually to the foothills of the three towering college
+peaks,--Harvard, Yale, and Princeton,--crowned all the year with snow.
+And here were birds in plenty. Before daybreak the avian concert began
+with the shrieking of the western wood-pewees--a vocal performance that
+they, in their innocence, seriously mistake for melody--and continued
+until night had again settled on the vale. In this place I spent three
+or four days, giving myself up to my favorite study and pastime, and a
+list of all the birds that I saw in the neighborhood would surprise the
+reader. However, a mere catalogue would be of slight interest, I
+apprehend, and therefore mention will be made only of those species
+which I had not seen elsewhere, passing by such familiar feathered folk
+as the Arkansas goldfinches, catbirds, western meadow-larks, Brewer's
+blackbirds, house-finches, green-tailed towhees, magpies, long-crested
+jays, summer warblers, and many others, begging their pardon, of course,
+for paying them such scant courtesy.
+
+Early on a bright morning I was following one of the streets of the
+village, when, on reaching the suburbs, I was greeted by a blithe,
+dulcet trill which could come from no other vocalist than the
+song-sparrow. His tones and vocalization were precisely like those of
+_Melospiza fasciata_, to which I have so often listened in my native
+State of Ohio. It was a dulcet strain, and stirred memories half sad,
+half glad, of many a charming ramble about my eastern home when the
+song-sparrows were the chief choralists in the outdoor opera festival.
+Peering into the bushes that fringed the gurgling mountain brook, I soon
+caught sight of the little triller, and found that, so far as I could
+distinguish them with my field-glass, his markings were just like those
+of his eastern relative--the same mottled breast, with the large dusky
+blotch in the centre.
+
+Delighted as I was with the bird's aria, I could not decide whether this
+was the common song-sparrow or the mountain song-sparrow. Something
+over a week earlier I had seen what I took to be the mountain
+song-sparrow in a green nook below the summit of Pike's Peak, and had
+noted his trill as a rather shabby performance in comparison with the
+tinkling chansons of the song-sparrow of the East. Had I mistaken some
+other bird for the mountain song-sparrow? Or was the Buena Vista bird
+the common song-sparrow which had gone entirely beyond its Colorado
+range? Consulting Professor W. W. Cooke's list of Colorado birds, I
+found that _Melospiza fasciata_ is marked "migratory, rare," and has
+been known thus far only in the extreme eastern part of the State;
+whereas _Melospiza fasciata montana_ is a summer resident, "common
+throughout the State in migration, and not uncommon as a breeder from
+the plains to eight thousand feet."
+
+But Professor Cooke fails to give a clue to the song of either variety,
+and therefore my little problem remains unsolved, as I could not think
+of taking the life of a dulcet-voiced bird merely to discover whether it
+should have "_montana_" affixed to its scientific name or not. All I can
+say is, if this soloist was a mountain song-sparrow, he reproduced
+exactly the trills of his half-brothers of the East.[7] On the morning
+of my departure from Buena Vista another song-sparrow sang his matins,
+in loud, clear tones among the bushes of a stream that flowed through
+the town, ringing quite a number of changes in his tune, all of them
+familiar to my ear from long acquaintance with the eastern forms of the
+_Melospiza_ subfamily.
+
+    [7] The problem has since been solved, through the aid of Mr. Aiken.
+    The Buena Vista bird was _montana_, while the bird in the Pike's
+    Peak hollow was Lincoln's sparrow.
+
+How well I recall a rainy afternoon during my stay at Buena Vista! The
+rain was not so much of a downpour as to drive me indoors, although it
+made rambling in the bushes somewhat unpleasant. What was this haunting
+song that rose from a thick copse fringing one of the babbling mountain
+brooks? It mingled sweetly with the patter of the rain upon the leaves.
+Surely it was the song of the veery thrush! The same rich, melodious
+strain, sounding as if it were blown through a wind-harp, setting all
+the strings a-tune at the same time. Too long and closely had I studied
+the veery's minstrelsy in his summer haunts in northern Minnesota to be
+deceived now--unless, indeed, this fertile avian region produced another
+thrush which whistled precisely the same tune. The bird's alarm-call was
+also like that of the veery. The few glimpses he permitted of his
+flitting, shadowy form convinced me that he must be a veery, and so I
+entered him in my note-book.
+
+But on looking up the matter--for the bird student must aim at
+accuracy--what was my surprise to find that the Colorado ornithologists
+have decided that the veery thrush is not a resident of the State, nor
+even an occasional visitor! Of course I could not set up my judgment
+against that of those scientific gentlemen. But what could this minstrel
+be? I wrote to my friend, Mr. Charles E. Aiken, of Colorado Springs, who
+replied that the bird was undoubtedly the willow thrush, which is the
+western representative of the veery. I am willing to abide by this
+decision, especially as Ridgway indicates in his Manual that there is
+very little difference in the coloration of the two varieties. One more
+mile-post had been passed in my never-ending ornithological journey--I
+had learned for myself and others that the willow thrush of the Rockies
+and the veery of our Eastern and Middle States have practically the same
+musical repertory, and nowhere in the East or the West is sweeter and
+more haunting avian minstrelsy to be heard, if only it did not give one
+that sad feeling which Heine calls _Heimweh_!
+
+[Illustration: _Willow Thrush_]
+
+
+
+
+A ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAKE
+
+[Illustration: PLATE IV
+
+LARK BUNTING--_Calamospiza melanocorys_
+(Upper figure, male; lower, female)]
+
+
+"You will find a small lake just about a mile from town. Follow the road
+leading out this way"--indicating the direction--"until you come to a
+red gate. The lake is private property, but you can go right in, as you
+don't shoot. No one will drive you out. I think you will find it an
+interesting place for bird study."
+
+[Illustration: _Brewer's Blackbirds_
+
+"_An interesting place for bird study_"]
+
+The foregoing is what my landlord told me one morning at Buena Vista.
+Nor did I waste time in finding the way to the lake, a small sheet of
+water, as clear as crystal, embowered in the lovely park lying between
+towering, snow-clad mountains. One might almost call the spot a bird's
+Arcadia. In no place, in all my tramping among the Rockies, did I find
+so many birds in an equal area.
+
+In the green, irrigated meadow bordering one side of the sheet of water,
+I was pleased to find a number of Brewer's blackbirds busily gathering
+food in the wet grass for their young. And who or what are Brewer's
+blackbirds? In the East, the purple and bronzed grackles, or crow
+blackbirds, are found in great abundance; but in Colorado these birds
+are replaced by Brewer's blackbirds, which closely resemble their
+eastern kinsfolk, although not quite so large. The iridescence of the
+plumage is somewhat different in the two species, but in both the golden
+eye-balls show white at a distance. When I first saw a couple of
+Brewer's blackbirds stalking featly about on a lawn at Manitou, digging
+worms and grubs out of the sod, I simply put them down in my note-book
+as bronzed or purple grackles--an error that had to be corrected
+afterwards, on more careful examination. The mistake shows how close is
+the resemblance between the two species.
+
+The Brewer division of the family breed on the plains and in the
+mountains, to an altitude of ten thousand feet, always selecting marshy
+places for their early summer home; then in August and September, the
+breeding season over, large flocks of old and young ascend to the
+regions above the timber-line, about thirteen thousand feet above
+sea-level, where they swarm over the grassy but treeless mountain sides
+in search of food. In October they retire to the plains, in advance of
+the austere weather of the great altitudes, and soon the majority of
+them hie to a blander climate than Colorado affords in winter.
+
+Still more interesting to me was the large colony of yellow-headed
+blackbirds that had taken up their residence in the rushes and flags of
+the upper end of the lake. These birds are not such exclusive westerners
+as their ebon-hued cousins just described; for I found them breeding at
+Lake Minnetonka, near Minneapolis, Minnesota, a few years ago, and they
+sometimes straggle, I believe, as far east as Ohio. A most beautiful
+bird is this member of the _Icteridæ_ family, a kind of Beau Brummel
+among his fellows, with his glossy black coat and rich yellow--and even
+orange, in highest feather--mantle covering the whole head, neck, and
+breast, and a large white, decorative spot on the wings, showing plainly
+in flight. He is the handsomest blackbird with which I am acquainted.
+
+At the time of my visit to the lake, the latter part of June, the
+yellow-heads were busy feeding their young, many of which had already
+left the nest. From the shore, I could see dozens of them clinging to
+the reeds, several of which they would grasp with the claws of each
+foot, their little legs straddled far apart, the flexile rushes
+spreading out beneath their weight. There the youngsters perched,
+without seeming to feel any discomfort from their strained position. And
+what a racket they made when the parent birds returned from an excursion
+to distant meadows and lawns, with bill-some tidbits! They were
+certainly a hungry lot of bairns. When I waded out into the shallow
+water toward their rushy home, the old birds became quite uneasy,
+circling about above me like the red-wings, and uttering a harsh
+blackbird "chack," varied at intervals by a loud, and not unmusical,
+chirp.
+
+[Illustration: _Yellow-Headed Blackbirds_
+
+"_There the youngsters perched_"]
+
+You should see the nest of the yellow-head. It is really a fine
+structure, showing no small amount of artistic skill--a plaited cup,
+looking almost as if it had been woven by human hands, the rushes of the
+rim and sides folding the supporting reeds in their loops. Thus the nest
+and its reedy pillars are firmly bound together. I waded out to a clump
+of rushes and found one nest with three eggs in its softly felted
+cup--the promise, no doubt, of a belated, or possibly a second, brood.
+
+This mountain lake was also the abode of a number of species of ducks,
+not all of which could be identified, on account of the distance they
+constantly put between themselves and the observer. Flocks of them
+floated like light, feathered craft upon the silvery bosom of the lake,
+now pursuing one another, now drifting lazily, now diving, and anon
+playing many attractive gambols.
+
+One of the most curious ducks I have ever seen was the ruddy duck,
+called in the scientific manuals _Erismatura rubida_. As I sat on a rock
+on the shore, watching the aquatic fowl, one of the male ruddy ducks,
+accompanied by three or four females, swam out from the reeds into an
+open space where I could see him plainly with my field-glass. A
+beautiful picture he presented, as he glided proudly about on the water,
+surrounded by his devoted harem. Imagine, if you can, how regal he must
+have appeared--his broad, flat bill, light blue, widening out at the
+commissure, and seeming to shade off into the large white cheeks, which
+looked like snowy puffballs on the sides of his head; his crown, black
+and tapering; his neck, back, and sides, a rich, glossy brownish-red;
+his lower parts, "silky, silvery white, 'watered' with dusky, yielding,
+gray undulations"; and his wing-coverts and jauntily perked-up tail,
+black. If that was not a picture worthy of an artist's brush I have
+never seen one in the outdoor world.
+
+No less quaint was his conduct. That he was proud and self-conscious, no
+one seeing him could doubt; and it was just as plain from his
+consequential mien, that he was posing before his train of plainly clad
+wives, who, no doubt, looked upon him as the greatest "catch" of the
+lake. Unlike most ducks, in swimming this haughty major carries his head
+erect, and even bent backward at a sharp angle; and his short tail is
+cocked up and bent forward, so that his glossy back forms a graceful
+half-circle or more, and does not slope downward, as do the backs of
+most ducks on the water.
+
+Of all the odd gestures, this fellow's carried off the palm. He would
+draw his head up and back, then thrust it forward a few inches, extend
+his blue bill in a horizontal line, and at the same time emit a low,
+coarse squawk that I could barely hear. Oddly enough, all the females,
+staid as they were, imitated their liege lord's deportment. It was their
+way of protesting against my ill-bred intrusion into their demesne.
+
+Presently a second male came out into the open space, accompanied by a
+retinue of wives, and then a third emerged, similarly attended. With
+this there was a challenging among the rivals that was interesting to
+witness; they fairly strutted about on the water, now advancing, now
+retreating, and occasionally almost, but never quite, closing in combat.
+Sometimes one would pursue another for a rod or more, in a swift rush
+that would make the spray fly and cut a swath on the smooth bosom of
+the lake.
+
+Several coots now appeared on the scene. Between them and the ruddy
+ducks there seemed to be a feud of more or less intensity, each being on
+the offensive or the defensive as the exigencies of naval warfare
+demanded. Once I was moved to laughter as a coot made a fierce dash
+toward one of the ducks, and was almost upon her, and I thought she was
+destined to receive a severe trouncing, when she suddenly dodged her
+pursuer by diving. He just as suddenly gave up the chase, looking as if
+it were a case of "sour grapes," anyway.
+
+After watching the antics of these birds for a long time, I turned my
+attention to another pretty scene,--a pair of coots leading their family
+of eight or ten little ones out into the clear area from their
+hiding-place among the reeds, presenting a picture of unruffled domestic
+bliss. How sweet and innocent the little coots were! Instead of the
+black heads and necks of their parents, and the white bills and frontal
+bones, these parts were tinted with red, which appeared quite bright and
+gauze-like in the sunshine.
+
+The process of feeding the juvenile birds was interesting. The parents
+would swim about, then suddenly dip their heads into the water, or else
+dive clear under, coming up with slugs in their bills. Turning to the
+youngsters, which were always close upon their heels--or perhaps I
+would better say their tails--they would hold out their bills, when the
+little ones would swim up and pick off the toothsome morsel. It must not
+be supposed that the bantlings opened their mouths, as most young birds
+do, to receive the tidbits. No, indeed! That is not coot vogue. The
+little ones picked the insects from the sides of the papa's or mamma's
+beak, turning their own little heads cunningly to one side as they
+helped themselves to their luncheon.
+
+The other waterfowl of the lake acted in an ordinary way, and therefore
+need no description. It was strange, however, that this was the only
+lake seen in all my Rocky Mountain touring where I found waterfowl. At
+Seven Lakes, Moraine Lake, and others in the vicinity of Pike's Peak,
+not a duck, crane, or coot was to be seen; and the same was true of
+Cottonwood Lake, twelve miles from Buena Vista, right in the heart of
+the rugged mountains.
+
+[Illustration: "_From their place among the reeds_"]
+
+Two facts may account for the abundance of birds at the little lake near
+Buena Vista; first, here they were protected from gunners and pot
+hunters by the owner, whose residence commanded a full view of the whole
+area; and, second, large spaces of the upper end of the lake was thickly
+grown with flags and rushes, which were cut off from the shore by a
+watery space of considerable breadth. In this place these birds found
+coverts from enemies and suitable sites for their nests.
+
+
+
+
+A BIRD MISCELLANY
+
+
+It shall be my purpose in this chapter to describe with more or less
+fulness a number of Rocky Mountain birds which have either not been
+mentioned in previous chapters or have received only casual attention.
+
+On reaching Colorado one is surprised to find none of our common blue
+jays which are so abundant in the Eastern and Middle States. In my
+numerous Rocky Mountain jaunts not one was seen. Yet this region does
+not need to go begging for jays, only they belong to different groups of
+the _Garrulinæ_ subfamily. The most abundant and conspicuous of these
+western forms are the long-crested jays, so called on account of the
+long tuft of black feathers adorning the occiput. This distinguishing
+mark is not like the firm pyramidal crest of the eastern jay, but is
+longer and narrower, and so flexible that it sways back and forth as the
+bird flits from branch to branch or takes a hop-skip-and-jump over the
+ground. Its owner can raise and lower it at will.
+
+The forehead of this jay is prettily sprinkled with white; his head and
+neck are black, in decided contrast with the umber-brown of the back;
+his rump and belly are pale blue, and his wings and tail are rich
+indigo-blue, somewhat iridescent and widely barred with black. Thus it
+will be seen that he has quite a different costume from that of our
+eastern jay, with his gaudy trimmings of white and black and purplish
+blue. The westerner cannot boast of _cristata's_ dressy black collar,
+but otherwise he is more richly attired, although he may not be quite so
+showy.
+
+The long-crested jays have a wide range among the mountains, breeding
+from the base of the foothills to the timber-line, although their nests
+are not commonly found below an altitude of seven thousand feet. In many
+places from nine to eleven thousand feet up the acclivities of the
+mountains they were seen flitting among the pines or the quaking asps.
+Like their eastern relatives, some individuals seem to prefer the
+society of man, dwelling in the villages or in the vicinity of country
+homes, while others choose the most secluded and solitary localities for
+their habitat. The fact is, I rarely made an excursion anywhere without
+sooner or later discovering that these jays had pre-empted the place for
+feeding or breeding purposes, sometimes with loud objurgations bidding
+me be gone, and at other times making no to-do whatever over my
+intrusion. Perhaps the proximity or remoteness of their nests was the
+chief cause of this variableness in their behavior.
+
+A pretty picture is one of these jays mounting from branch to branch
+around the stem of a pine tree, from the lower limbs to the top, as if
+he were ascending a spiral staircase. This seems to be one of their
+regulation habits when they find themselves under inspection. If you
+intrude on their domestic precincts, their cry is quite harsh, and bears
+no resemblance to the quaint calls of the eastern jays; nor does the
+plaintive note of the eastern representative, so frequently heard in the
+autumnal woods, ever issue from any of the numerous jay throats of the
+West.
+
+Far be it from me to blacken the reputation of any bird, but there is at
+least circumstantial evidence that the long-crested jay, like his
+eastern cousin, is a nest robber; for such birds as robins, tanagers,
+flycatchers, and vireos make war upon him whenever he comes within their
+breeding districts, and this would indicate that they are only too well
+aware of his predatory habits. More than that, he has the sly and
+stealthy manners of the sneak-thief and the brigand. Of course, he is by
+no means an unmixed evil, for you will often see him leaping about on
+the lawns, capturing beetles and worms which would surely be injurious
+to vegetation if allowed to live and multiply.
+
+There are other jays in the Rockies that deserve attention. The Rocky
+Mountain jay--_Perisoneus canadensis capitalis_--is a bird of the higher
+altitudes, remaining near the timber-line all the year round, braving
+the most rigorous weather and the fiercest mountain storms during the
+winter. Although not an attractive species, his hardiness invests him
+with not a little interest. One can imagine him seeking a covert in the
+dense pineries when a storm sweeps down from the bald, snow-mantled
+summits, squawking his disapproval of the ferocity of old Boreas, and
+yet able to resist his most violent onsets.
+
+[Illustration: _The Rocky Mountain Jay_
+
+"_Seeking a covert in the dense pineries when a storm sweeps down from
+the mountains_"]
+
+Early in April, at an altitude of from eight thousand to eleven thousand
+five hundred feet, these jays begin to breed. At that height this is
+long before the snow ceases to fall; indeed, on the twentieth of June,
+while making the descent from Pike's Peak, I was caught in a snowfall
+that gave the ground quite a frosty aspect for a few minutes. One can
+readily fancy, therefore, that the nests of these birds are often
+surrounded with snow, and that the bantlings may get their first view
+of the world in the swirl of a snow-squall. The nests are built in pine
+bushes and trees at various distances from the ground. Of all the
+hurly-burlies ever heard, that which these birds are able to make when
+you go near their nests, or discover them, bears off the palm, their
+voices being as raucous as a buzz-saw, fairly setting your teeth on
+edge.
+
+Those of us who live in the East are so accustomed to the adjective
+"blue" in connection with the jay that we are surprised to find that _P.
+c. capitalis_ wears no blue whatever, but dons a sombre suit of leaden
+gray, somewhat relieved by the blackish shade of the wings and tail,
+with their silvery or frosted lustre. He is certainly not an attractive
+bird, either in dress or in form, for he appears very "thick-headed" and
+lumpish, as if he scarcely knew enough to seek shelter in a time of
+storm; but, of course, a bird that contrives to coax a livelihood out of
+such unpromising surroundings must possess a fine degree of
+intelligence, and, therefore, cannot be so much of a dullard as his
+appearance would indicate.
+
+He has some interesting ways, too, as will be seen from the following
+quotation from a Colorado writer: "White-headed, grave, and sedate, he
+seems a very paragon of propriety, and if you appear to be a suitable
+personage, he will be apt to give you a bit of advice. Becoming
+confidential, he sputters out a lot of nonsense which causes you to
+think him a veritable 'whiskey Jack.' Yet, whenever he is disposed, a
+more bland, mind-your-own-business appearing bird will be hard to find;
+as will also many small articles around camp after one of his visits,
+for his whimsical brain has a great fancy for anything which may be
+valuable to you, but perfectly useless to himself." This habit of
+purloining has won him the title of "camp robber" among the people of
+the Rocky Mountains.
+
+Woodhouse's jay, also peculiar to the Rocky Mountain region, is mostly
+to be found along the base of the foothills and the lower wooded
+mountains. While he may be called a "blue" jay, having more of that
+color in his plumage than even the long-crested, he belongs to the
+_Aphelcoma_ group--that is, he is without a crest.
+
+Every observer of eastern feathered folk is familiar with our "little
+boy blue," the indigo-bird, whose song is such a rollicking and saucy
+air, making you feel as if the little lyrist were chaffing you. In
+Colorado, however, you do not meet this animated chunk of blue, but
+another little bird that belongs to the same group, called the "painted
+finches," although their plumes are not painted any more than those of
+other species. This bird is the lazuli bunting. He wears a great deal of
+blue, but it is azure, and not indigo, covering the head, neck, most of
+the upper parts, and the lining of the wings; and, as if to give
+variety to the bird's attire, the nape and back are prettily shaded with
+brown, and the wings and tail with black. But his plumage is still more
+variegated, for he bears a conspicuous white spot on the greater
+wing-coverts, and his breast is daintily tinted with chestnut-brown,
+abruptly cut off from the blue of the throat, while the remaining under
+parts are snowy white. From this description it will be seen that he is
+quite unlike the indigo-bird, which has no brown or white in his
+cerulean attire. Handsome as Master Indigo is, the lazuli finch, with
+his sextet of hues, is a more showily dressed bird; in fact, a lyric in
+colors.
+
+The habits of the two birds are quite similar. However, the lazuli
+seemed to be much shyer than his relative, for the latter is a familiar
+figure at the border of our eastern woodlands, about our country homes,
+and even in the neighborhood of our town dwellings, when there are
+bushes and trees close at hand. My saunterings among the mountains took
+me into the haunts of the lazulis, but I regret to have to confess that
+all my alertness was of so little avail that I saw only three males and
+one female. One day, while rambling among the cottonwoods that broidered
+the creek flowing south of Colorado Springs, I was brought to a
+standstill by a sharp chirp, and the next moment a pair of lazulis
+appeared on the lower branches and twigs of a tree. There they sat quiet
+enough, watching me keenly, but allowing me to peer at them at will
+with my field-glass. I could not understand why birds that otherwise
+were so shy should now permit a prolonged inspection and manifest so
+little anxiety; but perhaps they reasoned that they had been discovered
+anyway, and there was no need of pretending that no lazulis dwelt in the
+neighborhood. How elegant the little husband looked in his variegated
+attire! The wife was soberly clad in warm brown, slightly streaked with
+dusk, but she was trig and pretty and worthy of her more richly
+apparelled spouse. In the bushes below I found a well-made nest, which I
+felt morally certain belonged to the little couple that was keeping such
+faithful surveillance over it. As yet it contained no eggs.
+
+In order to make certainty doubly sure, I visited the place a week or so
+later, and found that my previous conclusion had been correct. I flushed
+the little madame from the nest, and saw her flit with a chirp to the
+twigs above, where she sat quietly watching her visitor, exhibiting no
+uneasiness whatever about her cot in the bushes with its three precious
+eggs. It was pleasing to note the calmness and dignity with which she
+regarded me. But where was that important personage, the little husband?
+He was nowhere to be seen, although I lingered about the charmed spot
+for over two hours, hoping to get at least a glimpse of him. A friend,
+who understands the sly ways of the lazulis, suggested that very likely
+the male was watching me narrowly all the while from a safe hiding-place
+in the dense foliage of some tree not far away.
+
+My friend told me that I would not be able to distinguish the song of
+the lazuli from those of the summer and mountain warblers. We shall see
+whether he was right. One evening I was searching for a couple of blue
+grosbeaks at the border of Colorado Springs, where I had previously seen
+them, when a loud, somewhat percussive song, much like the summer
+warbler's, burst on my ear, coming from a clump of willow bushes hard by
+the stream. At once I said to myself, "That is not the summer warbler's
+trill. It resembles the challenging song of the indigo-bird, only it is
+not quite so loud and defiant. A lazuli finch's song, or I am sadly
+astray! Let me settle the question now."
+
+I did settle it to my great satisfaction, for, after no little effort, I
+succeeded in obtaining a plain view of the elusive little lyrist, and,
+sure enough, it proved to be the lazuli finch. Metaphorically I patted
+myself with a great deal of self-complacency, as I muttered: "The idea
+of Mr. Aiken's thinking I had so little discrimination! I know that
+hereafter I shall be able to detect the lazuli's peculiar intonations
+every time." So I walked home in a very self-confident frame of mind. A
+few days later I heard another song lilting down from the upper branches
+of a small tree. "Surely that is the lazuli again," I muttered. "I know
+that voice." For a while I eyed the tree, and presently caught sight of
+the little triller, and behold, it was--a summer warbler! All my
+self-complacency vanished in a moment; I wasn't cock-sure of anything;
+and I am obliged to confess that I was led astray in a similar manner
+more than once afterward. It may indicate an odd psychological condition
+to make the claim; but, absurd or not, I am disposed to believe that,
+whenever I really heard the lazuli, I was able to recognize his song
+with a fair degree of certainty, but when I heard the summer warbler I
+was thrown into more or less confusion, not being quite sure whether it
+was that bird or the other.
+
+The most satisfactory lazuli song I heard was on the western side of the
+range, at the resort called Glenwood. This time, as was usually the
+case, I heard the little triller before seeing him, and was sure it was
+_Passerina amoena_, as the bunting strains were plainly discernible.
+He was sitting on a telephone wire, and did not flit away as I stood
+below and peered at him through my glass, and admired his trig and
+handsome form. I studied his song, and tried to fix the peculiar
+intonations in my mind, and felt positive that I could never be caught
+again--but I was.[8]
+
+    [8] In the foregoing remarks the lazuli finches have been
+    represented as excessively shy. So they were in 1899 in the
+    neighborhoods then visited. Strangely enough, in the vicinity of
+    Denver in 1901, these birds were abundant and as easily approached
+    and studied as are the indigoes of the East. See the chapter
+    entitled, "Plains and Foothills."
+
+The lazuli finch does not venture very high into the mountains, seldom
+reaching an altitude of more than seven thousand feet. He is a lover of
+the plains, the foothills, and the lower ranges of the mountains. In
+this respect he differs from some other little birds, which seek a
+summer home in the higher regions. On the southern slope of Pike's Peak,
+a little below the timber-line, I found a dainty little bird which was a
+stranger to me. It was Audubon's warbler. At first sight I decided that
+he must be the myrtle warbler, but was compelled to change my conclusion
+when I got a glimpse of his throat, which was golden yellow, whereas the
+throat of _Dendroica coronata_ is pure white. Then, too, the myrtle
+warbler is only a migrant in Colorado, passing farther north to breed.
+Audubon's, it must be said, has extremely rich habiliments, his upper
+parts being bluish-ash, streaked with black, his belly and under
+tail-coverts white, and his breast in high feather, black, prettily
+skirted with gray or invaded with white from below; but his yellow
+spots, set like gleaming gold in various parts of his plumage,
+constitute his most marked embellishment, being found on the crown,
+rump, throat, and each side of the chest.
+
+On my first excursion to some meadows and wooded low-grounds south of
+Colorado Springs, while listening to a concert given by western
+meadow-larks, my attention was attracted to a large, black bird circling
+about the fields and then alighting on a fence-post. My first thought
+was: "It is only a crow blackbird." But on second thought I decided that
+the crow blackbird did not soar and circle about in this manner. At all
+events, there seemed to be something slightly peculiar about this bird's
+behavior, so I went nearer to inspect him, when he left his perch on the
+post, flapped around over the meadow, and finally flew to a large,
+partially decayed cottonwood tree in a pasture field. If I could believe
+my eyes, he clung to the upright stems of the branches after the style
+of a woodpecker! That was queer indeed--a woodpecker that looked
+precisely like a blackbird! Such a featherland oddity was certainly
+foreign to any of my calculations; for, it must be remembered, this was
+prior to my making acquaintance with Williamson's sapsucker.
+
+Closer inspection proved that this bird was actually hitching up and
+down the branches of the tree in the regular woodpecker fashion.
+Presently he slipped into a hole in a large limb, and the loud, eager
+chirping of young birds was heard. It was not long before his mate
+appeared, entered the cavity, and fed the clamorous brood. The birds
+proved to be Lewis's woodpeckers, another distinctly western type. My
+field-glass soon clearly brought out their peculiar markings.
+
+A beautiful bird-skin, bought of Mr. Charles E. Aiken, now lies on my
+desk and enables me to describe the fine habiliments of this kind from
+an actual specimen. His upper parts are glossy black, the sheen on the
+back being greenish, and that on the wings and tail bluish or purplish,
+according to the angle of the sun's light; a white collar prettily
+encircles the neck, becoming quite narrow on the nape, but widening out
+on the side so as to cover the entire breast and throat. This pectoral
+shield is mottled with black and lightly stained with buff in spots; the
+forehead, chin, superciliary line, and a broad space on the cheek are
+dyed a deep crimson; and, not least by any means, the abdomen is washed
+with pink, which is delicately stencilled with white, gray, and buff. A
+most gorgeous bird, fairly rivalling, but not distancing, Williamson's
+sapsucker.
+
+By accident I made a little discovery relative to the claws of this
+woodpecker which, I suppose, would be true of all the _Picidæ_ family.
+The claws of the two fore toes are sharply curved and extremely acute,
+making genuine hooks, so that when I attempt to pass my finger over them
+the points catch at the skin. Could a better hook be contrived for
+enabling the bird to clamber up the trunks and branches of trees? But
+note: the claws of the two hind toes are not so sharply decurved, nor
+so acute at the points, the finger slipping readily over them. Who can
+deny the evidence of design in nature? The fore claws are highly
+specialized for clinging, the very purpose for which they are needed,
+while the hind claws, being used for a different purpose--only that of
+support--are moulded over a different pattern.
+
+Like our common red-head, this bird has the habit of soaring out into
+the air and nabbing insects on the wing. The only other pair of these
+woodpeckers I was so fortunate as to meet with were found in the ravine
+leading up from Buena Vista to Cottonwood Lake.[9] Their nest was in a
+dead tree by the roadside. While the first couple had been entirely
+silent, one of the second pair chirped somewhat uneasily when I lingered
+beneath his tree, suspecting, no doubt, that I had sinister designs upon
+his nest. Unlike some of their kinsmen, these pickers of wood seem to be
+quiet and dignified, not given to much demonstration, and are quite
+leisurely in their movements both on the branch and on the wing.
+
+    [9] Two years later a pair were seen on a mountain near Golden,
+    Colorado, and probably twenty individuals were watched a long time
+    from a cañon above Boulder as they circled gracefully over the
+    mountains, catching insects on the wing.
+
+One day, when walking up Ute Pass, celebrated both for its magnificent
+scenery and its Indian history, I first saw the water-ousel. I had been
+inspecting Rainbow Falls, and was duly impressed with its
+attractiveness. Thinking I had lingered long enough, I turned away and
+clambered up the rocky wall below the falls towards the road above. As I
+did so, a loud, bell-like song rang above the roar of the water. On
+looking down into the ravine, I saw a mouse-colored bird, a little
+smaller than the robin, his tail perked up almost vertically, scuttling
+about on the rocks below and dipping his body in an expressive way like
+the "tip-up" sandpiper. Having read about this bird, I at once
+recognized it as the water-ousel. My interest in everything else
+vanished. This was one of the birds I had made my pilgrimage to the
+Rockies to study. It required only a few minutes to scramble down into
+the ravine again.
+
+Breathlessly I watched the little bird. Its queer teetering is like that
+of some of the wrens, accentors, and water-thrushes. Now it ran to the
+top of a rock and stood dipping and eying me narrowly, flirting its
+bobby tail; now it flew to one of the steep, almost vertical walls of
+rock and scrambled up to a protuberance; then down again to the water;
+then, to my intense delight, it plunged into the limpid stream, and came
+up the next moment with a slug or water-beetle in its bill. Presently it
+flew over to the opposite wall, its feet slipping on the wet rocks, and
+darted into a small crevice just below the foot of the falls, gave a
+quick poke with its beak and flitted away--minus the tidbit it had held
+in its bill.
+
+_RAINBOW FALLS_
+
+_When the sun strikes the spray and mist at the proper angle, a
+beautiful rainbow is painted on the face of the falls. At the time of
+the author's visit to this idyllic spot a pair of water-ousels had
+chosen it for a summer residence. They flew from the rocks below to the
+top of the falls, hugging close to the rushing torrent. In returning,
+they darted in one swift plunge from the top to the bottom, alighting on
+the rocks below. With the utmost abandon they dived into the seething
+waters at the foot of the falls, usually emerging with a slug or beetle
+in their bills for the nestlings. Shod with tall rubber boots, the
+writer waded close up to the foot of the falls in search of the dipper's
+nest, which was set in a cleft of the rocks a few inches above the
+water, in the little shadowed cavern at the left of the stream. The
+pointed rock wrapped in mist, almost in the line of the plunging tide,
+was a favorite perch for the dippers._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Ah! my propitious stars shone on me that day with special favor. I had
+found not only the water-ousel itself, but also its nest. Suddenly
+water-ousel number two, the mate of number one, appeared on the scene,
+dipped, scanned me closely, flew to the slippery wall, darted to the
+cranny, and deposited its morsel, as its spouse had done. This time I
+heard the chirping of the youngsters. Before examining the nest I
+decided to watch the performances of the parent birds, which soon cast
+off all the restraint caused for a moment by my presence, taking me, no
+doubt, for the ordinary sightseer who overlooks them altogether.
+
+Again and again the birds plunged into the churning flood at the foot of
+the falls, sometimes remaining under water what seemed a long while, and
+always coming to the surface with a delicacy for the nestlings. They
+were able to dip into the swift, white currents and wrestle with them
+without being washed away. Of course, the water would sometimes carry
+them down stream, but never more than a few inches, and never to a point
+where they could be injured. They were perfect masters of the situation.
+They simply slipped in and out like living chunks of cork. Their coats
+were waterproof, all they needed to do being to shake off the crystal
+drops now and then.
+
+Their flight up the almost perpendicular face of the falls was one of
+graceful celerity. Up, up, they would mount only a few inches from the
+dashing current, and disappear upstream in search of food. In returning,
+they would sweep down over the precipitous falls with the swiftness of
+arrows, stopping themselves lightly with their outspread wings before
+reaching the rocks below. From a human point of view it was a frightful
+plunge; from the ousel point of view it was an every-day affair.
+
+[Illustration: _Water-Ousel_
+
+"_Up, up, only a few inches from the dashing current_"]
+
+After watching the tussle between ousel and water for a long time, I
+decided to take a peep at their nursery. In order to do this I was
+compelled to wade into the stream a little below the falls, through mist
+and spray; yet such humid quarters were the natural habitat and
+playground of these interesting cinclids. And there the nest was, set in
+a cleft about a foot and a half above the water, its outer walls kept
+moist by the spray which constantly dashed against them from the falls.
+The water was also dripping from the rock that over-hung the nest and
+formed its roof. A damp, uncanny place for a bird's domicile, you would
+naturally suppose, but the little lovers of cascades knew what they were
+about. Only the exterior of the thick, moss-covered walls were moist.
+Within, the nest was dry and cosey. It was an oval structure, set in its
+rocky cleft like a small oven, with an opening at the front. And there
+in the doorway cuddled the two fledglings, looking out at the dripping
+walls and the watery tumult, but kept warm and comfortable. I could not
+resist touching them and caressing their little heads, considering it
+quite an ornithological triumph for one day to find a pair of
+water-ousels, discover a nest, and place my finger upon the crowns of
+the nestlings.
+
+Scores of tourists visited the famous falls every day, some of them
+lingering long in the beautiful place, and yet the little ousels had
+gone on with their nest-building and brood-rearing, undisturbed by human
+spectators. I wondered whether many of the visitors noticed the birds,
+and whether any one but myself had discovered their nest. Indeed, their
+little ones were safe enough from human meddling, for one could not see
+the nest without wading up the stream into the sphere of the flying
+mists.
+
+The natural home of _Cinclus mexicanus_ is the Rocky Mountains, to which
+he is restricted, not being known anywhere else on this continent. He is
+the only member of the dipper family in North America. There is one
+species in South America, and another in Europe. He loves the mountain
+stream, with its dashing rapids and cascades. Indeed, he will erect his
+oven-like cottage nowhere else, and it must be a fall and not a mere
+ripple or rapid. Then from this point as a centre--or, rather, the
+middle point of a wavering line--he forages up and down the babbling,
+meandering brook, feeding chiefly, if not wholly, on water insects.
+Strange to say, he never leaves the streams, never makes excursions to
+the country roundabout, never flies over a mountain ridge or divide to
+reach another valley, but simply pursues the winding streams with a
+fidelity that deserves praise for its very singleness of purpose. No
+"landlubber" he. It is said by one writer that the dipper has never been
+known to alight on a tree, preferring a rock or a piece of driftwood
+beside the babbling stream; yet he has the digits and claws of the
+passeres, among which he is placed systematically. He is indeed an
+anomaly, though a very engaging one. Should he wish to go to another
+cañon, he will simply follow the devious stream he is on to its junction
+with the stream of the other valley; then up the second defile. His
+flight is exceedingly swift. His song is a loud, clear, cheerful strain,
+the very quintessence of gladness as it mingles with the roar of the
+cataracts.
+
+Farther up Ute Pass I found another nest, which was placed right back
+of a cascade, so that the birds had to dash through a curtain of spray
+to reach their cot. They also were feeding their young, and I could see
+them standing on a rock beneath the shelf, tilting their bodies and
+scanning me narrowly before diving into the cleft where the nest was
+hidden. This nest, being placed back of the falls, could not be reached.
+
+In Bear Creek cañon I discovered another inaccessible nest, which was
+placed in a fissure at the very foot of the falls and only an inch or
+two above the agitated waters. There must have been a cavity running
+back into the rock, else the nest would have been kept in a soggy
+condition all the time.
+
+Perhaps the most interesting dipper's nest I found was one at the
+celebrated Seven Falls in the south Cheyenne Cañon. On the face of the
+cliff by the side of the lowest fall there was a cleft, in which the
+nest was placed, looking like a large bunch of moss and grass. My glass
+brought the structure so near that I could plainly see three little
+heads protruding from the doorway. There were a dozen or more people
+about the falls at the time, who made no attempt at being quiet, and yet
+the parent birds flew fearlessly up to the nest with tidbits in their
+bills, and were greeted with loud, impatient cries from three hungry
+mouths, which were opened wide to receive the food. The total plunge of
+the stream over the Seven Falls is hundreds of feet, and yet the adult
+birds would toss themselves over the abyss with reckless abandon, stop
+themselves without apparent effort in front of their cleft, and thrust
+the gathered morsels into the little yellow-lined mouths. It was an
+aerial feat that made our heads dizzy. This pair of birds did not fly up
+the face of the falls in ascending to the top, as did those at Rainbow
+Falls, but clambered up the wall of the cliff close to the side of the
+roaring cataract, aiding themselves with both claws and wings. When
+gathering food below the falls, they would usually, in going or
+returning, fly in a graceful curve over the heads of their human
+visitors.
+
+[Illustration: _Water-Ousel_
+
+"_Three hungry mouths, which were opened wide to receive the food_"]
+
+Although the dipper is not a web-footed bird, and is not classed by the
+naturalists among the aquatic fowl, but is, indeed, a genuine passerine,
+yet he can swim quite dexterously on the surface of the water. However,
+his greatest strength and skill are shown in swimming under water, where
+he propels himself with his wings, often to a considerable distance,
+either with or against the current. Sometimes he will allow the current
+to carry him a short distance down the stream, but he is always able to
+stop himself at a chosen point. "Ever and anon," says Mr. John Muir, in
+his attractive book on "The Mountains of California," "while searching
+for food in the rushing stream, he sidles out to where the too powerful
+current carries him off his feet; then he dexterously rises on the wing
+and goes gleaning again in shallower places." So it seems that our
+little acrobat is equal to every emergency that may arise in his
+adventurous life.
+
+In winter, when the rushing mountain streams are flowing with the sludge
+of the half-melted snow, so that he cannot see the bottom, where most of
+his delicacies lie, he betakes himself to the quieter stretches of the
+rivers, or to the mill ponds or mountain lakes, where he finds clearer
+and smoother water, although a little deeper than he usually selects.
+Such weather does not find him at the end of his resources; no, indeed!
+Having betaken himself to a lake, he does not at once plunge into its
+depths after the manner of a duck, but finding a perch on a snag or a
+fallen pine, he sits there a moment, and then, flying out thirty or
+forty yards, "he alights with a dainty glint on the surface, swims
+about, looks down, finally makes up his mind, and disappears with a
+sharp stroke of his wings." So says Mr. John Muir, who continues: "After
+feeding for two or three minutes he suddenly reappears, showers the
+water from his wings with one vigorous shake, and rises abruptly into
+the air as if pushed up from beneath, comes back to his perch, sings a
+few minutes, and goes out to dive again; thus coming and going, singing
+and diving, at the same place for hours."
+
+The depths to which the cinclid dives for the food on the bottom is
+often from fifteen to twenty feet. When he selects a river instead of a
+lake for his winter bathing, its waters, like those of the shallower
+streams, may also contain a large quantity of sludge, thus rendering
+them opaque even to the sharp little eyes of the dipper. Then what does
+he do? He has a very natural and cunning way of solving this problem; he
+simply seeks a deep portion of the river and dives through the turbid
+water to the clear water beneath, where he can plainly see the "goodies"
+on the bottom.
+
+It must not be thought that this little bird is mute amid all the watery
+tumult of his mountain home, for he is a rare vocalist, his song
+mingling with the ripple and gurgle and roar of the streams that he
+haunts. Nor does he sing only in the springtime, but all the year round,
+on stormy days as well as fair. During Indian summer, when the streams
+are small, and silence broods over many a mountain solitude, the song of
+the ousel falls to its lowest ebb; but when winter comes and the streams
+are converted into rolling torrents, he resumes his vocal efforts, which
+reach their height in early summer. Thus it would seem that the bird's
+mood is the gayest when his favorite stream is dashing at its noisiest
+and most rapid pace down the steep mountain defiles. The clamor of the
+stream often drowns the song of the bird, the movement of his mandibles
+being seen when not a sound from his music-box can be heard. There must
+be a feeling of fellowship between the bird and the stream he loves so
+well.
+
+[Illustration: "_No snowstorm can discourage him_"]
+
+You will not be surprised to learn that the dipper is an extremely hardy
+bird. No snowstorm, however violent, can discourage him, but in the
+midst of it all he sings his most cheerful lays, as if defying all the
+gods of the winds. While other birds, even the hardy nuthatches, often
+succumb to discouragement in cold weather, and move about with
+fluffed-up feathers, the very picture of dejection--not so the little
+dipper, who always preserves his cheerful temper, and is ready to say,
+in acts, if not in words: "Isn't this the jolliest weather you ever
+saw?" Away up in Alaska, where the glaciers hold perpetual sway, this
+bird has been seen in the month of November as glad and blithesome as
+were his comrades in the summery gorges of New Mexico.
+
+
+
+
+PLAINS AND FOOTHILLS
+
+[Illustration: PLATE V
+
+LOUISIANA TANAGER--_Pyranga ludoviciana_
+(Upper figure, male; lower, female)]
+
+
+The foregoing chapters contain a recital of observations made in the
+neighborhood of Colorado Springs and in trips on the plains and among
+the mountains in that latitude. Two years later--that is, in 1901--the
+rambler's good angel again smiled upon him and made possible another
+tour among the Colorado mountains. This time he made Denver, instead of
+Colorado Springs, the centre of operations; nor did he go alone, his
+companion being an active boy of fourteen who has a penchant for
+Butterflies, while that of the writer, as need scarcely be said, is for
+the Birds--in our estimation, the two cardinal B's of the English
+language. Imagine two inveterate ramblers, then, with two such
+enchanting hobbies, set loose on the Colorado plains and in the
+mountains, with the prospect of a month of uninterrupted indulgence in
+their manias!
+
+In the account of my first visit, most of the species met with were
+described in detail both as to their habits and personal appearance. In
+the present record no such minutiæ will be necessary so far as the same
+species were observed, and therefore the chief objects of the following
+chapters will be, first, to note the diversities in the avian fauna of
+the two regions; second, to give special attention to such birds as
+either were not seen in my first visit or were for some cause partly
+overlooked; and, third, to trace the peculiar transitions in bird life
+in passing from the plains about Denver to the crest of Gray's Peak,
+including jaunts to several other localities.
+
+In my rambles in the neighborhood of Denver only a few species not
+previously described were observed, and yet there were some noteworthy
+points of difference in the avi-fauna of the two latitudes, which are
+only about seventy-five miles apart. It will perhaps be remembered that,
+in the vicinity of Colorado Springs and Manitou, the pretty lazuli
+buntings were quite rare and exceedingly shy, only two or three
+individuals having been seen. The reverse was the case in the suburbs of
+Denver and on the irrigated plains between that city and the mountains,
+and also in the neighborhood of Boulder, where in all suitable haunts
+the lazulis were constantly at my elbow, lavish enough of their pert
+little melodies to satisfy the most exacting, and almost as familiar and
+approachable as the indigo-birds of the East. It is possible that, for
+the most part, the blue-coated beauties prefer a more northern latitude
+than Colorado Springs for the breeding season.
+
+At the latter place I failed to find the burrowing owl, although there
+can be little doubt of his presence there, especially out on the
+plains. Not far from Denver one of these uncanny, sepulchral birds was
+seen, having been frightened from her tunnel as I came stalking near it.
+She flew over the brow of the hill in her smooth, silent way, and
+uttered no syllable of protest as I examined her domicile--or, rather,
+the outside of it. Scattered about the dark doorway were a number of
+bones, feathers, and the skin of a frog, telling the story of the _table
+d'hôte_ set by this underground dweller before her nestlings. She might
+have put up the crossbones and skull as a sign at the entrance to her
+burrow, or even placed there the well-known Dantean legend, "All hope
+abandon, ye who enter here," neither of which would have been more
+suggestive than the telltale litter piled up before her door. When I
+chased her from her hiding-place, she flew down the hill and alighted on
+a fence-post in the neighborhood of her nest, uttering several screechy
+notes as I came near her again, as if she meant to say that I was
+carrying the joke a little too far in pursuing her about. Presently she
+circled away on oily wings, and I saw her no more.
+
+[Illustration: "_The dark doorway_"]
+
+So little enthusiasm does such a bird stir within me that I felt too
+lazy to follow her about on the arid plain. It may be interesting as a
+matter of scientific information to know that the burrowing owl breeds
+in a hole in the ground, and keeps company with the prairie dog and the
+rattlesnake, but a bird that lives in a gloomy, malodorous cave, whose
+manners are far from attractive, and whose voice sounds as strident as a
+buzz-saw--surely such a bird can cast no spell upon the observer who is
+interested in the æsthetic side of bird nature. A recent writer, in
+describing "A Buzzards' Banquet," asks a couple of pregnant questions:
+"Is there anything ugly out of doors? Can the ardent, sympathetic lover
+of nature ever find her unlovely?" To the present writer these questions
+present no Chinese puzzle. He simply brushes all speculation and
+theorizing aside by responding "Yes," to both interrogatories, on the
+principle that it is sometimes just as well to cut the Gordian knot as
+to waste precious time trying to untie it. The burrowing owl makes me
+think of a denizen of the other side of the river Styx, and why should
+one try to love that which nature has made unattractive, especially when
+one cannot help one's feeling?
+
+In the preceding chronicles no mention, I believe, has been made of one
+little bird that deserves more than a mere _obiter dictum_. My first
+meeting with the blithesome house-finch of the West occurred in the city
+of Denver, in 1899. It could not properly be called a formal
+presentment, but was none the less welcome on that account. I had
+scarcely stepped out upon the busy street before my ear was accosted by
+a kind of half twitter and half song that was new to me. "Surely that is
+not the racket of the English sparrow; it is too musical," I remarked to
+a friend walking by my side.
+
+Peering among the trees and houses, I presently focussed my field-glass
+upon a small, finch-like bird whose coat was striped with gray and
+brown, and whose face, crown, breast, and rump were beautifully tinged
+or washed with crimson, giving him quite a dressy appearance. What could
+this chipper little city chap be, with his trig form and well-bred
+manners, in such marked contrast with those of the swaggering English
+sparrow? Afterwards he was identified as the house-finch, which rejoices
+in the high-sounding Latin name of _Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis_. His
+distribution is restricted to the Rocky Mountain district chiefly south
+of the fortieth parallel of north latitude.
+
+He is certainly an attractive species, and I wish we could offer
+sufficient inducements to bring him east. A bird like him is a boon and
+an ornament to the streets and parks of any city that he graces with
+his presence and enlivens with his songs. No selfish recluse is he; no,
+indeed! In no dark gulch or wilderness, far from human neighborhood,
+does he sulkily take up his abode, but prefers the companionship of man
+to the solitudes of nature, declaring in all his conduct that he likes
+to be where there are "folks." In this respect he bears likeness to the
+English sparrow; but let it be remembered that there the analogy stops.
+Even his chirruping is musical as he flies overhead, or makes his
+_caveat_ from a tree or a telegraph wire against your ill-bred
+espionage. He and his plainly clad little spouse build a neat cottage
+for their bairns about the houses, but do not clog the spouting and make
+themselves a nuisance otherwise, as is the habit of their English
+cousins.
+
+This finch is a minstrel, not of the first class, still one that merits
+a high place among the minor songsters; and, withal, he is generous with
+his music. You might call him a kind of urban Arion, for there is real
+melody in his little score. As he is an early riser, his matin
+voluntaries often mingled with my half-waking dreams in the morning at
+dawn's peeping, and I loved to hear it too well to be angry for being
+aroused at an unseasonable hour. The song is quite a complicated
+performance at its best, considerably prolonged and varied, running up
+and down the chromatic scale with a swing and gallop, and delivered
+with great rapidity, as if the lyrist were in a hurry to have done, so
+that he could get at something else.
+
+In my rambles he was found not only in the cities of the plains (Denver,
+Colorado Springs, and Pueblo), but also in many of the mountain towns
+and villages visited, Leadville, over ten thousand feet skyward, being,
+I believe, one of the exceptions, while Silver Plume and Graymont were
+others. He does not fancy altitudes, I take it, much over eight thousand
+feet. In the villages of Red Cliff and Glenwood, both beyond the
+continental divide, he was the same sprightly citizen, making himself
+very much at home.
+
+Much as this finch cherishes the society of man, he is quite wary and
+suspicious, and does not fancy being watched. As long as you go on your
+way without seeming to notice him, he also goes his way, coming into
+plain sight and chirping and singing; but just stop to watch him with
+your binocular, and see how quickly he will take alarm, dart away, and
+ensconce himself behind a clump of foliage, uttering a protest which
+seems to say, "Why doesn't that old fellow go about his own business?"
+If in some way the American house-finch could be persuaded to come east,
+and the English sparrow could be given papers of extradition, the
+exchange would be a relief and a benefit to the whole country.
+
+Some idyllic days were spent in sauntering about Golden, which keeps
+guard at the entrance of Clear Creek Cañon, and has tucked itself in a
+beautiful valley among the foothills, which in turn stand sentinel over
+it. In the village itself and along the bush-fringed border of the creek
+below, as well as in the little park at its border, there were many
+birds, nearly all of which have been described in the previous chapters.
+However, several exceptions are worthy of note. A matted copse a mile
+and a half below the town afforded a hiding-place for three young or
+female redstarts, which were "playing butterfly," as usual, and chanting
+their vivacious little tunes. These and several near Boulder were the
+only redstarts seen in my Colorado wanderings, although Professor Cooke
+says they breed sparingly on the plains, and a little more commonly in
+the mountains to an altitude of eight thousand feet, while one observer
+saw a female in July at the timber-line, which is three thousand feet
+above the normal range of the species. Why did not this birdlet remain
+within the bounds set by the scientific guild? Suit for contempt of
+court should be brought against it. Redstarts must have been very scarce
+in the regions over which I rambled, else I certainly should have
+noticed birds that are so fearless and so lavish of song.
+
+One day my companion and I clambered up the steep side of a mesa some
+distance below Golden--that is, the base of the mesa was below the
+village, while its top towered far above it. A mesa was a structural
+portion of Colorado topography that neither of the two ramblers had yet
+explored, and we were anxious to know something about its resources from
+a natural history point of view. It was hard climbing on account of the
+steepness of the acclivity, its rocky character, and the thick network
+of bushes and brambles in many places; but "excelsior" was our motto in
+all our mountaineering, and we allowed no surmountable difficulties to
+daunt us. What birds select such steep places for a habitat? Here lived
+in happy domesticity the lyrical green-tailed towhee, the bird of the
+liquid voice, the poet laureate of the steep, bushy mountain sides, just
+as the water-ousel is the poet of the cascades far down in the cañons
+and gulches; here also thrived the spurred towhees, one of which had
+tucked a nest beneath a bush cradling three speckled eggs. This was the
+second nest of this species I had found, albeit not the last. Here also
+dwelt the rock wren, a little bird that was new to me and that I had not
+found in the latitude of Colorado Springs either east or west of the
+continental divide. A description of this anchorite of the rocks will be
+given in a later chapter. I simply pause here to remark that he has a
+sort of "monarch-of-all-I-survey" air as he sits on a tall sandstone
+rock and blows the music from his Huon's horn on the messenger breezes.
+His wild melodies, often sounding like a blast from a bugle, are in
+perfect concord with the wild and rugged acclivities which he haunts,
+from which he can command many a prospect that pleases, whether he
+glances down into the valleys or up to the silver-capped mountain peaks.
+One cannot help feeling--at least, after one has left his rock-strewn
+dwelling-place--that a kind of glamour hangs about it and him.
+
+The loud hurly-burly of the long-tailed chat reached us from a bushy
+hollow not far away. So far as I could determine, this fellow is as
+garrulous a churl and bully as his yellow-breasted cousin so well known
+in the East. (Afterwards I found the chats quite numerous at Boulder.)
+At length we scaled the cliffs, and presently stood on the edge of the
+mesa, which we found to be a somewhat rolling plateau, looking much like
+the plains themselves in general features, with here and there a hint of
+verdure, on which a herd of cattle were grazing. The pasture was the
+buffalo grass. Does the bird-lover ask what species dwell on a treeless
+mesa like this? It was the home of western grassfinches, western
+meadow-larks, turtle doves, desert horned larks, and a little bird that
+was new to me, evidently Brewer's sparrow. Its favorite resort was in
+the low bushes growing on the border of the mesa and along the edge of
+the cliff. Its song was unique, the opening syllable running low on the
+alto clef, while the closing notes constituted a very respectable
+soprano. A few extremely shy sparrows flitted about in the thickets of a
+hollow as we began our descent, and I have no doubt they were Lincoln's
+sparrows.
+
+The valley and the irrigated plain were the birds' elysium. Here we
+first saw and heard that captivating bird, the lark bunting, as will be
+fully set forth in the closing chapter. This was one of the birds that
+had escaped me in my first visit to Colorado, save as I had caught
+tantalizing glimpses of him from the car-window on the plain beyond
+Denver, and when I went south to Colorado Springs, I utterly failed to
+find him. It has been a sort of riddle to me that not one could be
+discovered in that vicinity, while two years later these birds were
+abundant on the plains both east and west of Denver. If Colorado Springs
+is a little too far south for them in the summer, Denver is obviously
+just to their liking. No less abundant were the western meadow-larks,
+which flew and sang with a kind of lyrical intoxication over the green
+alfalfa fields.
+
+One morning we decided to walk some distance up Clear Creek Cañon. At
+the opening of the cañon, Brewer's blackbirds were scuttling about in
+the bushes that broidered the steep banks of the tumultuous stream, and
+a short distance up in the gorge a lazuli bunting sat on a telegraph
+wire and piped his merry lay. Soon the cañon narrowed, grew dark and
+forbidding, and the steep walls rose high on both sides, compelling the
+railway to creep like a half-imprisoned serpent along the foot of the
+cliffs; then the birds disappeared, not caring to dwell in such dark,
+more than half-immured places. Occasionally a magpie could be seen
+sailing overhead at an immense height, crossing over from one hillside
+to the other, turning his head as he made the transit, to get a view of
+the two peripatetics in the gulch below, anxious to discover whether
+they were bent on brigandage of any kind.
+
+At length we reached a point where the mountain side did not look so
+steep as elsewhere, and we decided to scale it. From the railway it
+looked like a short climb, even if a little difficult, and we began it
+with only a slight idea of the magnitude of our undertaking. The fact
+is, mountain climbing is a good deal more than pastime; it amounts to
+work, downright hard work. In the present instance, no sooner had we
+gained one height than another loomed steep and challenging above us, so
+that we climbed the mountain by a series of immense steps or terraces.
+At places the acclivity was so steep that we were compelled to scramble
+over the rocks on all fours, and were glad to stop frequently and draw
+breath and rest our tired limbs. My boy comrade, having fewer things
+than I to lure him by the way, and being, perhaps, a little more agile
+as well, went far on ahead of me, often standing on a dizzy pinnacle of
+rock, and waving his butterfly-net or his cap in the air, and shouting
+at the top of his voice to encourage his lagging parent and announce his
+triumph as a mountaineer.
+
+However, the birdman can never forget his hobby. There were a few birds
+on that precipitous mountain side, and that lent it its chief
+attraction. At one place a spurred towhee flitted about in a bushy clump
+and called much like a catbird--an almost certain proof of a nest on the
+steep, rocky wall far up from the roaring torrent in the gorge below. On
+a stony ridge still farther up, a rock wren was ringing his peculiar
+score, which sounds so much like a challenge, while still farther up, in
+a cluster of stunted pines, a long-crested jay lilted about and called
+petulantly, until I came near, when he swung across the cañon, and I saw
+him no more.
+
+After a couple of hours of hard climbing, we reached the summit, from
+which we were afforded a magnificent view of the foothills, the mesas,
+and the stretching plains below us, while above us to the west hills
+rose on hills until they culminated in mighty snow-capped peaks and
+ridges. It must not be supposed, because the snow-mantled summits in the
+west loomed far above our present station, that this mountain which we
+had ascended was a comparatively insignificant affair. The fact is, it
+was of huge bulk and great height measured from its base in the cañon;
+almost as much of a mountain, in itself considered, as Gray's Peak. It
+must be borne in mind that the snowy peaks were from thirty to forty
+miles away, and that there is a gradual ascent the entire distance to
+the upper valleys and gorges which creep about the bases of the loftiest
+peaks and ridges. A mountain rising from the foothills may be almost as
+bulky and high and precipitous as one of the alpine peaks covered with
+eternal snow. Its actual altitude above sea-level may be less by many
+thousand feet, while its height from the surrounding cañons and valleys
+may be almost, if not quite, as great. The alpine peaks have the
+advantage of majesty of situation, because the general level of the
+country from which they rise is very high. There we stood at a sort of
+outdoor halfway house between the plains and the towering ridges, and I
+can only say that the view was superb.
+
+There were certain kinds of birds which had brought their household gods
+to the mountain's crest. Lewis's woodpeckers ambled about over the
+summit and rocky ridges, catching insects on the wing, as is their wont.
+Some distance below the summit a pair of them had a nest in a dead pine
+snag, from the orifice of which one was seen to issue. A mother hawk was
+feeding a couple of youngsters on the snarly branch of a dead pine.
+Almost on the summit a western nighthawk sprang up from my feet. On the
+bare ground, without the faintest sign of a nest, lay her two speckled
+eggs, which she had been brooding. She swept around above the summit in
+immense zigzag spirals while I examined her roofless dwelling-place. It
+was interesting to one bird-lover, at least, to know that the nighthawk
+breeds in such places. Like their eastern congeners, the western
+nighthawks are fond of "booming." At intervals a magpie would swing
+across the cañon, looking from side to side, the impersonation of
+cautious shyness. A few rods below the crest a couple of rock wrens were
+flitting about some large rocks, creeping in and out among the crevices
+like gray mice, and at length one of them slyly fed a well-fledged
+youngster. This proves that these birds, like many of their congeners,
+are partial to a commanding lookout for a nesting site. These were the
+only occupants of the mountain's brow at the time of our visit, although
+in one of the hollows below us the spurred and green-tailed towhees were
+rendering a selection from Haydn's "Creation," probably "The heavens are
+telling."
+
+No water was to be found from the bottom of the cañon to the summit of
+the mountain; all was as dry as the plain itself. The feathered tenants
+of the dizzy height were doubtless compelled to fly down into the gorge
+for drinking and bathing purposes, and then wing up again to the
+summit--certainly no light task for such birds as the wrens and
+towhees.
+
+Before daybreak one morning I made my way to a small park on the
+outskirts of the village to listen to the birds' matutinal concert. The
+earliest singers were the western robins, which began their carols at
+the first hint of the coming dawn; the next to break the silence were
+the western wood-pewees; then the summer warblers chimed in, followed by
+the western grassfinches, Bullock's orioles, meadow-larks, and lark
+sparrows, in the order named. Before daylight had fully come a family of
+mountain bluebirds were taking their breakfast at the border of the
+park, while their human relatives were still snoring in bed. The
+bluebirds are governed by old-fashioned rules even in this very "modern"
+age, among their maxims being,--
+
+    "Early to bed and early to rise,
+    Makes bluebirds healthy and wealthy and wise."
+
+Just now I came across a pretty conceit of John B. Tabb, which more
+aptly sets off the mountain blue than it does his eastern relative, and
+which I cannot forbear quoting:
+
+    "When God made a host of them,
+    One little flower lacked a stem
+      To hold its blossom blue;
+    So into it He breathed a song,
+    And suddenly, with petals strong
+      As wings, away it flew."
+
+And there is Eben E. Rexford, who almost loses himself in a tangle of
+metaphors in his efforts to express his admiration of this bird with
+the cerulean plumes. Hark to his rhapsody:
+
+    "Winged lute that we call a bluebird, you blend in a silver strain
+    The sound of the laughing waters, the patter of spring's sweet rain,
+    The voice of the winds, the sunshine, and fragrance of blossoming
+        things;
+    Ah! you are an April poem that God has dowered with wings."
+
+On our return to the plains from a two weeks' trip to Georgetown and
+Gray's Peak, we spent several days at Arvada, a village about halfway
+between Denver and Golden. The place was rife with birds, all of which
+are described in other chapters of this volume.[10] Mention need be made
+here only of the song-sparrows, which were seen in a bushy place through
+which a purling stream wound its way. Of course, they were _Melospiza
+fasciata montana_, but their clear, bell-like trills were precise copies
+of those of the merry lowland minstrels of the East. Special attention
+is called to the fact that, in my first visit to Colorado, the only
+place in which mountain song-sparrows were met with was Buena Vista,
+quite a distance up among the mountains, while in the visit now being
+described they were not found anywhere in the mountains, save in the
+vale below Cassels. They were breeding at Arvada, for a female was seen
+carrying a worm in her bill, and I am sure a nest might easily have been
+found had I not been so busily occupied in the study of other and rarer
+species. However, the recollection of the merry lyrists with the
+speckled breasts and silvery voices, brings to mind Mr. Ernest Thompson
+Seton's "Myth of the Song-Sparrow," from which it will be seen that this
+attractive bird has had something of an adventurous career:
+
+    "His mother was the Brook, his sisters were the Reeds,
+    And they every one applauded when he sang about his deeds.
+    His vest was white, his mantle brown, as clear as they could be,
+    And his songs were fairly bubbling o'er with melody and glee.
+    But an envious Neighbor splashed with mud our Brownie's coat and vest,
+    And then a final handful threw that stuck upon his breast.
+    The Brook-bird's mother did her best to wash the stains away,
+    But there they stuck, and, as it seems, are very like to stay.
+    And so he wears the splashes and the mud blotch, as you see;
+    But his songs are bubbling over still with melody and glee."
+
+[Illustration: "_His songs are bubbling over still with melody and
+glee._"
+
+_Song Sparrow_]
+
+    [10] I find I have overlooked the western Maryland yellow-throat,
+    which was seen here; also near Colorado Springs, and in several
+    other bushy spots, only on the plains. It seldom ascends into the
+    mountains, never far. Its song and habits are similar to those of
+    its eastern congener.
+
+
+
+
+RAMBLES ABOUT GEORGETOWN
+
+
+At nine o'clock on the morning of June 22, the two ramblers boarded a
+Colorado and Southern train, and bowled up Clear Creek Cañon to
+Georgetown. Having been studying winged creatures on the plains and
+among the foothills, mesas, and lower mountains, we now proposed to go
+up among the mountains that were mountains in good earnest, and see what
+we could find.
+
+The village of Georgetown nestles in a deep pocket of the mountains. The
+valley is quite narrow, and on three sides, save where the two branches
+of Clear Creek have hewn out their cañons, the ridges rise at a sharp
+angle to a towering height, while here and there a white-cap peeps out
+through the depressions. Those parts of the narrow vale that are
+irrigated by the creek and its numerous tiny tributaries are beautiful
+in their garb of green, while the areas that are not thus refreshed are
+as gray as the arid portions of the plains themselves. And that is the
+case everywhere among the Rockies--where no water flows over the
+surface the porous, sandy soil is dry and parched. The altitude of
+Georgetown is eight thousand four hundred and seventy-six feet. We were
+therefore three thousand feet higher than we had been in the morning,
+and had a right to expect a somewhat different avi-fauna, an expectation
+in which we were not disappointed.
+
+Our initial ramble took us down the valley. The first bird noted was a
+familiar one--the warbling vireo, which is very abundant in Colorado in
+its favorite localities, where all day you may be lulled by its "silvery
+converse, just begun and never ended." No description of a bird so well
+known in both the East and the West is required, but the one seen that
+day gave a new performance, which seems to be worthy of more than a
+passing notice. Have other bird students observed it? The bird was first
+seen flitting about in the trees bordering the street; then it flew to
+its little pendent nest in the twigs. I turned my glass upon it, and,
+behold, there it sat in its tiny hammock singing its mercurial tune at
+the top of its voice. It continued its solo during the few minutes I
+stopped to watch it, glancing over the rim of its nest at its auditor
+with a pert gleam in its twinkling eyes. That was the first and only
+time I have ever seen a bird indulging its lyrical whim while it sat on
+its nest. Whether the bird was a male or a female I could not determine,
+but, whatever its sex, its little bosom was bubbling over with
+music.[11]
+
+    [11] After the foregoing was written, I chanced upon the following
+    note in "Bird Lore" for September and October, 1901, written by a
+    lady at Moline, Illinois, who had made an early morning visit to the
+    haunt of a warbling vireo: "Seated on the ground, in a convenient
+    place for watching the vireo, which was on the nest, we were soon
+    attracted by a vireo's song. Search for the singer failed to find
+    it, until we noted that the bird on the nest seemed to be singing.
+    Then, as we watched, over and over again the bird was seen to lift
+    up its head and pour out the long, rich warble--a most delicious
+    sight and sound. Are such ways usual among birds, or did we chance
+    to see and hear an unusual thing?"
+
+It was soon evident that the western robins were abundant about
+Georgetown, as they were on the plains and among the foothills. They
+were principally engaged just now in feeding their young, which had
+already left their nests. Presently I shall have more to say about these
+birds. Just now I was aware of some little strangers darting about in
+the air, uttering a fine, querulous note, and at length descending to
+the ground to feast daintily on the seeds of a low plant. Here I could
+see them plainly with my glass, for they gave me gracious permission to
+go quite near them. Their backs were striped, the predominant color
+being brown or dark gray, while the whitish under parts were streaked
+with dusk, and there were yellow decorations on the wings and tails,
+whether the birds were at rest or in flight. When the wings were spread
+and in motion, the golden ornamentation gave them a filmy appearance.
+On the wing, the birds, as I afterwards observed, often chirped a little
+lay that bore a close resemblance in certain parts to the
+"pe-chick-o-pe" of the American goldfinch. Indeed, a number of their
+notes suggested that bird, as did also their manner of flight, which was
+quite undulatory. The birds were the pine siskins. They are very common
+in the Rockies, ranging from an elevation of eight thousand feet to the
+timber-line. This pert and dainty little bird is the same wherever found
+in North America, having no need of the cognomen "western" prefixed to
+his name when he takes it into his wise little head to make his abode in
+the Rocky Mountains.
+
+_CLEAR CREEK VALLEY_
+
+_A scene near Georgetown. The copses in the valley are the home of
+white-crowned sparrows, willow thrushes, Lincoln's sparrows and Wilson's
+warblers; the steep, bushy acclivities are selected by the spurred and
+green-tailed towhees, Audubon's and Macgillivray's warblers; while the
+western robins, pine siskins, and broad-tailed humming-birds range all
+over the region. The robins and siskins make some of their most
+thrilling plunges over such cliffs as are shown in the picture._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The reader will perhaps recall that a flock of pine siskins were seen,
+two years prior, in a patch of pine scrub a short distance below
+Leadville, at which time I was uncertain as to their identity. Oddly
+enough, that was the only time I saw these birds in my first trip to
+Colorado, but here in the Georgetown region, only seventy-five or a
+hundred miles farther north, no species were more plentiful than they.
+
+The siskins try to sing--I say "try" advisedly. It is one of the oddest
+bits of bird vocalization you ever heard, a wheezy little tune in the
+ascending scale--a kind of crescendo--which sounds as if it were
+produced by inhalation rather than exhalation. It is as labored as the
+alto strain of the clay-colored sparrow of the Kansas and Nebraska
+prairies, although it runs somewhat higher on the staff. The siskins
+seen at Georgetown moved about in good-sized flocks, feeding awhile on
+weed-seeds on the sunny slopes, and then wheeling with a merry chirp up
+to the pine-clad sides of the mountains. As they were still in the
+gregarious frame at Georgetown, I concluded that they had not yet begun
+to mate and build their nests in that locality. Afterwards I paid not a
+little attention to them farther up in the mountains, and saw several
+feeding their young, but, as their nests are built high in the pines,
+they are very difficult to find, or, if found, to examine. Our birdlets
+have superb powers of flight, and actually seem to revel in hurling
+themselves down a precipice or across a chasm with a recklessness that
+makes the observer's blood run cold. Sometimes they will dart out in the
+air from a steep mountain side, sing a ditty much like the goldfinch's,
+then circle back to their native pines on the dizzy cliff.
+
+I must be getting back to my first ramble below Georgetown. Lured by the
+lyrics of the green-tailed towhee, I climbed the western acclivity a few
+hundred feet, but found that few birds choose such dry and eerie places
+for a habitat. Indeed, this was generally my experience in rambling
+among the mountains; the farther up the arid steeps, the fewer the
+birds. If you will follow a mountain brook up a sunny slope or open
+valley, you will be likely to find many birds; but wander away from the
+water courses, and you will look for them, oftentimes, in vain. The
+green-tailed towhees, spurred towhees, Audubon's warblers, and mountain
+hermit thrushes are all partial to acclivities, even very steep ones,
+but they do not select those that are too remote from the babbling brook
+to which they may conveniently resort for drinking and bathing.
+
+A green and bushy spot a half mile below the village was the home of a
+number of white-crowned sparrows. None of them were seen on the plains
+or in the foothills; they had already migrated from the lower altitudes,
+and had sought their summer residences in the upper mountain valleys,
+where they may be found in great abundance from an elevation of eight
+thousand feet to copsy haunts here and there far above the timber-line
+hard by the fields of snow.
+
+The white-crowns in the Georgetown valley seemed to be excessively shy,
+and their singing was a little too reserved to be thoroughly enjoyable,
+for which reason I am disposed to think that mating and nesting had not
+yet begun, or I should have found evidences of it, as their grassy cots
+on the ground and in the bushes are readily discovered. Other birds that
+were seen in this afternoon's ramble were Wilson's and Audubon's
+warblers, the spotted sandpiper, and that past-master in the art of
+whining, the killdeer. Another warbler's trill was heard in the thicket,
+but I was unable to identify the singer that evening, for he kept
+himself conscientiously hidden in the tanglewood. A few days later it
+turned out to be one of the most beautiful feathered midgets of the
+Rockies, Macgillivray's warbler, which was seen in a number of places,
+usually on bushy slopes. He and his mate often set up a great to-do by
+chirping and flitting about, and I spent hours in trying to find their
+nests, but with no other result than to wear out my patience and rubber
+boots. I can recall no other Colorado bird, either large or small,
+except the mountain jay, that made so much ado about nothing, so far as
+I could discover. But I love them still, on account of the beauty of
+their plumage and the gentle rhythm of their trills.
+
+The next morning, chilly as the weather was--and it was cold enough to
+make one shiver even in bed--the western robins opened the day's concert
+with a splendid voluntary, waking me out of my slumbers and forcing me
+out of doors for an early walk. No one but a systematic ornithologist
+would be able to mark the difference between the eastern and western
+types of robins, for their manners, habits, and minstrelsy are alike,
+and their markings, too, so far as ordinary observation goes. The
+carolling of the two varieties is similar, so far as I could
+discern--the same cherry ringing melody, their voices having a like
+propensity to break into falsetto, becoming a veritable squeak,
+especially early in the season before their throat-harps are well tuned.
+With his powerful muscles and wide stretch of wing the robin is
+admirably adapted to the life of a mountaineer. You find him from the
+plains to the timber-line, sometimes even in the deepest cañons and on
+the most precipitous mountain sides, always the same busy, noisy, cheery
+body. One day I saw a robin dart like a meteor from the top of a high
+ridge over the cliffs to the valley below, where he alighted on a
+cultivated field almost as lightly as a flake of snow. He--probably she
+(what a trouble these pronouns are, anyway!)--gathered a mouthful of
+worms for his nestlings, then dashed up to the top of the ridge again,
+which he did, not by flying out into the air, but by keeping close up to
+the steep, cliffy wall, striking a rock here and twig there with his
+agile feet to help him in rising. The swiftness of the robin's movements
+about the gorges, abysses, and precipices of the mountains often
+inspires awe in the beholder's breast, and, on reflection, stirs him
+with envy. Many nests were found in the Georgetown valley, in woodsy and
+bushy places on the route to Gray's Peak as far as the timber-line, in
+the neighborhood of Boulder, in the Platte River Cañon, in South Park,
+and in the Blue River region beyond the Divide. Some of the nests
+contained eggs, others young in various stages of plumage, and still
+others were already deserted. For general ubiquity as a species, commend
+me to the American robin, whether of the eastern or western type.
+Wherever found he is a singer, and it is only to be regretted that--
+
+    "All will not hear thy sweet, out-pouring joy
+    That with morn's stillness blends the voice of song,
+    For over-anxious cares their souls employ,
+    That else, upon thy music borne along
+    And the light wings of heart-ascending prayer,
+    Had learned that Heaven is pleased thy simple joys to share."
+
+[Illustration: _Western Robin_
+
+"_Out-pouring joy_"]
+
+In Georgetown, Silver Plume, and other mountain towns the lovely
+violet-green swallow is frequently seen--a distinctly western species
+and one of the most richly apparelled birds of the Rockies. It nests in
+all sorts of niches and crannies about the houses, often sits calmly on
+a telegraph wire and preens its iridescent plumes, and sometimes utters
+a weak and squeaky little trill, which, no doubt, passes for first-rate
+music in swallowdom, whatever we human critics might think of it. Before
+man came and settled in those valleys, the violet-greens found the
+crevices of rocks well enough adapted to their needs for nesting sites,
+but now they prefer cosey niches and crannies in human dwellings, and
+appear to appreciate the society of human beings.
+
+For over a week we made Georgetown our headquarters, going off every day
+to the regions round about. Among my most treasured finds here was the
+nest of Audubon's warbler--my first. It was saddled in the crotch of a
+small pine a short distance up an acclivity, and was prettily roofed
+over with a thick network of branches and twigs. Four white, daintily
+speckled eggs lay in the bottom of the cup. While I was sitting in the
+shadow of the pine, some motion of mine caused the little owner to
+spring from her nest, and this led to its discovery. As she flitted
+about in the bushes, she uttered a sharp _chip_, sometimes consisting of
+a double note. The nest was about four feet from the ground, its walls
+built of grasses and weed-stems, and its concave little floor carpeted
+with cotton and feathers. A cosey cottage it was, fit for the little
+poets that erected it. Subsequently I made many long and tiresome
+efforts to find nests of the Audubons, but all these efforts were
+futile.
+
+One enchanting day--the twenty-fourth of June--was spent in making a
+trip, with butterfly-net and field-glass, to Green Lake, an emerald gem
+set in the mountains at an altitude of ten thousand feet, a few miles
+from Georgetown. Before leaving the town, our first gray-headed junco
+for this expedition was seen. He had come to town for his breakfast, and
+was flitting about on the lawns and in the trees bordering the street,
+helping himself to such dainties as pleased his palate. It may be said
+here that the gray-headed juncos were observed at various places all
+along the way from Georgetown to Green Lake and far above that body of
+water. Not so with the broad-tailed hummers, which were not seen above
+about eight thousand five hundred feet, while the last warbling vireo of
+the day was seen and heard at an altitude of nine thousand feet,
+possibly a little more, when he decided that the air was as rare as was
+good for his health.
+
+A short distance up the cañon of the west branch of Clear Creek, a new
+kind of flycatcher was first heard, and presently seen with my glass. He
+sat on a cliff or flitted from rock to bush. He uttered a sharp call,
+"Cheep, cheep, cheep"; his under parts were bright yellow, his upper
+parts yellow-olive, growing darker on the crown, and afterwards a nearer
+view revealed dark or dusky wings, yellowish or gray wing-bars, and
+yellow eye-rings. He was the western flycatcher, and bears close
+likeness to our eastern yellow-breasted species. Subsequently he was
+quite frequently met with, but never far above the altitude of
+Georgetown.
+
+In the same cañon a beautiful Macgillivray's warbler was observed, and
+two water-ousels went dashing up the meandering stream, keeping close
+to the seething and roaring waters, but never stopping to sing or bid us
+the time of day. Very few ousels were observed in our rambles in this
+region, and no nests rewarded my search, whereas in the vicinity of
+Colorado Springs, as the reader will recall, these interesting birds
+were quite frequently near at hand. A mother robin holding a worm in her
+bill sped down the gulch with the swiftness of an arrow. We soon reached
+a belt of quaking asps where there were few birds. This was succeeded by
+a zone of pines. The green-tailed towhees did not accompany us farther
+in our climb than to an elevation of about nine thousand three hundred
+feet, but the siskins were chirping and cavorting about and above us all
+the way, many of them evidently having nests in the tops of the tall
+pines on the dizzy cliffs. Likewise the hermit thrushes were seen in
+suitable localities by the way, and also at the highest point we reached
+that day, an elevation of perhaps ten thousand five hundred feet.
+
+While some species were, so to speak, our "companions in travel" the
+entire distance from the town to the lake, and others went with us only
+a part of the way, still other species found habitats only in the higher
+regions clambering far up toward the timber-line. Among these were the
+mountain jays, none of which were found as far down the range as
+Georgetown. They began to proclaim their presence by raucous calls as
+soon as we arrived in the vicinity of Green Lake. A family of them were
+hurtling about in the pine woods, allowing themselves to be inspected at
+short range, and filling the hollows with their uncanny calls. What a
+voice the mountain jay has! Nature did a queer thing when she put a
+"horse-fiddle" into the larynx of this bird--but it is not ours to ask
+the reason why, simply to study her as she is. In marked contrast with
+the harsh calls of these mountain hobos were the roulades of the sweet
+and musical ruby-crowned kinglets, which had absented themselves from
+the lower altitudes, but were abundant in the timber belts about ten
+thousand feet up the range and still higher.
+
+[Illustration: _Red-naped Sapsuckers_
+
+"_Chiselling grubs out of the bark_"]
+
+On the border of the lake, among some gnarly pines, I stumbled upon a
+woodpecker that was entirely new to my eastern eyes--one that I had not
+seen in my previous touring among the heights of the Rockies. He was
+sedulously pursuing his vocation--a divine call, no doubt--of chiselling
+grubs out of the bark of the pine trees, making the chips fly, and
+producing at intervals that musical snare-drumming which always sets
+the poet to dreaming of sylvan solitudes. What was the bird? The
+red-naped sapsucker, a beautifully habited Chesterfield in plumes. He
+presently ambled up the steep mountain side, and buried himself in the
+pine forest, and I saw him no more, and none of his kith.
+
+When I climbed up over a tangle of rocks to a woodsy ravine far above
+the lake, it seemed at first as if there were no birds in the place,
+that it was given up entirely to solitude; but the winged creatures were
+only shy and cautious for the nonce, waiting to learn something about
+the errand and disposition of their uninvited, or, rather, self-invited,
+guest, before they ventured to give him a greeting. Presently they
+discovered that he was not a collector, hunter, nest-robber, or ogre of
+any other kind, and there was the swish of wings around me, and a medley
+of chirps and songs filled the sequestered spot. Away up here the
+gray-headed juncos were trilling like warblers, and hopping about on
+their pine-needle carpet, creeping in and out among the rocks, hunting
+for tidbits. Here also was the mountain chickadee, found at this season
+in the heights hard by the alpine zone, singing his dulcet minor strain,
+"Te-te-re-e-e, te-eet," sometimes adding another "te-eet" by way of
+special emphasis and adornment. Oh, the sweet little piper piping only
+for Pan! The loneliness of the place was accentuated by the sad cadenzas
+of the mountain hermit thrushes. Swallows of some kind--cliff-swallows,
+no doubt--were silently weaving invisible filigree across the sky above
+the tops of the stately pines.
+
+In the afternoon we made our way, with not a little laborious effort, to
+the farther end of the lake, across which a red-shafted flicker would
+occasionally wing its galloping flight; thence through a wilderness of
+large rocks and fallen pines to a beckoning ridge, where, to our
+surprise, another beautiful aqueous sheet greeted our vision in the
+valley beyond. Descending to its shores, we had still another
+surprise--its waters were brown instead of green. Here were two mountain
+lakes not more than a quarter of a mile apart, one of which was green
+and the other brown, each with a beauty all its own. In the brown lake
+near the shore there were glints of gold as the sun shone through its
+ripples on the rocks at the bottom. Afterwards we learned that the name
+of this liquid gem was Clear Lake, and that the western branch of Clear
+Creek flows through it, tarrying a while to sport and dally with the
+sunbeams. While Green Lake was embowered in a forest of pine, its
+companion lay in the open sunlight, unflecked by the shadow of a tree.
+
+At the upper end of Clear Lake we found a green, bosky and bushy corner,
+which formed the summer tryst of white-crowned sparrows, Wilson's
+warblers, and broad-tailed humming-birds, none of which could find a
+suitable habitat on the rocky, forest-locked shores of Green Lake. A
+pigeon hawk, I regretted to note, had settled among the bushes, and was
+watching for quarry, making the only fly in the amber of the enchanted
+spot. A least flycatcher flitted about in the copse some distance up a
+shallow runway. I trudged up the valley about a mile above Clear Lake,
+and found a green, open meadow, with clumps of bushes here and there, in
+which a few white-crowned sparrows and Wilson's warblers had taken up at
+least a temporary dwelling; but the wind was blowing shiveringly from
+the snow-capped mountains not many miles away, and there was still a
+wintry aspect about the vale. The cold evidently affected the birds as
+it did myself, for they lisped only a few bars of song in a half-hearted
+way. Evening was approaching, and the two travellers--the human ones, I
+mean--started on the trail down the valleys and cañons toward
+Georgetown, which they reached at dusk, tired, but thankful for the
+privilege of spending an idyllic day among their winged companions.
+
+[Illustration: _Pigeon Hawk_
+
+"_Watching for quarry_"]
+
+Following a wagon road, the next day, across a pass some distance below
+Georgetown brought us into another valley, whose green meadows and
+cultivated fields lay a little lower, perhaps a couple hundred feet,
+than the valley from which we had come. Here we found many Brewer's
+blackbirds, of which there were very few in the vicinity of Georgetown.
+They were feeding their young, some of which had already left the nest.
+No red-winged blackbirds had been seen in the Georgetown valley, while
+here there was a large colony of them, many carrying food to the
+bantlings in grass and bush. Otherwise there was little difference
+between the avi-fauna of the two valleys.
+
+One morning I climbed the steep mountain just above Georgetown, the one
+that forms the divide between the two branches of Clear Creek. A western
+chipping sparrow sat trilling on the top of a small pine, as unafraid as
+the chippie that rings his silvery peals about your dooryard in the
+East; nor could I distinguish any difference between the minstrelsy of
+this westerner and his well-known cousin of Ohio. He dexterously caught
+an insect on the wing, having learned that trick, perhaps, from his
+neighbor, the little western flycatcher, which also lived on the slope.
+Hermit thrushes, Audubon's warblers, and warbling vireos dwelt on the
+lower part of the acclivity. When I climbed far up the steep wall,
+scarcely able to cling to its gravelly surface, I found very few birds;
+only a flycatcher and an Audubon's warbler, while below me the hermit
+thrushes were chanting a sacred oratorio in the pine woods.
+
+On another day the train bore us around the famous "Loop" to Silver
+Plume. In the beautiful pine grove at the terminus of the railway there
+were many birds--siskins, chipping sparrows, western robins and
+ruby-crowned kinglets; and they were making the place vocal with melody,
+until I began to inspect them with my glass, when they suddenly lapsed
+into a silence that was as trying as it was profound. By and by,
+discretion having had her perfect work, they metaphorically came out of
+their shells and permitted an inspection. Above the railway I saw one of
+the few birds of my entire Rocky Mountain outing that I was unable to
+identify. That little feathered Sphinx--what could he have been? To
+quote from my note-book, "His song, as he sits quietly on a twig in a
+pine tree, is a rich gurgling trill, slightly like that of a house-wren,
+but fuller and more melodious, with an air about it that makes me feel
+almost like writing a poem. The bird is in plain view before me, and I
+may watch him either with or without my glass; he has a short, conical
+bill; his upper parts are gray or olive-gray; cervical patch of a
+greenish tinge; under parts whitish, spotted with dusk or brown. The
+bill is white or horn-color, and is quite heavy, I should say heavier
+than that of any sparrow I know. The bird continued to sing for a long
+time and at frequent intervals, not even stopping when the engine near
+at hand blew off steam, although he turned his head and looked a little
+startled." I saw this species nowhere else in my Colorado rambles, and
+can find no description in the systematic manuals that helps to clear up
+the mystery, and so an _avis incognita_ he must remain for the present.
+
+Has mention been made of a few house-finches that were seen in
+Georgetown? Only a few, however, for they prefer the towns and cities of
+the plain. Several house-wrens were also seen in the vicinity of the
+Georgetown Loop as well as elsewhere in the valley. The "Loop," although
+a monumental work of human genius and daring, has its peculiar
+attractions for the student of natural history, for in the cañon itself,
+which is somewhat open and not without bushy haunts, and on the
+precipitous mountain sides, a few birds set up their Lares and Penates,
+and mingle their songs of domestic felicity with the roar of the torrent
+and the passing trains. Darting like zigzag lightning about the cliffs,
+the broad-tailed humming-bird cuts the air with his sharp, defiant buzz,
+until you exclaim with the poet:
+
+    "Is it a monster bee,
+      Or is it a midget bird,
+    Or yet an air-born mystery
+      That now yon marigold has stirred?"
+
+[Illustration: "_Solo singing in the thrush realm_"]
+
+Among the birds that dwell on the steep mountain sides above the "Loop"
+hollow are the melodious green-tailed towhees, lisping their chansons of
+good-will to breeze and torrent, while in the copse of asps in the
+hollow itself the warbling vireo and the western flycatcher hold sway,
+the former rehearsing his recitative all the day long, and the latter
+chirping his protest at every human intrusion. On a pine-clad shelf
+between the second fold of the "Loop" and what is known as the "Great
+Fill" I settled (at least, to my own satisfaction) a long-disputed
+point in regard to the vocalization of the mountain hermit thrush.
+Again and again I had noticed a peculiarity about the hermit's
+minstrelsy--whenever the music reached my ear, it came in two runs, the
+first quite high in the scale, the second perhaps an octave lower. For a
+long time I supposed that two thrushes were singing responsively, but
+here at the "Loop," after listening for a couple of hours, it occurred
+to me as improbable that there would invariably be a respondent when a
+thrush lifted up his voice in song. Surely there would sometimes, at
+least, be solo singing in the thrush realm. And so the conclusion was
+forced upon me that both strains emanated from the same throat, that
+each vocalist was its own respondent. It was worth while to clamber
+laboriously about the "Loop" to settle a point like that--at all events,
+it was worth while for one admirer of the birds.
+
+
+
+
+HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK!
+
+[Illustration: PLATE VI
+
+TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE--_Myiadestes townsendii_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+By the uninitiated it may be regarded simply as fun and pastime to climb
+a mountain whose summit soars into cloudland; in reality it is serious
+business, not necessarily accompanied with great danger, but always
+accomplished by laborious effort. However, it is better for the
+clamberer to look upon his undertaking as play rather than work. Should
+he come to feel that it is actual toil, he might soon weary of a task
+engaged in so largely for its own sake, and decide to expend his time
+and energy in something that would "pay better." Moreover, if he is
+impelled by a hobby--ornithology, for instance--in addition to the mere
+love of mountaineering, he will find that something very near akin to
+wings has been annexed to the climbing gear of which he is naturally
+possessed.
+
+The morning of June 27 saw my youthful companion and myself mounted each
+upon a shaggy burro, scrambling up the steep hill above Georgetown, en
+route for Gray's Peak, the ascent of which was the chief goal of our
+ambition in coming to the Rockies on the present expedition. The
+distance from Georgetown to the summit of this peak is fourteen miles,
+and the crest itself is fourteen thousand four hundred and forty-one
+feet above sea-level, almost three hundred feet higher than Pike's Peak,
+and cannot be scaled by means of a cog-wheel railway or any other
+contrivance that uses steam or electricity as a motor. Indeed, the only
+motor available at the time of our ascent--that is, for the final
+climb--was "shank's horses," very useful and mostly safe, even if a
+little plebeian. We had been wise enough not to plunge at once among the
+heights, having spent almost a week rambling over the plains, mesas,
+foothills, and lower ranges, then had been occupied for five or six days
+more in exploring the valleys and mountain sides in the vicinity of
+Georgetown, and thus, by gradually approaching them, we had become
+inured to "roughing it" in the higher altitudes when we reached them,
+and suffered no ill effects from the rarefied atmosphere.
+
+We passed the famous "Georgetown Loop," crept at a snail's pace--for
+that is the natural gait of the burro--through the town of Silver Plume,
+and pursued our leisurely journey toward the beckoning, snow-clad
+heights beyond. No, we did not hurry, for two reasons: First, our
+little four-footers would not or could not quicken their pace, urge them
+as we would; second, we desired to name all the birds along the route,
+and that "without a gun," as Emerson mercifully enjoins.
+
+Have you ever ridden a burro? Have you ever been astride of an old one,
+a hirsute, unkempt, snail-paced, obstinate one, which thinks he knows
+better what gait he ought to assume than you do? If you have not, I
+venture to suggest modestly that your education and moral discipline are
+not quite complete. The pair which we had hired were slow and headstrong
+enough to develop the patience of Job in a most satisfactory way, and to
+test it, too. They were as homely as the proverbial "mud fence" is
+supposed to be. Never having seen a fence of that kind, I speak with
+some degree of caution, not wanting to cast any disparagement upon
+something of which I have so little knowledge. If our long-eared
+companions had ever seen a curry-comb, it must have been in the days of
+Noah. You see, we were "tenderfoots," as far as having had any
+experience with burros was concerned, or we might have selected a more
+sprightly pair for our fellow-pilgrims. A fine picture, fit for the
+camera or the artist's brush, we presented as we crept with the speed of
+a tortoise along the steep mountain roads and trails. Our "jacks," as
+Messrs. Longears are called colloquially, were not lazy--oh, no! they
+were simply averse to leaving home! Their domestic ties were so strong
+they bound them with cords of steel and hooks of iron to stall and
+stable-yard! The thought of forsaking friends and kindred even for only
+a few days wrung their loving hearts with anguish! No wonder we had a
+delicate and pathetic task on hand when we attempted to start our
+caravan up the mountain road. From side to side the gentle animals
+wabbled, their load of grief weighing them down tenfold more than the
+loads on their backs, and times without count they were prompted to veer
+about and "turn again home."
+
+Much labor and time and patience were expended in persuading our steeds
+to crawl up the hill, but I am delighted to say that no profane history
+was quoted, as we were a strictly moral crowd. At length we arrived in
+state at the village of Silver Plume. Canter into the town like a gang
+of border ruffians we did not; we entered deliberately, as became a
+dignified company of travellers. But here a new difficulty confronted
+us, stared us blankly in the face. Our little charges could not be
+convinced that there was any occasion for going farther than the town.
+They seemed to have conscientious scruples about the matter; so they
+stopped without any invitation from their riders, sidled off, turned in
+toward the residences, stores, groceries, shoe-shops, drugstores, barns,
+and even the saloons, the while the idlers on the streets and the small
+boys were gawking at us, smiling in a half-suppressed way, and making
+quaint remarks in which we could see no wisdom nor humor. We had not
+come into the town, like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, merely to furnish
+the villagers amusement. Applying our canes and straps forcibly to the
+haunches and rumps of our burros only seemed to embarrass the poor
+creatures, for you can readily see how they would reason the matter out
+from their own premises: If they were to go no farther, as had been
+decided by themselves, why should their riders belabor them in that
+merciless way? For downright dialectics commend me to the Rocky Mountain
+burro.
+
+Finally a providence in the shape of two small boys came to our rescue,
+and in a most interesting and effective way. Seeing the predicament we
+were in, and appreciating the gravity of the situation, those
+nimble-witted lads picked up a couple of clubs from the street, and,
+getting in the rear of our champing steeds, began to pound them over the
+haunches. For small boys they delivered sturdy blows. Now, if there is
+anything that will make a burro move dexterously out of his tracks, it
+is to get behind him with a club and beat a steady tattoo on his hams
+and legs. No sooner did the boys begin to apply their clubs in good
+earnest than our burros began to print tracks in quick succession on the
+dusty road, and we went gayly through the town, the lads making a merry
+din with their shouts and whacks, mingled with the patter of hoofs on
+the street. It was so dramatic that even the women came to their doors
+to witness the pageant. We tried not to laugh, and so did the delicately
+mannered spectators, but I suspect that a good deal of laughing was done
+on the sly, in spite of the canons of etiquette.
+
+At length the obliging lads became a little too accommodating. They used
+their persuasives upon the donkeys so vigorously that they--the
+donkeys--started off on a lope, a sort of awkward, lop-sided gallop.
+Now, if there is anything that is beyond the ability of Master Jack,
+especially if he is old, it is to canter and at the same time preserve
+his equilibrium. It is evident that he is not built to make a
+rocking-chair of his back bone. So a little comedy was enacted, all
+involuntary on the part of the _dramatis personæ_. Suddenly
+Turpentine--that was the name of the little gray burro ridden by my boy
+companion--took a header, sending his youthful rider sprawling to the
+ground, where he did not remain a moment longer than good manners
+demanded. Fortunately he succeeded in disengaging his feet from the
+stirrups and directing his movements in such a way that the animal did
+not fall upon him. But poor Turpentine, what of him? He tumbled clean
+over his head upon his back, and I want to confess in all candor that
+one of the most instructive and interesting "animal pictures" I have
+ever seen, including those done by Landseer, Rosa Bonheur, and Ernest
+Thompson Seton, was that little iron-gray, long-eared donkey lying on
+his back on the street and clawing the air with his hoofs. And he clawed
+fast, too--fairly sawed the air. For once in his life Turpentine, the
+snail paced, was in a hurry; for once he moved with more celerity than
+grace. It threw us into spasms of laughter to see him exert himself so
+vigorously to reverse his position--to get his feet down and his back
+up. A cat could not have done it with more celerity. You never would
+have believed him capable of putting so much vim and vigor into his
+easy-going personality. After chopping the air with his hoofs for a
+second or two, he succeeded in righting himself, and was on his feet in
+less time than it takes to tell it. There he stood, as meek as Mary's
+lamb, trying to look as if he had never turned an undignified somersault
+in all his tranquil life.
+
+We started on our journey again, and presently, to our intense relief,
+reached the border of the town, thanked the lads who had expedited our
+march along the street, and proceeded on our way up the valley. We soon
+settled down to taking our burros philosophically, and erelong they were
+going calmly on the even tenor of their way, and afterwards we had
+little trouble with them, and actually became quite attached to the
+gentle creatures before our joint pilgrimage drew to an end.
+
+It is time to pass from quadrupeds to bipeds. While our feathered
+friends were not so abundant in the wilder regions as we might have
+wished, still we had almost constant avian companionship along the way.
+The warbling vireos were especially plentiful, and in full tune, making
+a silvery trail of song beside the dusty road. We had them at our elbow
+as far as Graymont, where we made a sharp detour from the open valley,
+and clambered along a steep mountain side, with a deep, wooded gorge
+below us. Here the vireos suddenly decided that they could escort us no
+farther, as they had no taste for crepuscular cañons and alpine heights.
+Not a vireo was seen above Graymont, which has an altitude of nearly ten
+thousand feet. We left them singing in the valley as we turned from it,
+and did not hear them again until we came back to Graymont.
+
+Almost the same may be said of the broad-tailed humming-birds, whose
+insect-like buzzing we heard at frequent intervals along the route to a
+shoulder of the mountain a little above Graymont, when it suddenly
+ceased and was heard no more until we returned to the same spot a few
+days later. House-wrens, willow thrushes, Brewer's blackbirds, and
+long-crested jays were also last seen at Graymont, which seemed to be a
+kind of territorial limit for a number of species.
+
+However, several species--as species, of course, not as
+individuals--convoyed us all the way from Georgetown to the timber-line
+and, in some instances, beyond. Let me call the roll of these faithful
+"steadies": Mountain hermit thrushes, gray-headed juncos, red-shafted
+flickers, pine siskins, western robins, Audubon's and Wilson's warblers,
+mountain bluebirds and white-crowned sparrows. Of course, it must be
+borne in mind that these birds were not seen everywhere along the upward
+journey, simply in their favorite habitats. The deep, pine-shadowed
+gorges were avoided by the warblers and white-crowned sparrows, whilst
+every open, sunlit, and bushy spot or bosky glen was enlivened by a
+contingent of these merry minnesingers. One little bird added to our
+list in the gorge above Graymont was the mountain chickadee, which was
+found thereafter up to the timber-line.
+
+It was sometime in the afternoon when we reached Graymont, which we
+found to be no "mount" at all, as we had expected, but a hamlet, now
+mostly deserted, in a narrow valley in sight of several gray mountains
+looming in the distance. Straight up the valley were some snow-mantled
+peaks, but none of them was Gray's; they did not beckon to us from the
+right direction. From the upper part of the hamlet, looking to our left,
+we saw a frowning, snow-clad ridge towering like an angry giant in the
+air, and we cried simultaneously, "Gray's Peak!" The terrific aspect of
+that mountain sent a momentary shiver through our veins as we thought of
+scaling it without a guide. We were in error, as we afterwards found,
+for the mountain was Torrey's Peak, not Gray's, which is not visible
+from Graymont, being hidden by two intervening elevations, Mount Kelso
+and Torrey's Peak. There are several points about a mile above Graymont
+from which Gray's serene peak is visible, but of this we were not aware
+until on our return trip, when we had learned to recognize him by his
+calm and magisterial aspect.
+
+As evening drew on, and the westering sun fell below the ridges, and the
+shadows deepened in the gorges, making them doubly weird, we began to
+feel very lonely, and, to add to our misgivings, we were uncertain of
+our way. The prospect of having to spend a cold night out of doors in a
+solitary place like this was not very refreshing, I am free to confess,
+much as one might desire to proclaim himself a brave man. Presently our
+eyes were gladdened by the sight of a miner's shack just across the
+hollow, perhaps the one for which we were anxiously looking. A man at
+Graymont had told us about a miner up this way, saying he was a "nice
+man" and would no doubt give us accommodation for the night. I crossed
+the narrow foot-bridge that spanned the booming torrent, and found the
+miner at home. Would he give two way-worn travellers a place to sleep
+beneath his roof? We had brought plenty of food and some blankets with
+us, and all we required was four walls around us and a roof over our
+heads. Yes, he replied, we were welcome to such accommodation as he had,
+and he could even give us a bed, though it "wasn't very stylish." Those
+were among the sweetest and most musical words that ever fell on my ear.
+
+Having tethered our burros in a grassy cove on the mountain side, and
+cooked our supper in the gloaming among some rocks by the bank of the
+brawling stream, we turned into the cabin for the night, more than
+grateful for a shelter from the chill winds scurrying down from the
+snow-capped mountains. The shack nestled at the foot of Mount Kelso,
+which we had also mistaken for Gray's Peak. As we sat by the light of a
+tallow candle, beguiling the evening with conversation, the miner told
+us that the mountain jays, colloquially called "camp robbers," were
+common around his cabin, especially in winter; but familiar as they
+were, he had never been able to find a nest. The one thing about which
+they insist on the utmost privacy is their nesting places. My friend
+also told me that a couple of gray squirrels made the woods around his
+camp their home. The jays would frequently carry morsels of food up to
+the branches of the pines, and stow them in some crevice for future use,
+whereupon the squirrels, always on the lookout for their own interests,
+would scuttle up the tree and steal the hidden provender, eating it with
+many a chuckle of self-congratulation.
+
+Had not the weather turned so cold during the night, we might have slept
+quite comfortably in the miner's shack, but I must confess that, though
+it was the twenty-eighth of June and I had a small mountain of cover
+over me, I shivered a good deal toward morning. An hour or so after
+daylight four or five mountain jays came to the cabin for their
+breakfast, flitting to the ground and greedily devouring such tidbits as
+they could find. They were not in the least shy. But where were their
+nests? That was the question that most deeply interested me. During the
+next few days I made many a long and toilsome search for them in the
+woods and ravines and on the steep mountain sides, but none of the birds
+invited me to their houses. These birds know how to keep a secret.
+Anything but feathered Apollos, they have a kind of ghoulish aspect,
+making you think of the apparitional as they move in their noiseless way
+among the shadowing pines. There is a look in their dark, deep-set eyes
+and about their thick, clumpy heads which gives you a feeling that they
+might be equal to any imaginable act of cruelty. Yet I cannot say I
+dislike these mountain roustabouts, for some of their talk among
+themselves is very tender and affectionate, proving that, "whatever
+brawls disturb the street," there are love and concord in jay household
+circles. That surely is a virtue to be commended, and cannot be claimed
+for every family, either avian or human.
+
+At 4.30 that morning I crept out of bed and climbed far up one of the
+mountain sides--this was before the jays came to the cabin. The wind
+blew so icy from the snow-clad heights that I was only too glad to wear
+woollen gloves and pin a bandanna handkerchief around my neck, besides
+buttoning up my coat collar. Even then I shivered. But would you believe
+it? The mosquitoes were as lively and active as if a balmy breeze were
+blowing from Arcady, puncturing me wherever they could find a vulnerable
+spot, and even thrusting their sabres through my thick woollen gloves
+into the flesh. They must be extremely hardy insects, for I am sure such
+arctic weather would send the mosquitoes of our lower altitudes into
+their winter hiding-places. People who think there are no mosquitoes in
+the Rockies are reckoning without their hosts. In many places they
+assaulted us by the myriad until life among them became intolerable, and
+some were found even in the neighborhood of perpetual snow.
+
+Raw as the morning was, the hermit thrushes, mountain chickadees,
+Audubon's warblers, gray-headed juncos, and ruby-crowned kinglets were
+giving a lively rehearsal. How shy they were! They preferred being
+heard, not seen. Unexpectedly I found a hermit thrush's nest set in
+plain sight in a pine bush. One would have thought so shy a bird would
+make some attempt at concealment. It was a well-constructed domicile,
+composed of grass, twigs, and moss, but without mortar. The shy owner
+was nowhere to be seen, nor did she make any outcry, even though I stood
+for some minutes close to her nest. What stolidity the mountain birds
+display! You could actually rob the nests of some of them without
+wringing a chirp from them. On two later visits to the place I found
+Madame Thrush on her nest, where she sat until I came quite close, when
+she silently flitted away and ensconced herself among the pines, never
+chirping a syllable of protest or fear. In the bottom of the pretty crib
+lay four deep-blue eggs. Afterwards I found one more hermit's nest,
+which was just in process of construction. In this case, as in the
+first, no effort was made at concealment, the nest being placed in the
+crotch of a quaking asp a rod or so above the trail, from which it could
+be plainly seen. The little madame was carrying a load of timbers to her
+cottage as we went down the trail, and sat in the nest moulding and
+putting her material in place as I climbed up the steep bank to inspect
+her work. Then she flew away, making no demonstration while I examined
+the nest.
+
+Having eaten our breakfast at the miner's cabin, my youthful companion
+and I mounted our "gayly caparisoned steeds," and resumed our journey
+toward Gray's Peak. The birds just mentioned greeted us with their
+salvos as we crept along. It was not until we had almost reached the
+timber-line that Gray's Peak loomed in sight, solemn and majestic,
+photographed against the cobalt sky, with its companion-piece, Torrey's
+Peak, standing sullen beside it. The twin peaks were pointed out to us
+by another miner whom we met at his shack just a little below the
+timber-line, and who obligingly gave us permission to "bunk" in one of
+the cabins of what is known as "Stephen's mine," which is now
+abandoned--or was at the time of our visit. Near the timber-line, where
+the valley opens to the sunlight, we found a mountain bluebird flitting
+about some old, deserted buildings, but, strangely enough, this was the
+last time we saw him, although we looked for him again and again. Nor
+did we see another mountain blue in this alpine eyrie.
+
+Our burros were tethered for the day in a grassy hollow, our effects
+stowed away in the cabin aforesaid, which we had leased for a few days;
+then, with luncheon strapped over our shoulders and butterfly net and
+field-glass in hand, we started happily up the valley afoot toward the
+summit of our aspirations, Gray's Peak, rising fourteen thousand four
+hundred and forty-one feet above the level of the sea. In some scrubby
+pine bushes above timber-line several Audubon's warblers were flitting
+and singing, living hard by the white fields of snow. Still farther up
+the hollow Wilson's warblers were trilling blithely, proclaiming
+themselves yet more venturesome than their gorgeous cousins, the
+Audubons. There is reason for this difference, for Wilson's warblers
+nest in willows and other bushes which thrive on higher ground and
+nearer the snowy zone than do the pines to which Audubon's warblers are
+especially attached. At all events, _Sylvania pusilla_ was one of the
+two species which accompanied us all the way from Georgetown to the foot
+of Gray's Peak, giving us a kind of "personally conducted" journey.
+
+Our other brave escorts were the white-crowned sparrows, which pursued
+the narrowing valleys until they were merged into the snowy gorges that
+rive the sides of the towering twin peaks. In the arctic gulches the
+scrubby copses came to an end, and therefore the white-crowns ascended
+no higher, for they are, in a pre-eminent sense, "birds of the bush."
+Subsequently I found them as far up the sides of Mount Kelso as the
+thickets extended, which was hundreds of feet higher than the snow-bound
+gorges just mentioned, for Kelso receives more sunshine than his taller
+companions, particularly on his eastern side. Brave birds are these
+handsome and musical sparrows. It was interesting to see them hopping
+about on the snow-fields, picking up dainties from the white crystals.
+How lyrical they were in this upper mountain valley! As has been said,
+for some unaccountable reason the white-crowns in the vicinity of
+Georgetown were quite chary of their music. Not so those that dwelt in
+the valley below Gray's and Torrey's peaks, for there they trilled their
+melodious measures with a richness and abandon that were enchanting.
+
+On reaching the snow-belt, though still a little below the limit of
+copsy growths, we saw our first pipits, which, it will be remembered, I
+had encountered on the summit of Pike's Peak two years before. In our
+climb up Gray's Peak we found the pipit realm and that of the
+white-crowned sparrows slightly overlapping. As soon, however, as we
+began the steep climb above the matted copses, the white-crowns
+disappeared and the pipits grew more abundant. At frequent intervals
+these birds would suddenly start up from the ground, utter their
+protesting "Te-cheer! te-cheer!" and hurl themselves recklessly across a
+snowy gulch, or dart high into the air and let their semi-musical calls
+drop and dribble from the turquoise depths of the sky. Did the pipits
+accompany you to the summit of the peak? I half regret to admit that
+they did not, but ceased to appear a good while before the summit was
+attained. This is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that
+these birds were extremely abundant on the crest of Pike's Peak, where
+they behaved in a "very-much-at-home" way.
+
+However, there was ample compensation in the ascent of Gray's Peak. As
+we clambered up the steep and rugged side of the mountain, sometimes
+wading snow up to our knees, then making a short cut straight up the
+acclivity to avoid the snow-banks, unable to follow the trail a large
+part of the way, we were suddenly made aware of the presence of another
+fearless feathered comrade. With a chirp that was the very quintessence
+of good cheer and lightness of heart, he hopped about on the snow,
+picking dainties from his immaculate tablecloth, and permitting us to
+approach him quite close before he thought it worth while to take to
+wing. We were happy indeed to meet so companionable a little friend, one
+that, amid these lonely and awe-inspiring heights, seemed to feel so
+much at ease and exhibited so confiding a disposition. Was it fancy or
+was it really true? He appeared to be giving us a hospitable welcome to
+his alpine home, telling us we might venture upward into cloudland or
+skyland without peril; then, to make good his assurance, he mounted
+upward on resilient wings to prove how little danger there was. We were
+doubly glad for our little seer, for just then we needed someone to
+"prophesy smooth things" to us. The bird was the brown-capped
+leucosticte or rosy finch. Thus far I have used the singular number, but
+the plural would have been more accurate, for there were many of these
+finches on the acclivity and summit, all of them in a most cheerful
+mood, their good will and cordial welcome giving us a pleasant feeling
+of comradery as we journeyed together up the mountain side.
+
+Our climb up Gray's Peak was a somewhat memorable event in our
+experience, and I am disposed to dwell upon it. The valley which we had
+followed terminates in a deep gorge, filled with drift snow the year
+round, no doubt, and wedging itself between Gray's and Torrey's
+shoulders and peaks. Here the melting snows form the head waters of
+Clear Creek, whose sinuous course we had followed by rail, foot, and
+burro from the city of Denver.
+
+The trail, leaving the ravine, meandered up a shoulder of the mountain,
+wheeled to the left and crept along a ridge, with some fine,
+blood-curdling abysses on the eastern side; then went zigzagging back
+and forth on the precipitous wall of Gray's titanic mount, until at
+last, with a long pull and a strong pull, it scaled the backbone of the
+ridge. All this, however, is much more easily told than done. Later in
+the season, when the trail is clear of snow-drifts, sure-footed horses
+and burros are ridden to the summit; but we were too early to follow the
+trail even on foot. Indeed, many persons familiar with the mountains had
+declared that we could not reach the top so early in the season, on
+account of the large snow-banks that still covered the trail. Even the
+old miner, who in the valley below pointed out the peak to us,
+expressed grave doubts about the success and wisdom of our undertaking.
+"See!" he said, "the trail's covered with snow in many places on the
+mountain side. I'm afraid you can't reach the top, sir." I did not see
+as clearly as he did, but said nothing aloud. In my mind I shouted,
+"Excelsior!" and then added, mentally, of course, "Faint heart never won
+fair lady or fairer mountain's crest--hurrah for the peak!" I simply
+felt that if there were birds and butterflies on that sky-aspiring
+tower, I _must_ see them. The die was cast; we had come to Colorado
+expressly to climb Gray's Peak, and climb it we would, or have some good
+reason to give for not doing so.
+
+And now we were making the attempt. We had scarcely reached the
+mountain's shoulder before we were obliged to wade snow. For quite a
+distance we were able to creep along the edge of the trail, or skirt the
+snow-beds by making short detours, and then returning to the trail; but
+by and by we came to a wide, gleaming snow-field that stretched right
+athwart our path and brought us to a standstill with the exclamation,
+"What shall we do now?" Having already sunk a number of times into the
+snow over our boot-tops, we felt that it would not be safe to venture
+across so large an area of soft and treacherous crystals melting in the
+afternoon sun and only slightly covering we knew not what deep gorges.
+In some places we had been able to walk on the top of the snow, but
+elsewhere it was quite soft, and we could hear the gurgling of water
+underneath, and sometimes it sounded a little more sepulchral than we
+liked. Looking far up the acclivity, we saw still larger snow-fields
+obliterating the trail. "We can never cross those snow-fields," one of
+us declared, a good deal of doubt in his tones. A moment's reflection
+followed, and then the other exclaimed stoutly, "Let us climb straight
+up, then!" To which his companion replied, "All right, little Corporal!
+Beyond the Alps lies Italy!"
+
+Over rocks and stones and stretches of gravel, sometimes loose,
+sometimes solid, we clambered, half the time on all fours, skirting the
+snow-fields that lay in our unblazed pathway; on and up, each cheering
+the other at frequent intervals by crying lustily, "We can make it! We
+can make it!" ever and anon throwing ourselves on the rocks to recover
+our breath and rest our aching limbs; on and up we scrambled and crept,
+like ants on a wall, until at length, reaching the ridge at the left a
+little below the top, we again struck the trail, when we stopped a few
+minutes to catch breath, made one more mighty effort, and, behold! we
+stood on Gray's summit, looking down triumphantly at the world crouching
+at our feet. Never before had we felt so much like Jupiter on Olympus.
+
+_GRAY'S AND TORREY'S PEAKS_
+
+_Gray's to the left, Torrey's to the right. As the lookout of the
+photographer was nearer Torrey's than Gray's, the former appears the
+higher in the picture, while the reverse is really the case. The trail
+winds through a ravine at the right of the ridge in front; then creeps
+along the farther side of the ridge above the gorge at Torrey's base;
+comes to the crest of the ridge pretty well toward the left; then crawls
+and zigzags back and forth along the titanic wall of Gray's to the
+summit. In the vale, where some of the head waters of Clear Creek will
+be seen, the white-crowned sparrows and Wilson's warblers find homes. A
+little before the ascent of the ridge begins, the first pipits are seen;
+thence the clamberer has pipit company to the point where the ridge
+joins the main bulk of the mountain. Here the pipits stop, and the first
+leucostictes are noted, which, chirping cheerily all the way, escort the
+traveller to the summit._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In making the ascent, some persons, even among those who ride, become
+sick; others suffer with bleeding at the nose, and others are so
+overcome with exhaustion and weakness that they cannot enjoy the superb
+panorama spread out before them. However you may account for it, my
+youthful comrade and I, in spite of our arduous climb, were in excellent
+physical condition when we reached our goal, suffering no pain whatever
+in eyes, head, or lungs. The bracing air, rare as it was, soon
+exhilarated us, our temporary weariness disappeared, and we were in the
+best of trim for scouring the summit, pursuing our natural history
+hobbies, and revelling in the inspiring cyclorama that Nature had reared
+for our delectation.
+
+My pen falters when I think of describing the scene that broke upon our
+vision. I sigh and wish the task were done. The summit itself is a
+narrow ridge on which you may stand and look down the declivities on
+both sides, scarcely having to step out of your tracks to do so. It is
+quite different from the top of Pike's Peak, which is a comparatively
+level plateau several acres in extent, carpeted, if one may so speak,
+with immense granite rocks piled upon one another or laid side by side
+in semi-systematic order; whereas Gray's, as has been said, is a narrow
+ridge, composed chiefly of comparatively small stones, with a sprinkling
+of good-sized boulders. The finer rocks give the impression of having
+been ground down by crushing and attrition to their present dimensions
+in the far-away, prehistoric ages.
+
+A short distance to the northwest frowned Torrey's Peak, Gray's
+companion-piece, the twain being connected by a ridge which dips in an
+arc perhaps a hundred feet below the summits. The ridge was covered with
+a deep drift of snow, looking as frigid and unyielding as a scene in the
+arctic regions. Torrey's is only a few feet lower than Gray's--one of my
+books says five. Mention has been made of its forbidding aspect. It is
+indeed one of the most ferocious-looking mountains in the Rockies, its
+crown pointed and grim, helmeted with snow, its sides, especially east
+and north, seamed and ridged and jagged, the gorges filled with snow,
+the beetling cliffs jutting dark and threatening, bearing huge drifts
+upon their shoulders. Torrey's Peak actually seemed to be calling over
+to us like some boastful Hercules, "Ah, ha! you have climbed my
+mild-tempered brother, but I dare you to climb me!" For reasons of our
+own we declined the challenge.
+
+The panorama from Gray's Peak is one to inspire awe and dwell forever in
+the memory, an alpine wonderland indeed and in truth. To the north,
+northwest, and west there stretches, as far as the eye can reach, a vast
+wilderness of snowy peaks and ranges, many of them with a rosy glow in
+the sunshine, tier upon tier, terrace above terrace, here in serried
+ranks, there in isolated grandeur, some just beyond the dividing
+cañons, others fifty, sixty, a hundred miles away, cyclopean, majestic,
+infinite. Far to the north, Long's Peak lifts his seamed and hoary
+pyramid, almost as high as the crest on which we are standing; in the
+west rise that famous triad of peaks, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton,
+their fanelike towers, sketched against the sky, disputing the palm with
+old Gray himself; while a hundred miles to the south Pike's Peak stands
+solitary and smiling in the sun, seeming to say, "I am sufficient unto
+myself!" Between our viewpoint and the last-named mountain lies South
+Park, like a paradise of green immured by guardian walls of rock and
+snow, and far to the east, beyond the billowing ranges, white, gray, and
+green, stretch the limitless plains, vanishing in the hazy distance. In
+such surroundings one's breast throbs and swells with the thought of
+Nature's omnipotence.
+
+_PANORAMA FROM GRAY'S PEAK--NORTHWEST_
+
+_The picture includes the northern spur of Gray's Peak, with the
+dismantled signal station on its crest. The main ridge of the peak
+extends out to the left of the signal station. The summit is so situated
+as to be exposed to the sun the greater part of the day; hence, although
+it is the highest point in the region, there is less snow upon it in
+summer than upon many of the surrounding elevations. Looking northwest
+from the signal station, the eye falls upon a wilderness of snow-clad
+peaks and ranges, some standing in serried ranks, others in picturesque
+disorder. It is truly an arctic scene, summer or winter. Yet it is the
+summer home of the brown-capped leucosticte and the white-tailed
+ptarmigan, which range in happy freedom over the upper story of our
+country._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The summit of Gray's Peak is a favorable viewpoint from which to study
+the complexion, the idiosyncrasies, if you please, of individual
+mountains, each of which seems to have a personality of its own. Here is
+Gray's Peak itself, calm, smiling, good-natured as a summer morning;
+yonder is Torrey's, next-door neighbor, cruel, relentless, defiant,
+always threatening with cyclone or tornado, or forging the thunder-bolts
+of Vulcan. Some mountains appear grand and dignified, others look like
+spitfires. On one side some bear smooth and green slopes almost to the
+top, while the other is scarred, craggy, and precipitous.
+
+The day was serene and beautiful, the sky a deep indigo, unflecked with
+clouds, save a few filmy wracks here and there, and the breeze as balmy
+as that of a May morning in my native State. So quiet was the alpine
+solitude that on all sides we could hear the solemn roar of the streams
+in the ravines hundreds of feet below, some of them in one key and some
+in another, making almost a symphony. For several hours we tarried, held
+by a spell. "But you have forgotten your ornithology!" some one reminds
+me. No one could blame me if I had. Such, however, is not the case, for
+ornithology, like the poor, is never far from some of us. The genial
+little optimists that had been hopping about on the snow on the
+declivities had acted as our cicerones clear to the summit, and some of
+them remained there while we tarried. Indeed the leucostictes were quite
+plentiful on the mountain's brow. Several perched on the dismantled
+walls of the abandoned government building on the summit, called
+cheerily, then wheeled about over the crest, darted out and went
+careering over the gulches with perfect aplomb, while we watched them
+with envious eyes, wishing we too had wings like a leucosticte, not that
+we "might fly away," as the Psalmist longed to do, but that we might
+scale the mountains at our own sweet will. The favorite occupation of
+our little comrades, besides flying, was hopping about on the snow and
+picking up dainties that were evidently palatable. Afterwards we
+examined the snow, and found several kinds of small beetles and other
+insects creeping up through it or about on its surface. Without doubt
+these were leucosticte's choice morsels. Thus Nature spreads her table
+everywhere with loving care for her feathered children. The general
+habits of the rosy finches are elsewhere depicted in this volume. It
+only remains to be said that they were much more abundant and familiar
+on Gray's Peak than on Pike's Peak,--that is, at the time of my
+respective visits to those summits.
+
+[Illustration: _Thistle Butterfly_]
+
+[Illustration: _Western White_]
+
+To omit all mention of the butterflies seen on this trip would be proof
+of avian monomania with a vengeance. The lad who was with me found a
+number of individuals of two species zigzagging over the summit, and
+occasionally settling upon the rocks right by the fields of snow. What
+kind of nectar they sipped I know not, for there were no flowers or
+verdure on the heights. They were the Painted Lady or Thistle Butterfly
+(_Pyrameis cardui_) and the Western White (_Pieris occidentalis_). He
+captured an individual of the latter species with his net, and to-day it
+graces his collection, a memento of a hard but glorious climb. The
+descent of the mountain was laborious and protracted, including some
+floundering in the snow, but was accomplished without accident. A warm
+supper in the miner's shack which we had leased prepared us for the
+restful slumbers of the night.
+
+Although the weather was so cold that a thin coating of ice was formed
+on still water out of doors, the next morning the white-crowned sparrows
+were singing their sonatas long before dawn, and when at peep of day I
+stepped outside, they were flitting about the cabins as if in search of
+their breakfast. The evening before, I left the stable-door open while I
+went to bring the burros up from their grazing plat. When I returned
+with the animals, a white-crown flew out of the building just as I
+stepped into the entrance, almost fluttering against my feet, and
+chirping sharply at what he seemed to think a narrow escape. He had
+doubtless gone into the stable on a foraging expedition.
+
+The day was spent in exploring the valley and steep mountain sides. A
+robin's nest was found a little below the timber-line on the slope of
+Mount Kelso. In the woods a short distance farther down, a gray-headed
+junco's nest was discovered after a good deal of patient waiting. A
+female was preening her feathers on a small pine-tree, a sure sign that
+she had recently come from brooding her eggs. Presently she began to
+flit about from the tree to the ground and back again, making many
+feints and starts, which proved that she was embarrassed by my
+espionage; but at last she disappeared and did not return. With
+quickened pulse I approached the place where I had last seen her. It was
+not long before she flew up with a nervous chirp, revealing a pretty
+domicile under a roof of green grass, with four daintily speckled eggs
+on the concave floor. I noticed especially that the doorway of the tiny
+cottage was open toward the morning sun.
+
+At the timber-line there were ruby-crowned kinglets, mountain
+chickadees, and gray-headed juncos, while far above this wavering
+boundary a pair of red-shafted flickers were observed ambling about
+among the bushes and watching me as intently as I was watching them. I
+climbed far up the side of Mount Kelso, then around its rocky shoulder,
+following an old trail that led to several abandoned silver mines, but
+no new birds rewarded my toilsome quest, although I was pleased to learn
+that the pipits and leucostictes did not give the "go-by" to this grand
+old mountain, but performed their thrilling calisthenics in the air
+about its slopes and ravines with as much grace as they did on the
+loftier mountain peaks the day before. A beautiful fox and three cubs
+were seen among the large stones, and many mountain rats and a sly mink
+went scuttling about over the rocks.
+
+[Illustration: _Junco_
+
+"_Under a roof of green grass_"]
+
+On the morning of June 30 the white-crowns, as usual, were chanting
+their litanies long before day broke. We left the enchanting valley that
+morning, the trills of the white-crowns ringing in the alpenglow like a
+sad farewell, as if they felt that we should never meet again. On our
+way down the winding road we frequently turned to gaze with longing
+eyes upon the snowy summits of the twin peaks, Gray's all asmile in the
+sunshine, and Torrey's--or did we only imagine it?--relenting a little
+now that he was looking upon us for the last time. Did the mountains and
+the white-crowns call after us, "Auf wiedersehen!" or was that only
+imagination too?
+
+
+
+
+PLEASANT OUTINGS
+
+[Illustration: PLATE VII
+
+RUDDY DUCK--_Erismatura rubida_
+(Lower figure, male; upper, female)]
+
+
+One of our pleasantest trips was taken up South Platte Cañon, across
+South Park, and over the range to Breckenridge. The town lies in the
+valley of the Blue River, the famous Ten Mile Range, with its numerous
+peaks and bold and rugged contour, standing sentinel on the west. Here
+we found many birds, but as few of them were new, I need not stop to
+enter into special detail.
+
+At the border of the town I found my first green-tailed towhee's nest,
+which will be described in the last chapter. A pair of mountain
+bluebirds had snuggled their nest in a cranny of one of the cottages,
+and an entire family of blues were found on the pine-clad slope beyond
+the stream; white-crowned sparrows were plentiful in the copses and far
+up the bushy ravines and mountain sides; western chippies rang their
+silvery peals; violet-green swallows wove their invisible fabrics
+overhead; juncos and Audubon's warblers proclaimed their presence in
+many a remote ingle by their little trills; and Brewer's blackbirds
+"chacked" their remonstrance at every intrusion into their demesnes;
+while in many a woodsy or bushy spot the long-crested jays rent the air
+with their raucous outcries; nor were the broad-tailed hummers wanting
+on this side of the range, and of course their saucy buzzing was heard
+wherever they darted through the air.
+
+An entire day was spent in ascending and descending Peak Number Eight,
+one of the boldest of the jutting crags of the Ten Mile Range; otherwise
+it is called Tillie Ann, in honor of the first white woman known to
+scale its steep and rugged wall to the summit. She must have been a
+brave and hardy woman, and certainly deserves a monument of some kind in
+memory of her achievement, although it falls to the lot of few persons
+to have their deeds celebrated by a towering mountain for a memorial.
+While not as high by at least a thousand feet as Gray's Peak, it was
+fully as difficult of access. A high ridge of snow, which we surmounted
+with not a little pride and exhilaration, lay on its eastern acclivity
+within a few feet of the crest, a white crystalline bank gleaming in the
+sun. The winds hurtling over the summit were as cold and fierce as old
+Boreas himself, so that I was glad to wear woollen gloves and button my
+coat-collar close around my neck; yet it was the Fourth of July, when
+the people of the East were sweltering in the intense heat of their low
+altitudes. It was a surprise to us to find the wind so much colder here
+than it had been on the twenty-eighth of June on the summit of Gray's
+Peak, which is considerably farther north. However, there may be times
+when the meteorological conditions of the two peaks are reversed,
+blowing a gale on Gray's and whispering a zephyr on Tillie Ann.
+
+The usual succession of birds was seen as we toiled up the slopes and
+steep inclines, some stopping at the timber-line and others extending
+their range far up toward the alpine zone. In the pine belt below the
+timber-line a pair of solitaires were observed flitting about on the
+ground and the lower branches of the trees, but vouchsafing no song. In
+the same woodland the mountain jays held carnival--a bacchanalian revel,
+judging from the noise they made; the ruby-crowned kinglets piped their
+galloping roundels; a number of wood-pewees--western species--were
+screeching, thinking themselves musical; siskins were flitting about,
+though not as numerous as they had been in the piny regions below Gray's
+Peak; and here for the first time I saw olive-sided flycatchers among
+the mountains. I find by consulting Professor Cooke that their breeding
+range is from seven thousand to twelve thousand feet. A few juncos and
+ruby-crowned kinglets were seen above the timber-line, while many
+white-crowned sparrows, some of them singing blithely, climbed as far up
+the mountain side as the stunted copses extended.
+
+Oddly enough, no leucostictes were seen on this peak. Why they should
+make their homes on Pike's and Gray's Peaks and neglect Tillie Ann is
+another of those puzzles in featherdom that cannot be solved. Must a
+peak be over fourteen thousand feet above sea-level to meet their
+physiological wants in the summery season? Who can tell? There were
+pipits on this range, but, for some reason that was doubtless
+satisfactory to themselves, they were much shyer than their brothers and
+sisters had been on Gray's Peak and Mount Kelso; more than that, they
+were seen only on the slopes of the range, none of them being observed
+on the crest itself, perhaps on account of the cold, strong gale that
+was blowing across the snowy heights. A nighthawk was sailing in its
+erratic course over the peaks--a bit of information worth noting, none
+of these birds having been seen on any of the summits fourteen thousand
+feet high. These matters are perhaps not of supreme interest, yet they
+have their value as studies in comparative ornithology and are helpful
+in determining the _locale_ of the several species named. In the same
+interest I desire to add that mountain chickadees, hermit thrushes,
+warbling vireos, and red-shafted flickers belong to my Breckenridge
+list. Besides, what I think must have been a Mexican crossbill was seen
+one morning among the pines, and also a large hawk and two kinds of
+woodpeckers, none of which tarried long enough to permit me to make
+sure of their identity. The crossbill--if the individual seen was a bird
+of that species--wore a reddish jacket, explored the pine cones, and
+sang a very respectable song somewhat on the grosbeak order, quite
+blithe, loud, and cheerful.
+
+On our return trip to Denver we stopped for a couple of days at the
+quiet village of Jefferson in South Park, and we shall never cease to be
+thankful that our good fairies led us to do so. What birds, think you,
+find residence in a green, well-watered park over nine thousand feet
+above sea-level, hemmed in by towering, snow-clad mountains? Spread out
+around you like a cyclorama lies the plateau as you descend the mountain
+side from Kenosha Pass; or wheel around a lofty spur of Mount Boreas,
+and you almost feel as if you must be entering Paradise. It was the
+fifth of July, and the park had donned its holiday attire, the meadows
+wearing robes of emerald, dappled here and there with garden spots of
+variegated flowers that brought more than one exclamation of delight
+from our lips.
+
+_SOUTH PARK FROM KENOSHA HILL_
+
+_A paradise of green engirdled by snow-mantled mountains, making a
+summer home for western meadow-larks, Brewer's blackbirds, desert horned
+larks, and western Savanna sparrows._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Before leaving the village, our attention was called to a colony of
+cliff-swallows, the first we had seen in our touring among the
+mountains. Against the bare wall beneath the eaves of a barn they had
+plastered their adobe, bottle-shaped domiciles, hundreds of them, some
+in orderly rows, others in promiscuous clusters. At dusk, when we
+returned to the village, the birds were going to bed, and it was
+interesting to watch their method of retiring. The young were already
+grown, and the entire colony were converting their nests into sleeping
+berths, every one of them occupied, some of the partly demolished ones
+by two and three birds. But there were not enough couches to go round,
+and several of the birds were crowded out, and were clinging to the side
+of the wall on some of the protuberances left from their broken-down
+clay huts. It was a query in my mind whether they could sleep
+comfortably in that strained position, but I left them to settle that
+matter for themselves and in their own way.
+
+Leaving the town, we soon found that the irrigated meadows and
+bush-fringed banks of the stream made habitats precisely to the taste of
+Brewer's blackbirds, which were quite plentiful in the park. My
+companion was "in clover," for numerous butterflies went undulating over
+the meadows, leading him many a headlong chase, but frequently getting
+themselves captured in his net. Thus occupied, he left me to attend to
+the birds. At the border of the village a little bird that was new to me
+flitted into view and permitted me to identify it with my glass. The
+little stranger was the western savanna sparrow. South Park was the only
+place in my Colorado rambles where I found this species, and even his
+eastern representative is known to me very imperfectly and only as a
+migrant. The park was fairly alive with savannas, especially in the
+irrigated portions. I wonder how many millions of them dwelt in this
+vast Eden of green almost twice as large as the State of Connecticut!
+The little cocks were incessant singers, their favorite perches being
+the wire fences, or weeds and grass tufts in the pastures. Their voices
+are weak, but very sweet, and almost as fine as the sibilant buzz of
+certain kinds of insects. The pretty song opens with two or three
+somewhat prolonged syllables, running quite high, followed by a trill
+much lower in the scale, and closes with a very fine, double-toned
+strain, delivered with the rising inflection and a kind of twist or
+jerk--"as if," say my notes, "the little lyrist were trying to tie a
+knot in his aria before letting it go." More will be said about these
+charming birds before the end of this chapter.
+
+The western meadow-larks were abundant in the park, delivering with
+great gusto their queer, percussive chants, which, according to my
+notes, "so often sound as if the birds were trying to crack the whip."
+The park was the only place above the plains and mesas where I found
+these gifted fluters, with the exception of the park about Buena Vista.
+It would appear that the narrow mountain valleys, green and grassy
+though they are, do not appeal to the larks for summer homes; no, they
+seem to crave "ampler realms and spaces" in which to spread their wings
+and chant their dithyrambs.
+
+Where the natural streams and irrigating ditches do not reach the soil
+of the park it is as dry and parched as the plains and mesas. In fact,
+the park is only a smaller and higher edition of the plains, the
+character of the soil and the topography of the land in both regions
+being identical. Never in the wet, fresh meadows, whether of plain or
+park, only on the arid slopes and hillocks, will you find the desert
+horned larks, which are certainly true to their literary cognomen, if
+ever birds were. How they revel in the desert! How scrupulously they
+draw the line on the moist and emerald areas! Surely there are "many
+birds of many kinds," and one might appropriately add, "of many minds,"
+as well; for, while the blackbirds and savanna sparrows eschew the
+desert, the horned larks show the same dislike for the meadow. In
+shallow pits dug by themselves amid the sparse buffalo grass, the larks
+set their nests. The young had already left their nurseries at the time
+of my visit to the park, but were still receiving their rations from the
+beaks of their elders. On a level spot an adult male with an uncommonly
+strong voice for this species was hopping about on the ground and
+reciting his canticles. Seeing I was a stranger and evidently interested
+in all sorts of avian exploits, he decided to give an exhibition of what
+might be called sky-soloing, as well as dirigible ballooning. Starting
+up obliquely from the ground, he continued to ascend in a series of
+upward leaps, making a kind of aerial stairway, up, up, on and up, until
+he was about the size of a humming-bird framed against the blue dome of
+the sky. So far did he plunge into the cerulean depths that I could just
+discern the movement of his wings. While scaling the air he did not
+sing, but having reached the proper altitude, he opened his mandibles
+and let his ditty filtrate through the ether like a shower of spray. It
+could be heard quite plainly, although at best the lark's song is a
+weak, indefinite twitter, its peculiar characteristic being its carrying
+quality, which is indeed remarkable.
+
+The soloist circled around and around in the upper air so long that I
+grew dizzy watching him, and my eyes became blinded by the sun and the
+glittering sky. How long he kept up his aerial evolutions, singing all
+the while, I am unprepared to announce, for I was too much engrossed in
+watching him to consult my timepiece; but the performance lasted so long
+that I was finally obliged to throw myself on my back on the ground to
+relieve the strain upon me, so that I might continue to follow his
+movements. I venture the conjecture that the show lasted from fifteen to
+twenty minutes; at least, it seemed that long to me in my tense state of
+body and mind. Finally he shot down like an arrow, making my head fairly
+whirl, and landed lightly on the ground, where he skipped about and
+resumed his roundelay as if he had not performed an extraordinary feat.
+This was certainly skylarking in a most literal sense. With the
+exception of a similar exhibition by Townsend's solitaire--to be
+described in the closing chapter--up in the neighborhood of Gray's Peak,
+it was the most wonderful avian aeronautic exploit, accompanied with
+song, of which I have ever been witness. It is odd, too, that a bird
+which is so much of a groundling--I use the term in a good sense, of
+course--should also be so expert a sky-scraper. I had listened to the
+sky song of the desert horned lark out on the plain, but there he did
+not hover long in the air.
+
+The killdeer plovers are as noisy in the park as they are in an eastern
+pasture-field, and almost as plentiful. In the evening near the village
+a pair of western robins and a thieving magpie had a hard tussle along
+the fence of the road. The freebooter was carrying something in his beak
+which looked sadly like a callow nestling. He tried to hide in the
+fence-corners, to give himself a chance to eat his morsel, but they were
+hot on his trail, and at length he flew off toward the distant ridge.
+Where did the robins build their nests? I saw no trees in the
+neighborhood, but no doubt they built their adobe huts on a fence-rail
+or in a nook about an old building. Not a Say's phoebe had we thus far
+seen on this jaunt to the mountains, but here was a family near the
+village, and, sure enough, they were whistling their likely tunes, the
+first time I had ever heard them. While I had met with these birds at
+Glenwood and in the valley below Leadville, they had not vouchsafed a
+song. What is the tune they whistle? Why, to be sure, it is, "Phe-be-e!
+phe-be-e! phe-e-e-bie!" Their voices are stronger and more mellifluent
+than the eastern phoebe's, but the manner of delivery is not so
+sprightly and gladsome. Indeed, if I mistake not, there is a pensive
+strain in the lay of the western bird.
+
+A few cowbirds, red-winged blackbirds, and spotted sandpipers were seen
+in the park, but they are too familiar to merit more than casual
+mention. However, let us return to Brewer's blackbirds. Closely as they
+resemble the bronzed grackles of the East, there are some marked
+differences between the eastern and western birds; the westerners are
+not so large, and their manners and nesting habits are more like those
+of the red-wings than the grackles. Brewer's blackbirds hover overhead
+as you come into the neighborhood of their nests or young, and the males
+utter their caveats in short squeals or screeches and the females in
+harsh "chacks."
+
+[Illustration: _Magpie and Western Robins_
+
+"_They were hot on his trail_"]
+
+The nests are set in low bushes and even on the ground, while those of
+the grackles are built in trees and sometimes in cavities. To be exact
+and scientific, Brewer's blackbirds belong to the genus _Icolecophagus_,
+and the grackles to the genus _Quiscalus_. In the breeding season the
+western birds remain in the park. That critical period over, in August
+and September large flocks of them, including young and old, ascend to
+favorite feeding haunts far above the timber-line, ranging over the
+slopes of the snowy mountains engirdling their summer home. Then they
+are in the heyday of blackbird life. Silverspot himself, made famous by
+Ernest Thompson Seton, did not lead a more romantic and adventurous
+life, and I hope some day Brewer's blackbird will be honored by a no
+less effective biography.
+
+What a to-do they make when you approach their outdoor hatchery! Yet
+they are sly and diplomatic. One day I tried my best to find a nest with
+eggs or bantlings in it, but failed, although, as a slight compensation,
+I succeeded in discovering three nests from which the young had flown.
+The old birds of both sexes circled overhead, called and pleaded and
+scolded, and sometimes swooped down quite close to my scalp, always
+veering off in time to avoid actual collision. A pair of them held
+choice morsels--choice for Brewer's blackbirds--in their bills, and I
+sat down on a tuft of sod and watched them for a couple of hours, hoping
+they would feed their young in plain sight and divulge their secret to
+me; but the sable strategists flitted here and there, hovered in the
+air, dropped to the ground, visiting every bush and grass-tuft but the
+right one, and finally the worms held in their bills disappeared,
+whether into their own gullets or those of their fledgelings, I could
+not tell. If the latter, the rascals were unconscionably wary, for my
+eyes were bent on them every moment--at least, I thought so. Again and
+again they flew off some distance, never more than a stone's throw,
+strutted about for a few minutes among the tufts of grass and sod, then
+came back with loud objurgations to the place where I sat. They seemed
+to be aware of my inspection the moment my field-glass was turned upon
+them, for they would at once cease their pretended search for insects in
+the grass and fly toward me with a clamorous berating giving me a big
+piece of their mind. At length my patience was worn out; I began to hunt
+for nests, and found the three empty abodes to which allusion has been
+made.
+
+For the most part the female cried, "Chack! chack!" but occasionally she
+tried to screech like her ebon consort, her voice breaking ludicrously
+in the unfeminine effort. The evening before, I had flushed a youngster
+about which a great hubbub was being made, but on the day of my long
+vigil in the meadow, I could not, by the most careful search, find a
+single bantling, either in or out of a nest. It is odd how effectually
+the young are able to conceal themselves in the short grass and
+straggling bushes.
+
+Not a little attention was given to the western savanna sparrows, whose
+songs have already been described. Abundant proof was furnished that the
+breeding season for these little birds was at its height, and I
+determined to find a nest, if within the range of possibility. An entire
+forenoon was spent in discovering three nests. As you approach their
+domiciles, the cocks, which are always on the alert, evidently give the
+alarm to their sitting mates, which thereupon slip surreptitiously from
+the nest; and in that case how are you going to ferret out their
+domestic secrets?
+
+A female--I could distinguish her from her consort by her conduct--was
+sitting on the post of a wire fence, preening her feathers, which was
+sufficient evidence that she had just come from brooding her eggs. To
+watch her until she went back to her nest, then make a bee-line for
+it--that was the plan I resolved to pursue. It is an expedient that
+succeeds with many birds, if the observer is very quiet and tactful. For
+a long time I stood in the blazing sun with my eyes bent on the little
+impostor. Back and forth, hither and yon, she flew, now descending to
+the ground and creeping slyly about in the grass, manifestly to induce
+me to examine the spot; then back to the fence again, chirping
+excitedly; then down at another place, employing every artifice to make
+me think the nest was where it was not; but I steadfastly refused to
+budge from my tracks as long as she came up in a few moments after
+descending, for in that case I knew that she was simply resorting to a
+ruse to lead me astray. Finally she went down at a point which she had
+previously avoided, and, as it was evident she was becoming exceedingly
+anxious to go back upon her eggs, I watched her like a tiger intent on
+his prey. Slyly she crept about in the grass, presently her chirping
+ceased, and she disappeared.
+
+Several minutes passed, and she did not come up, so I felt sure she had
+gone down for good this time, and was sitting on her nest. Her husband
+exerted himself to his utmost to beguile my attention with his choicest
+arias, but no amount of finesse would now turn me from my purpose. I
+made a bee-line for the spot where I had last seen the madame, stopping
+not, nor veering aside for water, mud, bushes, or any other obstacle. A
+search of a couple of minutes brought no find, for she had employed all
+the strategy of which she was mistress in going to the nest, having
+moused along in the grass for some distance after I had last seen her. I
+made my search in an ever-widening circle, and at length espied some dry
+grass spears in a tuft right at my feet; then the little prospective
+mother flitted from her nest and went trailing on the ground, feigning
+to be fatally wounded.
+
+Acquainted with such tactics, I did not follow her, not even with my
+eye, but looked down at my feet. Ah! the water sprites had been kind,
+for there was the dainty crib, set on a high tuft of sod raised by the
+winter's frosts, a little island castle in the wet marsh, cosey and dry.
+It was my first savanna sparrow's nest, whether eastern or western. The
+miniature cottage was placed under a fragment of dried cattle excrement,
+which made a slant roof over it, protecting it from the hot rays of the
+sun. Sunken slightly into the ground, the nest's rim was flush with the
+short grass, while the longer stems rose about it in a green, filmy wall
+or stockade. The holdings of the pretty cup were four pearls of eggs,
+the ground color white, the smaller end and middle peppered finely with
+brown, the larger almost solidly washed with pigment of the same tint.
+
+Two more savannas' nests were found not long afterwards, one of them by
+watching the female until she settled, the other by accidentally
+flushing her as I walked across the marshy pasture; but neither of them
+was placed under a roof as the first one had been, the blue dome being
+their only shelter. These birdlets seem to be especially fond of soggy
+places in pastures, setting their nests on the little sod towers that
+rise above the surrounding water.
+
+All the birds seen in the park have now been mentioned. It was an
+idyllic spot, and I have often regretted that I did not spend a week in
+rambling over it and making excursions to the engirdling ridges and
+peaks. A few suggestive questions arise relative to the migratory habits
+of the feathered tenants of a mountain park like this, for most of those
+that have been named are only summer residents. How do they reach this
+immured Eden at the time of the spring migration? One may conjecture and
+speculate, but one cannot be absolutely sure of the precise course of
+their annual pilgrimage to their summer Mecca. Of course, they come up
+from the plains, where the spring arrives much earlier than it does in
+the higher altitudes. Our nomads may ascend by easy stages along the few
+cañons and valleys leading up from the plains to this mountain-girt
+plateau; or else, rising high in air at eventide--for most birds perform
+their migrations at night--they may fly over the passes and mountain
+tops, and at dawn descend to the park.
+
+Neither of these hypotheses is free from objection, for, on the one
+hand, it is not likely that birds, which cannot see in the dark, would
+take the risk of dashing their brains out against the cliffs and crags
+of the cañons by following them at night; yet they may depart from their
+usual habit of nocturnal migration, and make the journey up the gorges
+and vales by day. On the other hand, the nights are so cold in the
+elevated regions that the little travellers' lives might be jeopardized
+by nocturnal flight over the passes and peaks. There is one thing
+certain about the whole question, perplexing as it may be--the feathered
+pilgrims reach their summer quarters in some way, and seem to be very
+happy while they remain.
+
+We stopped at a number of places in our run down South Platte Cañon,
+adding no new birds to our list, but making some interesting
+observations. At Cassel's a house-wren had built a nest on the veranda
+of the hotel where people were sitting or passing most of the time, and
+was feeding her tiny brood. In the copse of the hollow below the resort,
+the mountain song-sparrows were trilling sweetly--the only ones we had
+encountered in our wanderings since leaving Arvada on the plains. These
+musicians seem to be rather finical in their choice of summer resorts.
+Chaseville is about a mile below Cassel's, and was made memorable to us
+by the discovery of our second green-tailed towhee's nest, a description
+of which I have decided to reserve for the last chapter of this volume.
+Lincoln's sparrows descanted in rich tones at various places in the
+bushy vales, but were always as wild as deer, scuttling into the
+thickets before a fair view of them could be obtained.
+
+The veranda of a boarding-house at Shawnee was the site of another
+house-wren's nest. While I stood quite close watching the little mother,
+she fed her bantlings twice without a quaver of fear, the youngsters
+chirping loudly for more of "that good dinner." At this place barn
+swallows were describing graceful circles and loops in the air, and a
+sheeny violet-green swallow squatted on the dusty road and took a
+sun-bath, which she did by fluffing up all her plumes and spreading out
+her wings and tail, so that the rays could reach every feather with
+their grateful warmth and light. It was a pretty performance.
+
+[Illustration: _Violet-green Swallow_
+
+"_Squatted on the dusty road and took a sun-bath_"]
+
+A stop-over at Bailey's proved satisfactory for several reasons, among
+which was the finding of the Louisiana tanagers, which were the first we
+had seen on this trip, although many of them had been observed in the
+latitude of Colorado Springs. Afterwards we found them abundant in the
+neighborhood of Boulder. The only pigmy nuthatches of this visit were
+seen in a ravine above Bailey's. In the same wooded hollow I took
+occasion to make some special notes on the quaint calls of the
+long-crested jays, a task that I had thus far deferred from time to
+time. There was an entire family of jays in the ravine, the elders
+feeding their strapping youngsters in the customary manner. These birds
+frequently give voice to a strident call that is hard to distinguish
+from the cries of their kinsmen, the mountain jays. When I pursued the
+couple that were attending to the gastronomical wants of their children,
+one of the adults played a yodel on his trombone sounding like this:
+"Ka-ka-ka, k-wilt, k-wilt, k-wilt", the first three short syllables
+enunciated rapidly, and the "k-wilts" in a more measured way, with a
+peculiar guttural intonation, giving the full sound to the _k_ and _w_.
+The birds became very shy when they thought themselves shadowed, not
+understanding what my pursuit might imply, and they gave utterance to
+harsh cries of warning that were different from any that had preceded.
+It was presently followed by a soft and friendly chatter, as if the
+birds were having an interview that was exclusively _inter se_. Then one
+of them startled me by breaking out in a loud, high key, crying, "Quick!
+quick! quick!" as fast as he could fling the syllables from his tongue.
+This, being translated into our human vernacular, obviously meant,
+"Hurry off! danger! danger!" A few minutes of silence followed the
+outburst, while the birds ambled farther away, and then the echoes were
+roused by a most raucous call, "Go-ware! go-ware! go-ware!" in a voice
+that would have been enough to strike terror to the heart of one who was
+not used to uncanny sounds in solitary places. After that outburst the
+family flew off, and I could hear them talking the matter over among
+themselves far up the mountain side, no doubt congratulating one another
+on their hair-breadth escape. The youngsters looked quite stylish with
+their quaint little blue caps and neatly fitting knickerbockers.
+
+At Bailey's I found my first and only white-crowned sparrow's nest for
+this trip, although two years before I was fortunate enough to discover
+several nests in the valleys creeping from the foot of Pike's Peak. At
+dusk one evening I was walking along the railway below the village,
+listening to the sweetly pensive trills of the white-crowns in the
+bushes bordering the creek, when there was a sharp chirp in the willows,
+and a female white-crown darted over to my side of the stream and
+slipped quietly into a thick bush on the bank. I stepped down to the
+spot, and the pretty madame leaped away, uncovering a well-woven nest
+containing four white eggs speckled with dark brown. All the while her
+spouse was trilling with might and main on the other side of the creek,
+to make believe that there was nothing serious happening, no nest that
+any one cared anything about. His mate could not disguise her agitation
+by assuming nonchalance, but flitted about in the willows and chirped
+pitifully. I hurried away to relieve her distress. The cottages on the
+slopes were gay with tourists enjoying their summer outing, and
+beautiful Kiowa Lodge, perched on a shoulder of the mountain among
+embowering pines, glowed with incandescent lights, while its
+blithe-hearted guests pursued their chosen kinds of pastime; but none of
+them, I venture to assert, were happier than the little white-crown in
+her grassy lodge on the bank of the murmuring stream.
+
+On the way down the cañon, as we were going to Denver, I was able to add
+three belted kingfishers to my bird-roll of Colorado species, the only
+ones I saw in the Rockies.
+
+Our jaunt of 1901 included a trip to Boulder and a thrilling swing
+around the far-famed "Switzerland Trail" to Ward, perched on the
+mountain sides among the clouds hard by the timber-line. Almost
+everywhere we met with feathered comrades; in some places, especially
+about Boulder, many of them; but no new species were seen, and no habits
+observed that have not been sufficiently delineated in other parts of
+this book. If one could only observe all the birds all the time in all
+places, what a happy life the bird-lover would live! It is with feelings
+of mingled joy and sadness that one cons Longfellow's melodious lines:--
+
+    "Think every morning when the sun peeps through
+      The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,
+    How jubilant the happy birds renew
+      Their old, melodious madrigals of love!
+    And when you think of this, remember too
+      'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
+    The awakened continents, from shore to shore,
+    Somewhere the birds are singing evermore."
+
+
+
+
+A NOTABLE QUARTETTE[12]
+
+
+On the plains of Colorado there dwells a feathered choralist that
+deserves a place in American bird literature, and the day will perhaps
+come when his merits will have due recognition, and then he shall have
+not only a monograph, but also an ode all to himself.
+
+    [12] The author is under special obligation to Mr. John P. Haines,
+    editor of "Our Animal Friends," and president of the American
+    Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for publishing the
+    contents of this chapter in his magazine in time to be included in
+    this volume. Also for copyright privileges in connection with this
+    and other chapters.
+
+The bird to which I refer is called the lark bunting in plain English,
+or, in scientific terms, _Calamospiza melanocorys_. The male is a trig
+and handsome fellow, giving you the impression of a well-dressed
+gentleman in his Sunday suit of black, "with more or less of a slaty
+cast," as Ridgway puts it, the middle and greater wing-coverts bearing a
+conspicuous white patch which is both a diagnostic marking and a real
+ornament. In flight this patch imparts to the wing a filmy, almost
+semi-transparent, aspect. The bunting is about the size of the eastern
+bobolink, and bears some resemblance to that bird; but bobolink he is
+not, although sometimes mistaken for one, and even called by that name
+in Colorado. The fact is, those wise men, the systematists, have decided
+that the bobolink belongs to the family _Icteridæ_, which includes,
+among others, the blackbirds and orioles, while the lark bunting
+occupies a genus all by himself in the family _Fringillidæ_--that is,
+the family of finches, sparrows, grosbeaks, and towhees. Therefore, the
+two birds can scarcely be called second cousins. The bunting has no
+white or buff on his upper parts.
+
+Sitting on a sunny slope one June evening, I surrendered myself to the
+spell of the bunting, and endeavored to make an analysis of his
+minstrelsy. First, it must be said that he is as fond as the bobolink of
+rehearsing his arias on the wing, and that is, perhaps, the chief reason
+for his having been mistaken for that bird by careless observers.
+Probably the major part of his solos are recited in flight, although he
+can sit quietly on a weed-stalk or a fence-post and sing as sweetly, if
+not as ecstatically, as if he were curveting in the air. During this
+aerial performance he hovers gracefully, bending his wings downward,
+after the bobolink's manner, as if he were caressing the earth beneath
+him. However, a striking difference between his intermittent
+song-flights and those of the bobolink is to be noted. The latter
+usually rises in the air, soars around in a curve, and returns to the
+perch from which he started, or to one near by, describing something of
+an ellipse. The lark bunting generally rises obliquely to a certain
+point, then descends at about the same angle to another perch opposite
+the starting-point, describing what might be called the upper sides of
+an isosceles triangle, the base being a line near the ground, connecting
+the perch from which he rose and the one on which he alighted. I do not
+mean to say that our bunting never circles, but simply that such is not
+his ordinary habit, while sweeping in a circle or ellipse is the
+favorite pastime of the eastern bobolink. The ascent of neither bird is
+very high. They are far from deserving the name of skylarks.
+
+We must give a detailed account of the bunting's song. Whatever others
+may think of him, I have come under the spell of his lyrical genius.
+True, his voice has not the loud, metallic ring, nor his chanson the
+medley-like, happy-go-lucky execution, that marks the musical
+performances of the bobolink; but his song is more mellow, rhythmic,
+theme-like; for he has a distinct tune to sing, and sing it he will. In
+fine, his song is of a different order from that of the bobolink, and,
+therefore, the comparison need be carried no further.
+
+As one of these minstrels sat on a flowering weed and gave himself up
+to a lyrical transport, I made careful notes, and now give the substance
+of my elaborate entries. The song, which is intermittent, opens with
+three prolonged notes running high in the scale, and is succeeded by a
+quaint, rattling trill of an indescribable character, not without
+musical effect, which is followed by three double-toned long notes quite
+different from the opening phrases; then the whole performance is closed
+by an exceedingly high and fine run like an insect's hum--so fine,
+indeed, that the auditor must be near at hand to notice it at all.
+Sometimes the latter half of the score, including the second triad of
+long notes, is repeated before the soloist stops to take breath. It will
+be seen that the regular song consists of four distinct phrases, two
+triads and two trills. About one-third of the songs are opened in a
+little lower key than the rest, the remainder being correspondingly
+mellowed. The opening syllables, and, indeed, some other parts of the
+melody as well, are very like certain strains of the song-sparrow, both
+in execution and in quality of tone; and thus even the experienced
+ornithologist may sometimes be led astray. When the bunting sails into
+the air, he rehearses the song just described, only he is very likely to
+prolong it by repeating the various parts, though I think he seldom, if
+ever, throws them together in a hodge-podge. He seems to follow a system
+in his recitals, varied as many of them are. As to his voice, it is of
+superb timbre.
+
+Another characteristic noted was that the buntings do not throw back
+their heads while singing, after the manner of the sparrows, but stretch
+their necks forward, and at no time do they open their mouths widely. As
+a rule, or at least very often, when flying, they do not begin their
+songs until they have almost reached the apex of their triangle; then
+the song begins, and it continues over the angle and down the incline
+until another perch is settled upon. What Lowell says of "bobolinkum" is
+just as true of bunting--"He runs down, a brook o' laughter, thru the
+air." As the sun went down behind the snow-clad mountains, a half dozen
+or more of the buntings rolled up the full tide of song, and I left them
+to their vespers and trudged back to the village, satisfied with the
+acquirements of this red-letter day in my ornithological journey.
+
+However, one afternoon's study of such charming birds was not enough to
+satisfy my curiosity, for no females had been seen and no nests
+discovered. About ten days later, more attention was given them. In a
+meadow not far from the hamlet of Arvada, between Denver and the
+mountains, I found a colony of buntings one morning, swinging in the air
+and furnishing their full quota of the matutinal concert, in which many
+other birds had a leading part, among them being western meadow-larks,
+western robins, Bullock's orioles, American and Arkansas goldfinches,
+mountain song-sparrows, lazuli finches, spurred towhees, black-headed
+grosbeaks, summer warblers, western Maryland yellow-throats, and
+Townsend's solitaires. It has seldom been my fortune to listen to a
+finer _pot-pourri_ of avian music.
+
+At first only male buntings were seen. Surely, I thought, there must be
+females in the neighborhood, for when male birds are singing so lustily
+about a place, their spouses are usually sitting quietly on nests
+somewhere in bush or tree or grass. I hunted long for a nest, trudging
+about over the meadow, examining many a grass-tuft and weed-clump,
+hoping to flush a female and discover her secret; but my quest was vain.
+It is strange how difficult it is to find nests in Colorado, either on
+the plains or in the mountains. The birds seem to be adepts in the fine
+arts of concealment and secret-keeping. Presently several females were
+seen flying off over the fields and returning, obviously to feed their
+young. There was now some colorable prospect of finding a nest. A mother
+bird appeared with a worm in her bill, and you may rely upon it I did
+not permit her to slip from my sight until I saw her drop to the ground,
+hop about stealthily for a few moments, then disappear, and presently
+fly up minus the worm. Scarcely daring to breathe, I followed a direct
+course to the weed-clump from which she had risen. And there was a nest,
+sure enough--my first lark bunting's--set in a shallow pit of the
+ground, prettily concealed and partly roofed over by the flat and
+spreading weed-stalk. Four half-fledged youngsters lay panting in the
+little cradle, the day being very warm. I lifted one of them from the
+nest, and held it in my hand for a minute or two, and even touched it
+with my lips, my first view of lark-bunting babies being something of an
+event--I had almost said an epoch--in my experience. Replacing the
+youngster in its crib, I stepped back a short distance and watched the
+mother bird returning with another mouthful of "goodies," and feeding
+her bantlings four. She was not very shy, and simply uttered a fine
+chirp when I went too close to her nestlings, while her gallant consort
+did not even chirp, but tried to divert my attention by repeatedly
+curveting in the air and singing his choicest measures. This was the
+only bunting's nest I found, although I made long and diligent search
+for others, as you may well believe when I state that a half day was
+spent in gathering the facts recorded in the last two paragraphs.
+
+In the afternoon I watched a female in another field for a long time,
+but she was too wary to betray her secret. In this case the male,
+instead of beguiling me with song, flitted about and mingled his fine
+chirps with those of his anxious mate. On my way across the plains,
+some two weeks later, I discovered that the lark buntings do not dwell
+only in well-watered meadows, but also in the most arid localities.
+Still, I am inclined to think they do not build their nests far from
+refreshing streams. When the breeding season is over, they range far and
+wide over the plains in search of insects that are to their taste. From
+the car window many of them were observed all along the way to a
+distance of over sixty miles east of Denver. At that time the males,
+females, and young were moving from place to place, mostly in scattering
+flocks, the breeding season being past. A problem that puzzled me a
+little was where they obtain water for drinking and bathing purposes,
+but no doubt such blithe and active birds are able to "look out for
+number one."
+
+The second member of our lyrical quartette is the elegant green-tailed
+towhee, known scientifically as _Pipilo chlorurus_. The pretty
+green-tails are quite wary about divulging their domestic secrets, and
+for a time I was almost in despair of finding even one of their nests.
+In vain I explored with exhausting toil many a steep mountain side,
+examining every bush and beating every copse within a radius of many
+rods.
+
+My purpose was to flush the female from her nest, a plan that succeeds
+with many birds; but in this instance I was disappointed. It is possible
+that, when an intruder appears in their nesting haunts, the males,
+which are ever on the lookout, call their spouses from the nests, and
+then "snap their fingers," so to speak, at the puzzled searcher.
+
+However, by watching the mother birds carrying worms in their bills I
+succeeded in finding two nests. The first was at Breckenridge, and,
+curiously enough, in a vacant lot at the border of the town, not on a
+steep slope, but on a level spot near the bank of Blue River. The mother
+bird had slyly crept to her nest while I watched, and remained firmly
+seated until I bent directly over her, when she fluttered away, trailing
+a few feet to draw my attention to herself. It was a cosey nest site--in
+a low, thick bush, beneath a rusty but well-preserved piece of
+sheet-iron which made a slant roof over the cradle. It contained three
+callow bantlings, which innocently opened their carmine-lined mouths
+when I stirred the leaves above them. It seemed to be an odd location
+for the nest of a bird that had always appeared so wild and shy. The
+altitude of the place is nine thousand five hundred and twenty feet.
+
+My second green-tail's nest was in South Platte Cañon, near a station
+called Chaseville, its elevation being about eight thousand five hundred
+feet. I was walking along the dusty wagon road winding about the base of
+the mountain, when a little bird with a worm in her bill flitted up the
+steep bank a short distance and disappeared among the bushes. The tidbit
+in her bill gave me a clew to the situation; so I scrambled up the steep
+place, and presently espied a nest in a bush, about a foot and a half
+from the ground. As had been anticipated, it turned out to be a
+green-tailed towhee's domicile, as was proved by the presence and uneasy
+chirping of a pair of those birds. While the nest at Breckenridge was
+set on the ground, this one was placed on the twigs of thick bushes,
+showing that these birds, like their eastern relatives, are fond of
+diversity in selecting nesting places.
+
+This nest contained four bantlings, already well fledged. My notes say
+that their mouths were yellow-lined, and that the fleshy growths at the
+corners of their bills were yellow. Does the lining of the juvenile
+green-tail's mouth change from red to yellow as he advances in age? My
+notes certainly declare that the nestlings at Breckenridge had
+carmine-lined mouths. For the present I cannot settle the question
+either affirmatively or negatively.
+
+Here I perpetrated a trick which I have ever since regretted. The
+temptation to hold a baby green-tail in my hand and examine it closely
+was so strong that, as carefully as I could, I drew one from its grassy
+crib and held it in my palm, noting the green tinting already beginning
+to show on its wings and back. Its tail was still too stubby to display
+the ornamentation that gives the species its popular name. So much was
+learned, but at the expense of the little family's peace of mind. As I
+held the bantling in my hand, the frightened mamma uttered a series of
+pitiful calls that were new to my ears, consisting of two notes in a
+low, complaining tone; it was more of an entreaty than a protest.
+Afterwards I heard the green-tails also give voice to a fine chirp
+almost like that of a chipping sparrow.
+
+The mother's call seemed to strike terror to the hearts of her infant
+brood, for, as I attempted to put the baby back into its crib, all four
+youngsters set up a loud to-do, and sprang, panic stricken, over the
+rim, tumbling, fluttering, and falling through the network of twigs to
+the ground, a couple of them rolling a few feet down the dusty bank.
+Again and again I caught them and put them back into the nest, but they
+would not remain there, so I was compelled to leave them scrambling
+about among the bushes and rocks. I felt like a buccaneer, a veritable
+Captain Kidd. My sincere hope is that none of the birdkins came to grief
+on account of their premature flight from the nest. The next morning old
+and young were chirping about the place as I passed, and I hurried away,
+feeling sad that science and sentiment must sometimes come into
+conflict.
+
+One day in the latter part of June, as I was climbing the steep side of
+a mesa in the neighborhood of Golden, my ear was greeted by a new style
+of bird music, which came lilting sweetly down to me from the height. It
+had a kind of wild, challenging ring about it, as if the singer were
+daring me to venture upon his demesne at my peril. A hard climb brought
+me at length within range of the little performer, who was blowing his
+Huon's horn from the pointed top of a large stone on the mesa's side. My
+field-glass was soon fixed upon him, revealing a little bird with a long
+beak, decurved at the end, a grayish-brown coat quite thickly barred and
+mottled on the wings and tail, and a vest of warm white finely sprinkled
+with a dusky gray. A queer, shy, timid little thing he was. Afterwards I
+met him often, but never succeeded in gaining his confidence or winning
+a single concession from him. He was the rock wren (_Salpinctes
+obsoletus_)--a species that is unknown east of the Great Plains, one
+well deserving a place in literature.
+
+I was especially impressed with his peculiar style of minstrelsy, so
+different from anything I had ever heard in the bird realm. While the
+song was characterized by much variety, it usually opened with two or
+three loud, clear syllables, somewhat prolonged, sounding, as has been
+said, like a challenge, followed by a peculiar bubbling trill that
+seemed fairly to roll from the piper's tongue. Early one morning a few
+days later I heard a brilliant vocalist descanting from the top of a
+pump in a wide field among the foothills. How wildly his tones rang out
+on the crisp morning air! I seemed to be suddenly transported to another
+part of the world, his style of music was so new, so foreign to my ear.
+My pencilled notes say of this particular minstrel: "Very musical--great
+variety of notes--clear, loud, ringing--several runs slightly like
+Carolina's--others suggest Bewick's--but most of them _sui generis_."
+
+Let us return to the first rock wren I saw. He was exceedingly shy,
+scurrying off to a more distant perch--another stone--as I approached.
+Sometimes he would run down among the bushes and rocks like a mouse,
+then glide to the top of another stone, and fling his pert little aria
+at the intruder. It was interesting to note that he most frequently
+selected for a singing perch the top of a high, pointed rock where he
+could command a view of his surroundings and pipe a note of warning to
+his mate at the approach of a supposed enemy. Almost every conspicuous
+rock on the acclivity bore evidence of having been used as a lookout by
+the little sentinel.
+
+This wren is well named, for his home is among the rocks, in the
+crannies and niches of which his mate hides her nest so effectually that
+you must look long for it, and even after the most painstaking search
+you may not be able to find it. The little husband helps to lead you
+astray. He will leap upon a rock and send forth his bell-like peal, as
+if he were saying, "Right here, right here, here is our nest!" but when
+you go to the spot, he flits off to another rock and sounds the same
+challenge. And so you can form no idea of the nest site. My nearest
+approach to finding a nest was among the rocks and cliffs on the summit
+of a mountain a few miles from Golden, where an adult bird was seen to
+feed a youngster that had already flown from the nursery. It was
+interesting to know that the rock wrens breed at so high an altitude.
+However, they are not an alpine species, none having been seen by the
+writer over eight thousand feet above sea-level, although they have been
+known to ascend to an altitude of twelve thousand feet.
+
+The fourth member of our feathered quartette was the oddest of all. On
+the thirtieth of June my companion and I were riding slowly down the
+mountain side a few miles below Gray's Peak, which we had scaled two
+days before. My ear was struck by a flicker's call above us, so I
+dismounted from my burro, and began to clamber up the hillside.
+Presently I heard a song that seemed one moment to be near at hand, the
+next far away, now to the right, now to the left, and anon directly
+above me. To my ear it was a new kind of bird minstrelsy. I climbed
+higher and higher, and yet the song seemed to be no nearer. It had a
+grosbeak-like quality, I fancied, and I hoped to find either the pine
+or the evening grosbeak, for both of which I had been making anxious
+search. The shifting of the song from point to point struck me as odd,
+and it was very mystifying.
+
+Higher and higher I climbed, the mountain side being so steep that my
+breath came in gasps, and I was often compelled to throw myself on the
+ground to recover strength. At length a bird darted out from the pines
+several hundred feet above me, rose high into the air, circled and swung
+this way and that for a long time, breaking at intervals into a song
+which sifted down to me faintly through the blue distance. How long it
+remained on the wing I do not know, but it was too long for my eyes to
+endure the strain of watching it. Through my glass a large part of the
+wings showed white or yellowish-white, and seemed to be almost
+translucent in the blaze of the sunlight. What could this wonderful
+haunter of the sky be? It was scarcely possible that so roly-poly a bird
+as a grosbeak could perform so marvellous an exploit on the wing.
+
+I never worked harder to earn my salary than I did to climb that steep
+and rugged mountain side; but at last I reached and penetrated the zone
+of pines, and finally, in an area covered with dead timber, standing and
+fallen, two feathered strangers sprang in sight, now flitting among the
+lower branches and now sweeping to the ground. They were not grosbeaks,
+that was sure; their bills were quite slender, their bodies lithe and
+graceful, and their tails of well-proportioned length. Save in color,
+they presented a decidedly thrush-like appearance, and their manners
+were also thrush-like.
+
+Indeed, the colors and markings puzzled me not a little. The upper parts
+were brownish-gray of various shades, the wings and tail for the most
+part dusky, the wing-coverts, tertials, and some of the quills bordered
+and tipped with white, also the tail. The white of both wings and tail
+became quite conspicuous when they were spread. This was the feathered
+conundrum that flitted about before me. The birds were about the size of
+the hermit thrushes, but lither and suppler. They ambled about
+gracefully, and did not seem to be very shy, and presently one of them
+broke into a song--the song that I had previously heard, only it was
+loud and ringing and well articulated, now that I was near the singer.
+Again and again they lifted their rich voices in song. When they
+wandered a little distance from each other, they called in affectionate
+tones, giving their "All's well."
+
+Then one of them, no doubt the male, darted from a pine branch obliquely
+into the air, and mounted up and up and up, in a series of graceful
+leaps, until he was a mere speck against the blue dome, gyrating to and
+fro in zigzag lines, or wheeling in graceful circles, his song dribbling
+faintly down to me at frequent intervals. A thing of buoyancy and grace,
+more angel than bird, that wonderful winged creature floated about in
+the cerulean sky; how long I do not know, whether five minutes, or ten,
+or twenty, but so long that at last I flung myself upon my back and
+watched him until my eyes ached. He kept his wings in constant motion,
+the white portions making them appear filmy as the sun shone upon them.
+Suddenly he bent his head, partly folded his wings, and swept down
+almost vertically like an arrow, alighting safe somewhere among the
+pines. I have seen other birds performing aerial evolutions accompanied
+with song, but have never known one to continue so long on the wing.
+
+What was this wonderful bird? It was Townsend's solitaire (_Myadestes
+townsendii_)--a bird which is peculiar to the West, especially to the
+Rocky Mountains, and which belongs to the same family as the thrushes
+and bluebirds. No literature in my possession contains any reference to
+this bird's astonishing aerial flight and song, and I cannot help
+wondering whether other bird-students have witnessed the interesting
+exploit.
+
+Subsequently I found a pair of solitaires on the plains near Arvada. The
+male was a powerful singer. Many of his outbursts were worthy of the
+mocking-bird, to some of whose runs they bore a close resemblance. He
+sang almost incessantly during the half day I spent in the neighborhood,
+my presence seeming to inspire him to the most prodigious lyrical
+efforts of which he was master. Sometimes he would sit on the top of a
+bush or a fence-post, but his favorite perches were several ridges of
+sand and gravel. His flight was the picture of grace, and he had a habit
+of lifting his wings, now one, now the other, and often both, after the
+manner of the mocking-bird on a chimney-top. He and his mate did not
+utter a chirp, but made a great to-do by singing, and finally I
+discovered that all the fuss was not about a nest, but about a hulking
+youngster that had outgrown his kilts and looked very like a brown
+thrasher. Neither of this second pair of solitaires performed any
+evolutions in the upper air; nor did another pair that I found far up a
+snow-clad mountain near Breckenridge, on the other side of the
+Continental Divide.
+
+The scientific status of this unique bird is interesting. He is a
+species of the genus _Myadestes_, which belongs to the family _Turdidæ_,
+including the thrushes, stone-chats, and bluebirds, as well as the
+solitaires. He is therefore not a thrush, but is closely related to the
+genus _Turdus_, occupying the same relative position in the avi-faunal
+system. According to Doctor Coues the genus includes about twenty
+species, only one of which--the one just described--is native to the
+United States, the rest being found in the West Indies and Central and
+South America. Formerly the solitaires comprised a subfamily among the
+chatterers, but a later and more scientific classification places
+them in a genus under the head of _Turdidæ_.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE VIII
+
+BROWN-CAPPED LEUCOSTICTE--_Leucosticte australis_
+(Lower figure, male; upper, female)]
+
+The range of Townsend's solitaire is from the plains of Colorado to the
+Pacific coast and north to British Columbia. According to Robert
+Ridgway, he has even been met with "casually" in Illinois. In Colorado
+many of the solitaires are permanent residents in the mountains,
+remaining there throughout the winter. Some of them, however, visit the
+plains during the fall, winter, and spring. In the winter they may be
+found from the lower valleys to an elevation of ten thousand feet, while
+they are known to breed as high as twelve thousand feet. The nests are
+placed on the ground among rocks, fallen branches and logs, and are
+loosely constructed of sticks and grass. From three to six eggs compose
+a set, the ground color being white, speckled with reddish brown. Doctor
+Coues says the birds feed on insects and berries, and are "capable of
+musical expression in an exalted degree." With this verdict the writer
+is in full accord.
+
+
+
+
+CHECK-LIST OF COLORADO BIRDS
+
+
+The following list includes all the species and varieties, so far as
+known to naturalists, occurring in the State of Colorado. Of course,
+these birds as families are not restricted to that State, and therefore
+the catalogue comprehends many of the species to be found in adjacent
+and even more remote parts of the country. Aside from the author's own
+observations, he is indebted for a large part of the matter comprised in
+this list to Professor Wells W. Cooke's pamphlet, entitled, "The Birds
+of Colorado," with the several appendixes, and to the invaluable manuals
+of Mr. Ridgway and Dr. Coues.
+
+According to the latest information accessible to the writer, 389
+species and varieties occur in Colorado, of which 243 are known to
+breed. This is a superb record, and is excelled by only two other States
+in the Union, namely, Texas and California. Colorado's splendid list is
+to be explained on the ground of its wonderful variety of climate,
+altitude, soil, and topographical features, such as its plains,
+foothills, lower mountains, and towering peaks and ranges, bringing
+within its boundaries many eastern, boreal, middle western, and far
+western forms.
+
+The author's preference would have been to begin the roll with the most
+interesting birds, those to which he gave the largest share of his
+attention, namely, the oscines, but he has decided to follow the order
+and nomenclature of the Check-List of North American birds as arranged
+by the American Ornithologists' Union. In deference to the general
+reader, however, he has placed the English name of each bird first, then
+the scientific designation. The numbers correspond to the American
+Check-List. By noting those omitted, the reader will readily discover
+what species have not been found in Colorado.
+
+1. =Western grebe.= ÆCHMOPHORUS OCCIDENTALIS. Rare migrant; western
+species, chiefly interior regions of North America.
+
+2. =Holboell's grebe.= COLYMBUS HOLBOELLII. Rare migrant; breeds far
+north; range, all of North America.
+
+3. =Horned grebe.= COLYMBUS AURITUS. Rare migrant; range, almost the
+same as the last.
+
+4. =American eared grebe.= COLYMBUS NIGRICOLLIS CALIFORNICUS. Summer
+resident; rare in eastern, common in western Colorado; breeds from
+plains to 8,000 feet; partial to alkali lakes; western species.
+
+6. =Pied-billed grebe.= PODILYMBUS PODICEPS. Summer resident, rare;
+common in migration; breeds in northern part of State; sometimes winters
+in southern part.
+
+7. =Loon.= GAVIA IMBER. Migrant; occasionally winter resident; not known
+to breed in State.
+
+8. =Yellow-billed loon.= GAVIA ADAMSII. Migrant; rare or accidental.
+
+9. =Black-throated loon.= GAVIA ARCTICA. Rare fall and winter visitant.
+
+37. =Parasitic jaeger.= STERCORARIUS PARASITICUS. Fall and winter
+resident; rare.
+
+40. =Kittiwake.= RISSA TRIDACTYLA. Rare or accidental in winter.
+
+49. =Western gull.= LARUS OCCIDENTALIS. Pacific Coast bird; accidental
+in Colorado; only one record.
+
+51a. =American herring gull.= LARUS ARGENTATUS SMITHSONIANUS. Rare
+migrant; range, the whole of North America.
+
+53. =California gull.= LARUS CALIFORNICUS. Western species; breeds
+abundantly in Utah; only three records for Colorado.
+
+54. =Ring-billed gull.= LARUS DELAWARENSIS. Not uncommon summer
+resident; common in migration; breeds as high as 7,500 feet; range,
+whole of North America.
+
+58. =Laughing gull.= LARUS ATRICILLA. Bird of South Atlantic and Gulf
+States; once accidental in Colorado.
+
+59. =Franklin's gull.= LARUS FRANKLINII. Rare migrant; range, interior
+of North America.
+
+60. =Bonaparte's gull.= LARUS PHILADELPHIA. Rare migrant; not uncommon
+in a few localities; range, whole of North America.
+
+62. =Sabine's gull.= XEMA SABINII. Rare winter visitant; breeds in the
+arctic regions.
+
+69. =Forster's tern.= STERNA FORSTERI. Rare summer resident; common
+migrant; habitat, temperate North America.
+
+71. =Arctic tern.= STERNA PARADISÆA. Very rare migrant; but two records;
+breeding habitat, circumpolar regions.
+
+77. =Black tern.= HYDROCHELIDON NIGRA SURINAMENSIS. Common summer
+resident; both sides of range; habitat, temperate North America; in
+winter south as far as Brazil and Chili.
+
+120. =Double-crested cormorant.= PHALACROCORAX DILOPHUS. Perhaps breeds
+in Colorado, as it breeds abundantly in Utah; all present records from
+eastern foothills.
+
+125. =American white pelican.= PELECANUS ERYTHRORHYNCHOS. Once a common
+migrant; a few remained to breed; now rare; still noted on both sides of
+the range.
+
+129. =American merganser.= MERGANSER AMERICANUS. Resident; common
+migrant and winter sojourner; a few breed in mountains and parks;
+generally distributed in North America.
+
+130. =Red-breasted merganser.= MERGANSER SERRATOR. Rare winter
+sojourner; common migrant; breeds far north.
+
+131. =Hooded merganser.= LOPHODYTES CUCULLATUS. Rare resident both
+summer and winter; breeds in eastern part and in the mountains; general
+range, North America.
+
+132. =Mallard.= ANAS BOSCHAS. Very common in migration; common in
+winter; breeds below 9,000 feet, on plains as well as in mountains;
+general range, whole northern hemisphere.
+
+134a. =Mottled duck.= ANAS FULVIGULA MACULOSA. Rare migrant; an eastern
+species, sometimes wandering west to plains.
+
+135. =Gadwall.= CHAULELASMUS STREPERUS. Summer resident; common in
+migration; breeds on plains; also in sloughs and small lakes at an
+elevation of 11,000 feet in southern part of State; breeds abundantly at
+San Luis Lakes.
+
+137. =Baldpate.= MARECA AMERICANA. Summer resident; breeds from plains
+to 8,000 feet.
+
+139. =Green-winged teal.= NETTION CAROLINENSIS. Common summer resident;
+abundant in migration; a few breed on the plains; more in mountains and
+upper parks.
+
+140. =Blue-winged teal.= QUERQUEDULA DISCORS. Same records as preceding.
+
+141. =Cinnamon teal.= QUERQUEDULA CYANOPTERA. Common summer resident;
+breeds both east and west of the range; a western species; in winter
+south to Chili, Argentina, and Falkland Islands; sometimes strays east
+as far as Illinois and Louisiana.
+
+142. =Shoveller.= SPATULA CLYPEATA. Summer resident; abundant in
+migration; breeds in suitable localities, but prefers mountain parks
+8,000 feet in altitude; breeds throughout its range, which is the whole
+of North America.
+
+143. =Pintail=. DAFILA ACUTA. Rare summer and winter resident; common
+migrant; mostly breeds in the North.
+
+144. =Wood duck.= AIX SPONSA. Rare summer resident.
+
+146. =Redhead.= AYTHYA AMERICANA. Common migrant; breeds far north;
+migrates early in spring.
+
+147. =Canvas-back.= AYTHYA VALLISNERIA. Migrant; not common; breeds far
+north.
+
+148. =Scaup duck.= AYTHYA MARILA. Rare migrant; both sides of the range;
+breeds far north.
+
+149. =Lesser scaup duck.= AYTHYA AFFINIS. Migrant; not common; a little
+more common than preceding.
+
+150. =Ring-necked duck.= AYTHYA COLLARIS. Rare migrant, though common in
+Kansas; breeds in far North.
+
+151. =American golden-eye.= CLANGULA CLANGULA AMERICANA. Rare migrant;
+breeds far north.
+
+152. =Barrow's golden-eye.= CLANGULA ISLANDICA. Summer and winter
+resident; a northern species, but breeds in mountains of Colorado,
+sometimes as high as 10,000 feet; rare on plains.
+
+153. =Buffle-head.= CHARITONETTA ALBEOLA. Common migrant throughout
+State; breeds in the North.
+
+154. =Old squaw.= HARELDA HYEMALIS. Rare winter visitor; a northern
+species.
+
+155. =Harlequin duck.= HISTRIONICUS HISTRIONICUS. Resident; not common;
+a northern species, but a few breed in mountains at an altitude of 7,000
+to 10,000 feet.
+
+160. =American eider.= SOMATERIA DRESSERI. Very rare; only two
+records--one somewhat uncertain.
+
+163. =American scoter.= OIDEMIA AMERICANA. Rare winter visitor; northern
+bird, in winter principally along the sea-coast, but a few visit the
+larger inland lakes.
+
+165. =White-winged scoter.= OIDEMIA DEGLANDI. Same habits as preceding;
+perhaps rarer.
+
+166. =Surf scoter.= OIDEMIA PERSPICILLATA. Same as preceding.
+
+167. =Ruddy duck.= ERISMATURA JAMAICENSIS. Common summer resident; both
+sides of the range; breeds from plains to 10,000 feet; a beautiful bird;
+author's observations given in Chapter VII.
+
+169. =Lesser snow goose.= CHEN HYPERBOREA. Migrant and winter resident;
+not common; breeds far north.
+
+169a. =Greater snow goose.= CHEN HYPERBOREA NIVALIS. Rare migrant; only
+two records; the eastern form, which does not come regularly as far west
+as Colorado.
+
+171a. =American white-fronted goose.= ANSER ALBIFRONS GAMBELI. Rare
+migrant; breeds far northward.
+
+172. =Canada goose.= BRANTA CANADENSIS. Summer and winter resident;
+rare, except locally; common in migration; breeds about secluded lakes
+at 10,000 feet.
+
+172a. =Hutchins's goose.= BRANTA CANADENSIS HUTCHINSII. Common migrant;
+breeds in the North; a few may winter in the State.
+
+172c. =Cackling goose.= BRANTA CANADENSIS MINIMA. One record; Pacific
+coast bird; breeds in Alaska.
+
+173. =Brant.= BRANTA BERNICLA. Rare or accidental migrant; an eastern
+species seldom coming west; breeds only within the Arctic Circle.
+
+180. =Whistling swan.= OLOR COLUMBIANUS. Migrant; not common; formerly
+fairly plentiful; breeds far northward.
+
+181. =Trumpeter swan.= OLOR BUCCINATOR. Rare migrant; not so common as
+preceding; breeds from Iowa and Dakota northward.
+
+183. =Roseate spoonbill.= AJAJA AJAJA. Accidental; two instances;
+habitat, tropical and subtropical America.
+
+184. =White ibis.= GUARA ALBA. Rare migrant; one taken on plains;
+habitat, tropical and subtropical America, coming north as far as Great
+Salt Lake and South Dakota.
+
+[185.] =Scarlet ibis.= GUARA RUBRA. Accidental; one specimen taken; a
+wonderful record for this tropical species.
+
+186. =Glossy ibis.= PLEGADIS AUTUMNALIS. Accidental; two fine specimens
+taken in the State; this is far out of its ordinary tropical range.
+
+187. =White-faced glossy ibis.= PLEGADIS GUARAUNA. Summer visitor; rare;
+fairly common in New Mexico and Arizona; sometimes wanders into
+Colorado; Aiken found it breeding at San Luis Lakes.
+
+188. =Wood ibis.= TANTALUS LOCULATOR. Rare summer visitor; southern
+range.
+
+190. =American bittern.= BOTAURUS LENTIGINOSUS. Common summer resident;
+breeds throughout the State, from plains to about 7,000 feet.
+
+191. =Least bittern.= ARDETTA EXILIS. Rare summer visitor; a few records
+east of mountains; one specimen seen west of the divide.
+
+194. =Great blue heron.= ARDEA HERODIAS. Summer resident; common in
+migration; seldom goes far up in the mountains, though Mr. Aiken found
+one at an altitude of 9,000 feet.
+
+196. =American egret.= ARDEA EGRETTA. Rare or accidental; one seen;
+general range, the whole of the United States; in winter south to Chili
+and Patagonia.
+
+197. =Snowy heron.= ARDEA CANDIDISSIMA. Summer visitor; not known to
+breed; the highest altitude is the one taken near Leadville, 10,000
+feet.
+
+198. =Reddish egret.= ARDEA RUFESCENS. Rare or accidental; only two
+specimens secured; southern range.
+
+202. =Black-crowned night heron.= NYCTICORAX NYCTICORAX NÆVIUS. Summer
+resident; not common; local; more plentiful in migration.
+
+203. =Yellow-crowned night heron.= NYCTICORAX VIOLACEUS. Rare summer
+visitor; southern species; not known to breed in State.
+
+204. =Whooping crane.= GRUS AMERICANA. Rare migrant; more common east of
+Colorado.
+
+205. =Little brown crane.= GRUS CANADENSIS. Migrant; few taken; northern
+breeder.
+
+206. =Sandhill crane.= GRUS MEXICANA. Summer resident; not uncommon
+locally; in migration common; breeds as high as 8,000 feet; has been
+seen in autumn passing over the highest peaks.
+
+212. =Virginia rail.= RALLUS VIRGINIANUS. Summer resident; not uncommon;
+breeds on plains and in mountains to at least 7,500 feet.
+
+214. =Sora.= PORZANA CAROLINA. Common summer resident; breeds from
+plains to 9,000 feet.
+
+216. =Black rail.= PORZANA JAMAICENSIS. Rare migrant; one specimen
+secured.
+
+219. =Florida gallinule.= GALLINULA GALEATA. Summer visitor, not known
+to breed.
+
+221. =American coot.= FULICA AMERICANA. Common summer resident; breeds
+on plains and in mountain parks.
+
+222. =Red phalarope.= CRYMOPHILUS FULICARIUS. Migrant; rare; once taken
+at Loveland by Edw. A. Preble, July 25, 1895. Breeds far north.
+
+223. =Northern phalarope.= PHALAROPUS LOBATUS. Migrant; not uncommon;
+breeds far northward.
+
+224. =Wilson's phalarope.= STEGANOPUS TRICOLOR. Common summer resident;
+more common in migration; breeds below 6,000 feet.
+
+225. =American avocet.= RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA. Common summer resident;
+occurs frequently on the plains; less frequent in mountains.
+
+226. =Black-necked stilt.= HIMANTOPUS MEXICANUS. Summer resident; most
+common in the mountains, going as high as 8,000 feet; more common west
+of range than east.
+
+228. =American woodcock.= PHILOHELA MINOR. Rare summer resident;
+Colorado the extreme western limit of its range, going only to
+foothills.
+
+230. =Wilson's snipe.= GALLINAGO DELICATA. Rare summer resident; common
+migrant; winter resident, rare; found as high as 10,000 feet.
+
+232. =Long-billed dowitcher.= MACRORHAMPHUS SCOLOPACEUS. Somewhat common
+migrant; all records restricted to plains; breeds far northward.
+
+233. =Stilt sandpiper.= MICROPALAMA HIMANTOPUS. Rare migrant; breeds
+north of United States.
+
+239. =Pectoral sandpiper.= TRINGA MACULTA. Common migrant; occurs from
+the plains to the great height of 13,000 feet.
+
+240. =White-rumped sandpiper.= TRINGA FUSCICOLLIS. Not uncommon migrant;
+a bird of the plains, its western limit being the base of the Rockies;
+breeds in the far North.
+
+241. =Baird's sandpiper.= TRINGA BAIRDII. Abundant migrant; breeds far
+north; returns in August and ranges over mountains sometimes at height
+of 13,000 to 14,000 feet, feeding on grasshoppers.
+
+242. =Least sandpiper.= TRINGA MINUTILLA. Common migrant; found from
+plains to 7,000 feet.
+
+243a. =Red-backed sandpiper.= TRINGA ALPINA PACIFICA. Rare migrant; only
+three records; range, throughout North America.
+
+246. =Semipalmated sandpiper.= EREUNETES PUSILLUS. Common migrant; from
+the plains to 8,000 feet.
+
+247. =Western sandpiper.= EREUNETES OCCIDENTALIS. Rare migrant; breeds
+in the remote North; western species, but in migration occurs regularly
+along the Atlantic coast.
+
+248. =Sanderling.= CALIDRIS ARENARIA. Rare migrant, on plains; range
+nearly cosmopolitan; breeds only in northern part of northern
+hemisphere.
+
+249. =Marbled godwit.= LIMOSA FEDOA. Migrant; not common; a bird of the
+plains, but seldom seen; occasionally found in the mountains.
+
+254. =Greater yellow-legs.= TOTANUS MELANOLEUCUS. Common migrant; in
+favorable localities below 8,000 feet.
+
+255. =Yellow-legs.= TOTANUS FLAVIPES. Common migrant; distribution same
+as preceding.
+
+256. =Solitary sandpiper.= HELODROMAS SOLITARIUS. Summer resident; not
+common; in migration, common; breeds from plains to 10,000 feet.
+
+258a. =Western willet.= SYMPHEMIA SEMIPALMATA INORNATA. Summer resident;
+not common; common migrant, especially in the fall; breeds from plains
+to 7,000 feet.
+
+261. =Bartramian sandpiper.= BARTRAMIA LONGICAUDA. Common summer
+resident; abundant in migration; a bird of the plains; rare west of
+mountains.
+
+263. =Spotted sandpiper.= ACTITIS MACULARIA. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds on the plains and at all intermediate altitudes to 12,000 feet,
+even on top of mountains of that height, if a lake or pond can be found;
+in fall, ranges above timber-line to 14,000 feet; some may remain
+throughout winter.
+
+264. =Long-billed curlew.= NUMENIUS LONGIROSTRIS. Common summer
+resident; breeds on the plains; also in Middle and South Parks; found
+on both sides of the range.
+
+265. =Hudsonian curlew.= NUMENIUS HUDSONICUS. Rare migrant; all records
+thus far from the plains; general range, North America.
+
+270. =Black-bellied plover.= SQUATAROLA SQUATAROLA. Migrant, not common;
+bird of plains below 5,000 feet; breeds far north.
+
+272. =American golden plover.= CHARADRIUS DOMINICUS. Migrant, not
+common; same record as preceding.
+
+273. =Killdeer.= ÆGIALITIS VOCIFERA. Abundant summer resident; arrives
+early in spring; breeds most abundantly on plains and at base of
+foothills, but is far from rare at an altitude of 10,000 feet.
+
+274. =Semipalmated plover.= ÆGIALITIS SEMIPALMATA. Migrant, not common;
+breeds near the Arctic Circle.
+
+281. =Mountain plover.= ÆGIALITIS MONTANA. Common summer resident; in
+spite of its name, a bird of the plains rather than the mountains; yet
+sometimes found in parks at an altitude of 8,000 and even 9,000 feet.
+Its numbers may be estimated from the fact that in one day of August a
+sportsman shot one hundred and twenty-six birds, though why he should
+indulge in such wholesale slaughter the author does not understand.
+
+283. =Turnstone.= ARENARIA INTERPRES. Rare migrant; breeding grounds in
+the north; cosmopolitan in range, but chiefly along sea-coasts.
+
+289. =Bob-white.= COLINUS VIRGINIANUS. Resident; somewhat common
+locally; good reason to believe that all the quails of the foothills are
+descendants of introduced birds, while those of the eastern border of
+the plains are native. A few were introduced some years ago into Estes
+Park, and are still occasionally noticed.
+
+293. =Scaled partridge.= CALLIPEPLA SQUAMATA. Resident; common locally;
+southern species, but more common than the bob-white at Rocky Ford, Col.
+
+294. =California partridge.= LOPHORTYX CALIFORNICUS. Resident, local;
+introduced at Grand Junction, Col., and have flourished so abundantly as
+to become troublesome to gardeners.
+
+295. =Gambel's partridge.= LOPHORTYX GAMBELII. Resident, rare; known
+only in southwestern part of the State; a western species.
+
+297. =Dusky grouse.= DENDRAGAPUS OBSCURUS. Resident; mountain dwellers;
+breed from 7,000 feet to timber-line; in September wander above
+timber-line to 12,500 feet, feeding on grasshoppers; remain in thick
+woods in winter.
+
+300b. =Gray ruffed grouse.= BONASA UMBELLUS UMBELLOIDES. Rare resident;
+a more northern species, but a few breed in Colorado just below
+timber-line; winters in higher foothills.
+
+304. =White-tailed ptarmigan.= LAGOPUS LEUCURUS. Common resident; one of
+the most strictly alpine species; breeds entirely above timber-line from
+11,500 to 13,500 feet; thence ranging to the summits of the highest
+peaks. Only in severest winter weather do they come down to timber-line;
+rarely to 8,000 feet. In winter they are white; in summer fulvous or
+dull grayish-buff, barred and spotted with black. This bird is
+colloquially called the "mountain quail." The brown-capped leucosticte
+is the only other Colorado species that has so high a range.
+
+305. =Prairie hen.= TYMPANUCHUS AMERICANUS. Resident; uncommon and
+local.
+
+308b. =Prairie sharp-tailed grouse.= PEDIOECETES PHASIANELLUS
+CAMPESTRIS. Resident, not common; once common, but killed and driven out
+by pothunters; some breed in Middle Park; noted in winter at 9,500 feet.
+
+309. =Sage grouse.= CENTROCERCUS UROPHASIANUS. Common resident. "As its
+name implies, it is an inhabitant of the artemisia or sage-brush plains,
+and is scarcely found elsewhere." Ranges from plains to 9,500 feet.
+
+310. =Mexican turkey.= MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO. Rare local resident;
+southern part of the State.
+
+310a. =Wild turkey.= MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO FERA. Resident; rare; once
+abundant, but will probably soon be exterminated; not certain whether
+Colorado birds are eastern or western forms.
+
+312. =Band-tailed pigeon.= COLUMBA FASCIATA. Summer resident; local;
+breeds from 5,000 to 7,000 feet and occasionally higher.
+
+316. =Mourning dove.= ZENAIDURA MACROURA. Summer resident; very
+abundant; breeds everywhere below the pine region up to 10,000 feet,
+though usually a little lower; in fall ranges up to 12,000 feet.
+
+319. =White-winged dove.= MELOPELIA LEUCOPTERA. Four records of this
+straggler in Colorado; its usual range is subtropical, though not
+uncommon as far north as the southern border of the United States.
+
+325. =Turkey vulture.= CATHARTES AURA. Common summer resident; breeds
+from plains to 10,000 and even 12,000 feet.
+
+327. =Swallow-tailed kite.= ELANOIDES FORFICATUS. Summer visitor; rare
+or accidental; bird of the plains, not regularly west of central Kansas.
+
+329. =Mississippi kite.= ICTINIA MISSISSIPPIENSIS. Accidental; two
+records; a bird of eastern and southern United States, and southward.
+
+331. =Marsh hawk.= CIRCUS HUDSONIUS. Common resident; most common in
+migration; a few remain throughout winter; breeds on plains, and in
+mountains to 10,000 feet; in fall may be seen at 14,000 feet.
+
+332. =Sharp-shinned hawk.= ACCIPITER VELOX. Common resident; much more
+common in mountains than on plains; breeds up to 10,000 feet.
+
+333. COOPER'S HAWK. ACCIPITER COOPERI. Common resident; breeds from
+plains to 9,000 feet.
+
+334. =American goshawk.= ACCIPITER ATRICAPILLUS. Resident; not uncommon;
+breeds from 9,000 to 10,000 feet; more common in winter than summer.
+
+334a. =Western goshawk.= ACCIPITER ATRICAPILLUS STRIATULUS. Winter
+visitor; rare, if not accidental; Pacific Coast form; comes regularly as
+far east as Idaho.
+
+337a. =Krider's hawk.= BUTEO BOREALIS KRIDERII. Resident; not uncommon;
+nests on the plains; no certain record for the mountains.
+
+337b. =Western red-tail.= BUTEO BOREALIS CALURUS. Abundant resident;
+this is the Rocky Mountain form, of which Krider's hawk is the eastern
+analogue; the ranges of the two forms overlap on the Colorado plains;
+_calurus_ breeds from plains to 12,000 feet; not a few winter in the
+State.
+
+337d. =Harlan's hawk.= BUTEO BOREALIS HARLANI. Rare winter visitor; one
+specimen; natural habitat, Gulf States and lower Mississippi Valley.
+
+339b. =Red-bellied hawk.= BUTEO LINEATUS ELEGANS. Rare migrant; Pacific
+coast species.
+
+342. =Swainson's hawk.= BUTEO SWAINSONI. Common resident; breeds
+everywhere below 11,000 feet.
+
+347a. =American rough-legged hawk.= ARCHIBUTEO LAGOPUS SANCTI-JOHANNIS.
+Somewhat common winter resident; arrives from the north in November and
+remains till March.
+
+348. =Ferruginous rough-leg.= ARCHIBUTEO FERRUGINEUS. Rather common
+resident; breeds on plains and in mountains; winters mostly on plains
+and along lower streams.
+
+349. =Golden eagle.= AQUILA CHRYSAETOS. Resident; common in favorable
+localities; breeds from foothills to 12,500 feet; in winter on plains
+and also in mountains, often at 11,000 feet.
+
+352. =Bald eagle.= HALLÆETUS LEUCOCEPHALUS. Fairly common resident;
+mostly in mountains in summer; on plains in winter.
+
+355. =Prairie falcon.= FALCO MEXICANUS. Not uncommon resident; breeds
+from plains to 10,000 feet; quite numerous in more open portions of
+western Colorado.
+
+356. =Duck hawk.= FALCO PEREGRINUS ANATUM. Resident; not uncommon
+locally; breeds up to 10,000 feet.
+
+357. =Pigeon hawk.= FALCO COLUMBARIUS. Summer resident; not common;
+usual breeding grounds 8,000 to 9,000 feet; some breed on the plains.
+
+358. =Richardson's merlin.= FALCO RICHARDSONII. Rare summer resident;
+not uncommon in migration; naturalists not quite sure that it breeds in
+the State; has been taken in summer at an altitude of 11,000 feet.
+
+360. =American sparrow hawk.= FALCO SPARVERIUS. Abundant resident; the
+most common hawk from the plains to 11,000 feet; some winter in State;
+breeds throughout its range.
+
+360a. =Desert sparrow hawk.= FALCO SPARVERIUS DESERTICOLUS. Resident,
+though rare; taken in Middle and South Parks.
+
+364. =American osprey.= PANDION HALIAËTUS CAROLINENSIS. Summer resident;
+not uncommon locally; breeds as high as 9,000 feet; has been taken in
+fall at an altitude of 10,500 feet.
+
+365. =American barn owl.= STRIX PRATINCOLA. Resident; quite rare; a
+southern species rarely coming so far north as Colorado.
+
+366. =American long-eared owl.= ASIO WILSONIANUS. Common resident;
+winters from plains to 10,000 feet; breeds from plains to 11,000 feet;
+eggs laid early in April.
+
+367. =Short-eared owl.= ASIO ACCIPITRINUS. Resident, but not common;
+highest record 9,500 feet.
+
+368. =Barred owl.= SYRNIUM NEBULOSUM. Resident; few records; one
+breeding pair found in the northeastern part of the State.
+
+369. =Spotted owl.= SYRNIUM OCCIDENTALE. Resident; not common; a little
+doubt as to its identity; but Mr. Aiken vouches for its presence in the
+State.
+
+371. =Richardson's owl.= NYCTALA TENGMALMI RICHARDSONI. Rare winter
+visitor; a northern species.
+
+372. =Saw-whet owl.= NYCTALA ACADICA. Resident; not uncommon; occurs
+throughout the State below 8,000 feet.
+
+373. =Screech owl.= MAGASCOPS ASIO. Rare resident; the eastern analogue
+of the next.
+
+373e. =Rocky Mountain screech owl.= MAGASCOPS ASIO MAXWELLIÆ. Common
+resident; found from plains and foothills to about 6,000 feet; rare
+visitant at nearly 9,000 feet.
+
+373g. =Aiken's screech owl.= MEGASCOPS ASIO AIKENI. Resident; limited to
+from 5,000 to 9,000 feet.
+
+374. =Flammulated screech owl.= MEGASCOPS FLAMMEOLA. Rare resident;
+rarest owl in Colorado, if not in the United States; ten instances of
+breeding, all in Colorado; twenty-three records in all for the State.
+
+375a. =Western horned owl.= BUBO VIRGINIANUS PALLESCENS. Common
+resident; breeds on the plains and in the mountains.
+
+375b. =Arctic horned owl.= BUBO VIRGINIANUS ARCTICUS. Winter visitor;
+not uncommon; breeds in arctic America.
+
+376. =Snowy owl.= NYCTEA NYCTEA. Rare winter visitor; occurs on the
+plains and in the lower foothills; range in summer, extreme northern
+portions of northern hemisphere.
+
+378. =Burrowing owl.= SPEOTYTO CUNICULARIA HYPOGÆA. Resident; abundant
+locally; breeds on plains and up to 9,000 feet.
+
+379. =Pygmy owl.= GLAUCIDIUM GNOMA. Resident; rare; favorite home in the
+mountains; breeds as high as 10,000 feet.
+
+382. =Carolina paroquet.= CONURUS CAROLINENSIS. Formerly resident; few
+records; general range, east and south; now almost exterminated.
+
+385. =Road-runner.= GEOCOCCYX CALIFORNIANUS. Resident; not common;
+restricted to southern portion of the State; breeds throughout its
+range; rare above 5,000 feet, though one was found in the Wet Mountains
+at an altitude of 8,000 feet.
+
+387. =Yellow-billed cuckoo.= COCCYZUS AMERICANUS. Rare summer visitor,
+on the authority of Major Bendire.
+
+387a. =California cuckoo.= COCCYZUS AMERICANUS OCCIDENTALIS. Summer
+resident; not uncommon locally; mostly found on the edge of the plains,
+but occasionally up to 8,000 feet in mountains.
+
+388. =Black-billed cuckoo.= COCCYZUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS. Rare migrant;
+only two records.
+
+390. =Belted kingfisher.= CERYLE ALCYON. Common resident; breeds from
+plains to 10,000 feet; a few remain in winter.
+
+393e. =Rocky Mountain hairy woodpecker.= DRYOBATES VILLOSUS MONTICOLA.
+Common resident; breeds from plains to 11,000 feet; winter range almost
+the same.
+
+394c. =Downy woodpecker.= DRYOBATES PUBESCENS MEDIANUS. Visitor; rare,
+if not accidental.
+
+394b. =Batchelder's woodpecker.= DRYOBATES PUBESCENS HOMORUS. Common
+resident; breeding range from plains to 11,500 feet; winter range from
+plains to 10,000 feet.
+
+396. =Texan woodpecker.= DRYOBATES SCALARIS BAIRDI. Resident; rare and
+local; southern range generally.
+
+401b. =Alpine three-toed woodpecker.= PICOIDES AMERICANUS DORSALIS.
+Resident; not common; a mountain bird; range, 8,000 to 12,000 feet; even
+in winter remains in the pine belt at about 10,000 feet.
+
+402. =Yellow-bellied sapsucker.= SPHYRAPICUS VARIUS. Rare migrant;
+eastern form, scarcely reaching the base of the Rockies.
+
+402a. =Red-naped sapsucker.= SPHYRAPICUS VARIUS NUCHALIS. Common summer
+resident; breeds from plains to 12,000 feet, but partial to the
+mountains. Author saw one at Green Lake.
+
+404. =Williamson's sapsucker.= SPHYRAPICUS THYROIDEUS. Common summer
+resident; breeds from 5,000 feet to upper limits of the pines; range
+higher in the southern part of the State than in the northern.
+
+405a. =Northern pileated woodpecker.= CEOPHLOEUS PILEATUS ABIETICOLA.
+Resident; very rare; only probably identified.
+
+406. =Red-headed woodpecker.= MELANERPES ERYTHROCEPHALUS. Common summer
+resident; breeds from plains to 10,000 feet; late spring arrival; same
+form in the East and West.
+
+408. =Lewis's woodpecker.= MELANERPES TORQUATUS. Common resident;
+characteristic bird of the foothills; sometimes seen as high as 10,000
+feet in southern Colorado; probably does not breed above 9,000 feet.
+
+409. =Red-bellied woodpecker.= MELANERPES CAROLINUS. Summer visitor;
+rare, if not accidental; eastern and southern species, not occurring
+regularly west of central Kansas.
+
+412a. =Northern flicker.= COLAPTES AURATUS LUTEUS. Rare migrant; range
+extends only to foothills; no record of its breeding.
+
+413. =Red-shafted flicker.= COLAPTES CAFER. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds from plains to 12,000 feet; almost as plentiful at its highest
+range as on the plains; early spring arrival; a few winter in the State.
+
+418. =Poor-will.= PHALÆNOPTILUS NUTTALLII. Common summer resident;
+breeds from plains to 8,000 feet; has been noted up to 10,000 feet.
+
+418a. =Frosted poor-will.= PHALÆNOPTILUS NUTTALLII NITIDUS. Rare summer
+resident; few typical _nitidus_ taken; a more southern variety.
+
+420a. =Western nighthawk.= CHORDEILES VIRGINIANUS HENRYI. Abundant
+summer resident; breeds on the plains and up to about 11,000 feet; in
+fall ranges up to 12,000 feet; most common on plains and in foothills.
+
+422. =Black swift.= CYPSELOIDES NIGER BOREALIS. Summer resident;
+abundant locally; southwestern part of the State; breeds from 10,000 to
+12,000 feet, and ranges up to 13,000 feet.
+
+425. =White-throated swift.= AERONAUTES MELANOLEUCUS. Summer resident;
+not uncommon locally; breeds in inaccessible rocks from 6,000 to 12,000
+feet, if not higher; most common in southern part of the State.
+
+429. =Black-chinned humming-bird.= TROCHILUS ALEXANDRI. Summer resident;
+local; only in southwestern part of the State, and below 6,000 feet.
+
+432. =Broad-tailed humming-bird.= SELASPHORUS PLATYCERCUS. Common summer
+resident; Colorado's most common hummer; breeds from foothills to 11,000
+feet; ranges 2,000 feet above timber-line in summer.
+
+433. =Rufous humming-bird.= SELASPHORUS RUFUS. Summer resident; local; a
+western species, coming into southwestern Colorado, where it breeds from
+7,000 to 10,000 feet, and ranges in summer several thousand feet higher;
+a few records east of the range.
+
+436. =Calliope humming-bird.= STELLULA CALLIOPE. Summer visitor; rare or
+accidental; but two records, one near Breckenridge at an altitude of
+9,500 feet; western species.
+
+443. =Scissor-tailed flycatcher.= MILVULUS FORFICATUS. Summer visitor;
+rare or accidental; but one record; southern range, and more eastern.
+
+444. =Kingbird.= TYRANNUS TYRANNUS. Common summer resident; occurs only
+on plains and in foothills up to 6,000 feet; same form as the eastern
+kingbird.
+
+447. =Arkansas kingbird.= TYRANNUS VERTICALIS. Common summer resident;
+more common in eastern than western part of the State; fond of the
+plains and foothills, yet breeds as high as 8,000 feet.
+
+448. =Cassin's kingbird.= TYRANNUS VOCIFERANS. Common summer resident;
+breeds on plains and up to 9,000 feet in mountains; occurs throughout
+the State.
+
+454. =Ash-throated flycatcher.= MYIARCHUS CINERASCENS. Rare summer
+resident; western species, coming east to western edge of plains.
+
+455a. =Olivaceous flycatcher.= MYIARCHUS LAWRENCEI OLIVASCENS. Summer
+visitor, rare, if not accidental; a southern species; taken once in
+Colorado.
+
+456. =Phoebe.= SAYORNIS PHOEBE. Rare summer visitor; comes west to
+eastern border of the State.
+
+457. =Say's phoebe.= SAYORNIS SAYA. Common summer resident; most
+common on the plains; occurs on both sides of the range; the author
+found it a little above Malta, at Glenwood, and in South Park.
+
+459. =Olive-sided flycatcher.= CONTOPUS BOREALIS. Common summer
+resident; breeds only in the mountains, from 7,000 to 12,000 feet.
+
+462. =Western wood pewee.= CONTOPUS RICHARDSONII. Common summer
+resident; most common in breeding season from 7,000 to 11,000 feet.
+
+464. =Western flycatcher.= EMPIDONAX DIFFICILIS. Common summer resident;
+breeds from plains to 10,000 feet, but most common in upper part of its
+range.
+
+466. =Traill's flycatcher.= EMPIDONAX TRAILLII. Fairly common summer
+resident; most common on the plains, but occurs in mountains up to 8,000
+feet; breeds throughout its Colorado range.
+
+467. =Least flycatcher.= EMPIDONAX MINIMUS. Rare migrant; west to
+eastern foothills; probably breeds, but no nests have been found.
+
+468. =Hammond's flycatcher.= EMPIDONAX HAMMONDI. Common summer resident;
+comes east only to the western edge of the plains; breeds as high as
+9,000 feet.
+
+469. =Wright's flycatcher.= EMPIDONAX WRIGHTII. Abundant summer
+resident; breeds from 7,500 feet to 10,000.
+
+474a. =Pallid horned lark.= OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS LEUCOLÆMA. Abundant
+winter resident; literature on this bird somewhat confused on account,
+no doubt, of its close resemblance to the next; winters on the plains
+abundantly, and sparsely in the mountains.
+
+474c. =Desert horned lark.= OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS ARENICOLA. Abundant
+resident; winters on plains and in mountains up to 9,000 feet; breeds
+from plains to 13,000 feet; raises two broods.
+
+475. =American magpie.= PICA PICA HUDSONICA. Common resident; breeds
+commonly on the plains and in the foothills and lower mountains; a few
+breed as high as 11,000 feet.
+
+478b. =Long-crested jay.= CYANOCITTA STELLERI DIADEMATA. Common
+resident; seldom strays far east of the foothills; breeds from base of
+foothills to timber-line; winter range from edge of plains almost to
+10,000 feet.
+
+480. =Woodhouse's jay.= APHELOCOMA WOODHOUSEI. Common resident; most
+common along the base of foothills and lower wooded mountains; sometimes
+breeds as high as 8,000 feet; in fall roams up to 9,500 in special
+instances.
+
+484a. =Rocky Mountain jay.= PERISOREUS CANADENSIS CAPITALIS. Common
+resident; remains near timber-line throughout the year.
+
+486. =American raven.= CORVUS CORAX SINUATUS. Resident; common locally;
+breeds; rather of western Colorado, but visitant among eastern
+mountains.
+
+487. =White-necked raven.= CORVUS CRYPTOLEUCUS. Rare resident now;
+formerly abundant along eastern base of the front range and a hundred
+miles out on the plains; now driven out by advent of white man.
+
+488. =American crow.= CORVUS AMERICANUS. Resident; common in
+northeastern Colorado; rare in the rest of the State.
+
+491. =Clark's nutcracker.= NUCIFRAGA COLUMBIANA. Abundant resident; a
+mountain bird; breeds from 7,000 to 12,000 feet; sometimes in fall
+gathers in "enormous flocks"; at that season wanders up to at least
+13,000 feet; most remain in the mountains through the winter, though a
+few descend to the plains.
+
+492. =Pinon jay.= CYANOCEPHALUS CYANOCEPHALUS. Resident; abundant
+locally; breeds almost exclusively among the pinon pines; keeps in small
+parties during breeding season; then gathers in large flocks; wandering
+up to 10,000 feet.
+
+494. =Bobolink.= DOLICHONYX ORYZIVORUS. Rare summer visitor.
+
+495. =Cowbird.= MOLOTHRUS ATER. Common summer resident; breeds from
+plains to about 8,000 feet; author saw several in South Park.
+
+497. =Yellow-headed blackbird.= XANTHOCEPHALUS XANTHOCEPHALUS. Common
+summer resident; breeds in suitable places on the plains and in mountain
+parks.
+
+498. =Red-winged blackbird.= AGELAIUS PHOENICEUS. Common summer
+resident; breeds mostly below 7,500 feet, though occasionally ascends to
+9,000.
+
+501b. =Western meadow-lark.= STURNELLA MAGNA NEGLECTA. Abundant summer
+resident.
+
+506. =Orchard oriole.= ICTERUS SPURIUS. Summer visitor; rare, if not
+accidental.
+
+507. =Baltimore oriole.= ICTERUS GALBULA. Marked as a rare summer
+resident, though no record of nesting.
+
+508. =Bullock's oriole.= ICTERUS BULLOCKI. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds on plains and in mountain regions below 10,000 feet.
+
+509. =Rusty blackbird.= SCOLECOPHAGUS CAROLINUS. Migrant; rare, if not
+accidental; two records.
+
+510. =Brewer's blackbird.= SCOLECOPHAGUS CYANOCEPHALUS. Abundant summer
+resident.
+
+511b. =Bronzed grackle.= QUISCALUS QUISCULA ÆNEUS. Summer resident; not
+uncommon locally; comes only to eastern base of mountains.
+
+514a. =Western evening grosbeak.= COCCOTHRAUSTES VESPERTINUS MONTANUS.
+Resident; found every month of the year; no nests found, but evidently
+breeds.
+
+515a. =Rocky Mountain pine grosbeak.= PINICOLA ENUCLEATOR MONTANA.
+Resident; not uncommon; most common in late summer and fall when most of
+them are just below timber-line; stragglers descend to foothills and
+plains.
+
+517. =Purple finch.= CARPODACUS PURPUREUS. Migrant; rare, if not
+accidental; only one specimen, and that a female.
+
+518. =Cassin's purple finch.= CARPODACUS CASSINI. Common resident;
+winters from plains to 7,000 feet; breeds from that altitude to 10,000
+feet.
+
+519. =House finch.= CARPODACUS MEXICANUS FRONTALIS. Abundant resident.
+
+521a. =Mexican crossbill.= LOXIA CURVIROSTRA STRICKLANDI. Resident; not
+uncommon; has been seen in summer at 11,000 feet; breeds in mountains,
+perhaps in winter like its eastern antitype.
+
+522. =White-winged crossbill.= LOXIA LEUCOPTERA. Rare winter visitor;
+one record.
+
+524. =Gray-crowned leucosticte.= LEUCOSTICTE TEPHROCOTIS. Rare winter
+visitor; western species.
+
+524a. =Hepburn's leucosticte.= LEUCOSTICTE TEPHROCOTIS LITTORALIS. Rare
+winter visitor; summers in the North.
+
+525. =Black leucosticte.= LEUCOSTICTE ATRATA. Rare winter visitor;
+summer range unknown; winters in the Rockies.
+
+526. =Brown-capped leucosticte.= LEUCOSTICTE AUSTRALIS. This little bird
+and the white-tailed ptarmigan have the highest summer range of any
+Colorado birds.
+
+528. =Redpoll.= ACANTHIS LINARIA. Common winter resident; lives from
+plains to 10,000 feet.
+
+528b. =Greater redpoll.= ACANTHIS LINARIA ROSTRATA. Rare or accidental
+winter visitor; one record.
+
+529. =American goldfinch.= ASTRAGALINUS TRISTIS. Resident; quite common
+in summer; sometimes reaches 10,000 feet.
+
+529a. =Western goldfinch.= ASTRAGALINUS TRISTIS PALLIDUS. Migrant;
+probably common; added by Mr. Aiken.
+
+530. =Arkansas goldfinch.= ASTRAGALINUS PSALTRIA. Common summer
+resident; breeds from plains to over 9,000 feet.
+
+530a. =Arizona goldfinch.= ASTRAGALINUS PSALTRIA ARIZONÆ. Summer
+resident; not common.
+
+530b. =Mexican goldfinch.= ASTRAGALINUS PSALTRIA MEXICANUS. Rare, but
+believed to be a summer resident at Trinidad.
+
+533. =Pine siskin.= SPINUS PINUS. Common resident; breeding range from
+plains to timber-line.
+
+000. =English sparrow.= PASSER DOMESTICUS. Rapidly increasing in
+numbers; has settled at points west of the range.
+
+534. =Snowflake.= PASSERINA NIVALIS. Rare winter visitor; one record
+west of the range; several east.
+
+536a. =Alaskan longspur.= CALCARIUS LAPPONICUS ALASCENSIS. Common winter
+resident; breeds far north.
+
+538. =Chestnut-collared longspur.= CALCARIUS ORNATUS. Rare summer
+resident; winter resident, not common; common in migration.
+
+539. =McCown's longspur.= RHYNCOPHANES MCCOWNII. Common winter resident,
+dwelling on the plains.
+
+540a. =Western vesper sparrow.= POOCÆTES GRAMINEUS CONFINIS. Abundant
+summer resident; breeds from plains to 12,000 feet.
+
+542b. =Western savanna sparrow.= AMMODRAMUS SANDWICHENSIS ALAUDINUS.
+Common summer resident; breeds from base of foothills to almost 12,000
+feet.
+
+545. =Baird's sparrow.= AMMODRAMUS BAIRDII. Migrant; not common; a
+number taken east of the range, and one west.
+
+546a. =Western grasshopper sparrow.= AMMODRAMUS SAVANNARUM PERPALLIDUS.
+Not uncommon summer resident; breeds on plains and in lower foothills.
+
+552a. =Western lark sparrow.= CHONDESTES GRAMMACUS STRIGATUS. Common
+summer resident; breeds on plains and in mountain parks to 10,000 feet.
+
+553. =Harris's sparrow.= ZONOTRICHIA QUERULA. Rare migrant; abundant
+migrant in Kansas.
+
+554. =White-crowned sparrow.= ZONOTRICHIA LEUCOPHRYS. Abundant summer
+resident.
+
+554a. =Intermediate sparrow.= ZONOTRICHIA LEUCOPHRYS GAMBELII. Common
+migrant, both east and west of the range; breeds north of the United
+States.
+
+557. =Golden-crowned sparrow.= ZONOTRICHIA CORONATA. Accidental winter
+visitor; Pacific Coast species; breeds in Alaska.
+
+558. =White-throated sparrow.= ZONOTRICHIA ALBICOLLIS. Rare migrant; but
+three records.
+
+559a. =Western tree sparrow.= SPIZELLA MONTICOLA OCHRACEA. Common winter
+resident; mostly on plains and in lower mountains.
+
+560. =Chipping sparrow.= SPIZELLA SOCIALIS. Rare summer resident;
+common in migration; goes as far west as base of the mountains.
+
+560a. =Western chipping sparrow.= SPIZELLA SOCIALIS ARIZONÆ. Abundant
+summer resident; breeds from base of foothills to 10,000 feet.
+
+561. =Clay-colored sparrow.= SPIZELLA PALLIDA. Summer resident; not
+uncommon; scattered over State east of mountains.
+
+562. =Brewer's sparrow.= SPIZELLA BREWERI. Summer resident; not
+uncommon; breeds from plains to 8,000 feet.
+
+566. =White-winged junco.= JUNCO AIKENI. Common winter resident; on
+plains and 8,000 feet up in the mountains.
+
+567. =Slate-colored junco.= JUNCO HYEMALIS. Winter resident; not common;
+not found above 8,000 feet.
+
+567b. =Shufeldt's junco.= JUNCO HYEMALIS CONNECTENS. Abundant winter
+resident; most common in southern part of the State; not uncommon
+elsewhere.
+
+567.1. =Montana junco.= JUNCO MONTANUS. Winter visitor; not uncommon.
+
+568. =Pink-sided junco.= JUNCO MEARNSI. Common winter resident;
+plentiful at base of foothills in winter; in spring ascend to 10,000
+feet; then leaves the State for the North.
+
+568.1. =Ridgway's junco.= JUNCO ANNECTENS. Rare winter visitor; one
+record.
+
+569. =Gray-headed junco.= JUNCO CANICEPS. Abundant resident; breeds from
+7,500 to 12,000 feet; sometimes rears three broods.
+
+570a. =Red-backed junco.= JUNCO PHÆONOTUS DORSALIS. Rare migrant;
+abundant just south of State.
+
+573a. =Desert sparrow.= AMPHISPIZA BILINEATA DESERTICOLA. Summer
+resident; not uncommon locally; found only in southwestern part of the
+State.
+
+574a. =Sage sparrow.= AMPHISPIZA BELLI NEVADENSIS. Abundant summer
+resident; common on sage-brush plains of western and southwestern
+Colorado; ranges as far east as San Luis Park and north to Cheyenne,
+Wyoming.
+
+581. =Song-sparrow.= MELOSPIZA FASCIATA. Rare migrant; found only at
+eastern border of State.
+
+581b. =Mountain song-sparrow.= MELOSPIZA FASCIATA MONTANA. Common summer
+resident; a few remain on plains in mild winters; breeds from plains to
+8,000 feet.
+
+583. =Lincoln's sparrow.= MELOSPIZA LINCOLNI. Common summer resident;
+abundant in migration; breeds from base of foothills to timber-line.
+
+584. =Swamp sparrow.= MELOSPIZA GEORGIANA. Accidental summer visitor;
+one record.
+
+585c. =Slate-colored sparrow.= PASSERELLA ILIACA SCHISTACEA. Rare summer
+resident; only three records.
+
+588. =Arctic towhee.= PIPILO MACULATUS ARCTICUS. Winter resident; not
+uncommon; comes to base of Rocky Mountains in winter; breeds in the
+North, as far as the Saskatchewan River.
+
+588a. =Spurred towhee.= PIPILO MACULATUS MEGALONYX. Common summer
+resident; upper limit, 9,000 feet.
+
+591. =Cañon towhee.= PIPILO FUSCUS MESOLEUCUS. Resident; common locally;
+all records from Arkansas Valley; rare at an altitude of 10,000 feet.
+
+592. =Abert's towhee.= PIPILO ABERTI. Rare summer resident; species
+abundant in New Mexico and Arizona.
+
+592.1. =Green-tailed towhee.= OREOSPIZA CHLORURA. Common summer
+resident; melodious songster.
+
+593. =Cardinal.= CARDINALIS CARDINALIS. Winter visitor; rare, if not
+accidental; two records.
+
+595. =Rose-breasted grosbeak.= ZAMELODIA LUDOVICIANA. Accidental summer
+resident; one record.
+
+596. =Black-headed grosbeak.= ZAMELODIA MELANOCEPHALA. Common summer
+resident; breeds from plains to 8,500 feet; has been seen at 10,000
+feet.
+
+597a. =Western blue grosbeak.= GUIRACA CÆRULEA LAZULA. Summer resident;
+not uncommon locally; southern part of State; author saw one pair at
+Colorado Springs.
+
+598. =Indigo bunting.= CYANOSPIZA CYANEA. Rare summer visitor; range,
+farther east.
+
+599. =Lazuli bunting.= CYANOSPIZA AMOENA. Abundant summer resident;
+does not breed far up in the mountains, but has been taken at 9,100
+feet.
+
+604. =Dickcissel.= SPIZA AMERICANA. Rare summer resident; only on plains
+and in foothills.
+
+605. =Lark bunting.= CALAMOSPIZA MELANOCORYS. Abundant summer resident;
+very plentiful on the plains; sometimes breeds as far up in mountains as
+9,000 feet.
+
+607. =Louisiana tanager.= PIRANGA LUDOVICIANA. Common summer resident;
+in migration common on the plains, but breeds from 6,000 to 10,000 feet.
+
+608. =Scarlet tanager.= PIRANGA ERYTHROMELAS. Rare migrant.
+
+610a. =Cooper's tanager.= PIRANGA RUBRA COOPERI. Rare or accidental
+summer visitor; abundant in New Mexico and Arizona; only one record for
+Colorado.
+
+611. =Purple martin.= PROGNE SUBIS. Summer resident; local; rare in
+eastern, quite common in western part of the State.
+
+612. =Cliff-swallow.= PETROCHELIDON LUNIFRONS. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds everywhere from plains to 10,000 feet; nests on cliffs and
+beneath eaves.
+
+613. =Barn swallow.= HIRUNDO ERYTHROGASTER. Common summer resident;
+breeds from plains to 10,000 feet.
+
+614. =Tree swallow.= TACHYCINETA BICOLOR. Summer resident; not uncommon;
+breeds occasionally on the plains; more frequently in mountains up to
+10,000 feet.
+
+615. =Violet-green swallow.= TACHYCINETA THALASSINA. Summer resident;
+abundant locally; a few breed on plains; more commonly from 6,000 to
+10,500 feet.
+
+616. =Bank swallow.= CLIVICOLA RIPARIA. Rare summer resident; rarest
+Colorado swallow; from plains to foothills.
+
+617. =Rough-winged swallow.= STELGIDOPTERYX SERRIPENNIS. Summer
+resident; not uncommon; breeds below 7,500 feet.
+
+618. =Bohemian waxwing.= AMPELIS GARRULUS. Winter resident; not
+uncommon; breeds north of the United States.
+
+619. =Cedar waxwing.= AMPELIS CEDRORUM. Resident; not common; breeds
+from plains to about 9,000 feet.
+
+621. =Northern shrike.= LANIUS BOREALIS. Common winter resident; on its
+return from the North in October it first appears above timber-line,
+then descends to the plains.
+
+622a. =White-rumped shrike.= LANIUS LUDOVICIANUS EXCUBITORIDES. Common
+summer resident; breeds mostly on the plains; sometimes in mountains up
+to 9,500 feet.
+
+624. =Red-eyed vireo.= VIREO OLIVACEUS. Rare summer resident; an eastern
+species, coming only to base of foothills; still, one was taken at
+11,000 feet.
+
+627. =Warbling vireo.= VIREO GILVUS. Common summer resident; breeds
+sparingly on the plains; commonly in mountains up to 10,000.
+
+629a. =Cassin's vireo.= VIREO SOLITARIUS CASSINII. Rare or accidental
+summer visitor; not known to breed; a southwestern species.
+
+629b. =Plumbeous vireo.= VIREO SOLITARIUS PLUMBEUS. Summer resident;
+common; breeds in foothills and mountains up to over 9,000 feet.
+
+636. =Black and white warbler.= MNIOTILTA VARIA. Rare summer visitor;
+two records.
+
+644. =Virginia's warbler.= HELMINTHOPHILA VIRGINIÆ. Common summer
+resident; western bird, but breeds along eastern base of foothills.
+
+646. =Orange-crowned warbler.= HELMINTHOPHILA CELATA. Summer resident;
+not uncommon; common migrant; breeds from 6,000 to 9,000 feet.
+
+646a. =Lutescent warbler.= HELMINTHOPHILA CELATA LUTESCENS. Summer
+resident; not uncommon: western form of the orange-crowned warbler;
+ranges to eastern base of mountains.
+
+647. =Tennessee warbler.= HELMINTHOPHILA PEREGRINA. Rare migrant;
+eastern Colorado to base of mountains.
+
+648. =Parula warbler.= COMPSOTHLYPIS AMERICANA. Rare summer resident;
+comes to base of foothills.
+
+652. =Yellow warbler.= DENDROICA ÆSTIVA. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds up to 8,000 feet.
+
+652a. =Sonora yellow warbler.= DENDROICA ÆSTIVA SONORANA. Summer
+resident; probably common; to the southwest _æstiva_ shades into
+_sonorana_.
+
+654. =Black-throated blue warbler.= DENDROICA CÆRULESCENS. Rare migrant;
+one record.
+
+655. =Myrtle warbler.= DENDROICA CORONATA. Common migrant; scarcely
+known west of the range.
+
+656. =Audubon's warbler.= DENDROICA AUDUBONI. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds from 7,000 to 11,000 feet.
+
+657. =Magnolia warbler.= DENDROICA MACULOSA. Rare migrant; breeds
+northward.
+
+658. =Cerulean warbler.= DENDROICA RARA. Rare migrant; one record.
+
+661. =Black-poll warbler.= DENDROICA STRIATA. Rare summer resident;
+sometimes common in migration; one breeding record for the State--at
+Seven Lakes; altitude, 11,000 feet.
+
+664. =Grace's warbler.= DENDROICA GRACIÆ. Summer resident; common in
+extreme southwestern part of the State.
+
+665. =Black-throated gray warbler.= DENDROICA NIGRESCENS. Summer
+resident; not infrequent; breeds in pinon hills near Cañon City.
+
+668. =Townsend's warbler.= DENDROICA TOWNSENDI. Summer resident; not
+uncommon; western species, coming east to base of foothills and a few
+miles out on plains; breeds from 5,500 to 8,000 feet in western
+Colorado; in fall it is found as high as 10,000 feet.
+
+672. =Palm warbler.= DENDROICA PALMARUM. Rare or accidental migrant; one
+specimen seen.
+
+674. =Oven-bird.= SEIURUS AUROCAPILLUS. Rare breeder, on Mr. Aiken's
+authority.
+
+675a. =Grinnell's water thrush.= SEIURUS NOVEBORACENSIS NOTABILIS. Rare
+migrant; appearing from plains to 8,000 feet.
+
+678. =Connecticut warbler.= GEOTHLYPIS AGILIS. Rare or accidental
+migrant; one record by Mr. Aiken.
+
+680. =Macgillivray's warbler.= GEOTHLYPIS TOLMIEI. Common summer
+resident; breeds from base of foothills to 9,000 feet.
+
+681. =Maryland yellow-throat.= GEOTHLYPIS TRICHAS. One taken at Colorado
+Springs by Mr. Aiken.
+
+681a. =Western yellow-throat.= GEOTHLYPIS TRICHAS OCCIDENTALIS. Common
+summer resident, almost restricted to the plains; both sides of the
+range.
+
+683. =Yellow-breasted chat.= ICTERIA VIRENS. Accidental summer visitor.
+
+683a. =Long-tailed chat.= ICTERIA VIRENS LONGICAUDA. Common summer
+resident; scarcely found in the mountains, but frequent in the lower
+foothills and on the plains; never seen above 8,000 feet.
+
+685. =Wilson's warbler.= WILSONIA PUSILLA. Abundant summer resident;
+centre of abundance in breeding season, 11,000 feet; known to breed at
+12,000 feet; also as low as 6,000.
+
+685a. =Pileolated warbler.= WILSONIA PUSILLA PILEOLATA. Summer resident;
+not uncommon; Mr. Aiken thinks it as plentiful as preceding.
+
+686. =Canadian warbler.= WILSONIA CANADENSIS. Rare or accidental
+migrant; one record by Mr. Aiken.
+
+687. =American redstart.= SETOPHAGA RUTICILLA. Summer resident; not
+uncommon in eastern, rare in western, Colorado; breeds below 8,000
+feet.
+
+697. =American pipit.= ANTHUS PENSILVANICUS. Common summer resident;
+breeds only on summits of the mountains.
+
+701. =American dipper.= CINCLUS MEXICANUS. Resident; common in favorite
+localities; one seen above timber-line in October.
+
+702. =Sage thrasher.= OROSCOPTES MONTANUS. Summer resident; breeds from
+plains to nearly 10,000 feet; western species, coming east to mountain
+slopes.
+
+703. =Mocking-bird.= MIMUS POLYGLOTTOS. Summer resident; common locally;
+mostly on plains, but sometimes reaches 8,000 feet.
+
+704. =Catbird.= GALEOSCOPTES CAROLINENSIS. Common summer resident; from
+plains to 8,000 feet.
+
+705. =Brown thrasher.= HARPORHYNCHUS RUFUS. Not uncommon as summer
+resident; almost restricted to the plains.
+
+708. =Bendire's thrasher.= HARPORHYNCHUS BENDIREI. Summer resident; rare
+and local; south central part of State.
+
+715. =Rock wren.= SALPINCTES OBSOLETUS. Common summer resident; breeds
+from plains to 12,000 feet.
+
+717a. =Cañon wren.= CATHERPES MEXICANUS CONSPERSUS. Rare resident; one
+nest recorded.
+
+719b. =Baird's wren.= THRYOMANES BEWICKII LEUCOGASTER. Rare summer
+resident.
+
+721b. =Western house wren.= TROGLODYTES AËDON AZTECUS. Common summer
+resident; from plains to 10,000 feet; raises two broods, sometimes
+three.
+
+722. =Winter wren.= ANORTHURA HIEMALIS. Rare resident; no nest found.
+
+725a. =Tulé wren.= CISTOTHORUS PALUDICOLA. Summer resident; not
+uncommon; breeds from plains to 8,000 feet; some remain all winter in
+hot-water swamps.
+
+725c. =Western marsh wren.= CISTOTHORUS PALUSTRIS PLESIUS. Summer
+resident; not uncommon locally.
+
+726b. =Rocky Mountain creeper.= CERTHIA FAMILIARIS MONTANA. Common
+resident; in breeding season confined to the immediate vicinity of
+timber-line, where some remain the year round.
+
+727. =White-breasted nuthatch.= SITTA CAROLINENSIS. Resident; not
+common.
+
+727a. =Slender-billed nuthatch.= SITTA CAROLINENSIS ACULEATA. Common
+resident; western form; commonly breeds from 7,500 feet to timber-line.
+
+728. =Red-breasted nuthatch.= SITTA CANADENSIS. Not uncommon resident;
+migrant on the plains; resident in the mountains to about 8,000 feet,
+sometimes 10,000.
+
+730. =Pigmy nuthatch.= SITTA PYGMÆA. Abundant resident; mountain bird;
+makes scarcely any migration; most common from 7,000 to 10,000 feet.
+
+733a. =Gray titmouse.= PARUS INORNATUS GRISEUS. Resident; not common;
+southern species, coming to eastern foothills.
+
+735a. =Long-tailed chickadee.= PARUS ATRICAPILLUS SEPTENTRIONALIS. Not
+uncommon resident; winters on plains and in foothills; breeds from 7,000
+to 10,000 feet; sometimes on plains.
+
+738. =Mountain chickadee.= PARUS GAMBELI. Abundant resident; nests from
+8,000 feet to timber-line; ranges in the fall to the tops of the
+loftiest peaks.
+
+744. =Lead-colored bush-tit.= PSALTRIPARUS PLUMBEUS. Resident; not
+common; western species, coming to eastern foothills.
+
+748. =Golden-crowned kinglet.= REGULUS SATRAPA. Rare summer resident;
+rather common in migration; breeds only near timber-line at about
+11,000.
+
+749. =Ruby-crowned kinglet.= REGULUS CALENDULA. Abundant summer
+resident; breeds from 9,000 feet to timber-line.
+
+751. =Blue-gray gnatcatcher.= POLIOPTILA CÆRULEA. Rare summer resident;
+breeds on the plains and in the foothills.
+
+754. =Townsend's solitaire.= MYADESTES TOWNSENDII. Common resident;
+breeds from 8,000 to 12,000 feet; winters in mountains, though
+stragglers are sometimes seen on the plains. The author saw a pair on
+plains near Arvada, in company with a young, well-fledged bird.
+
+756a. =Willow thrush.= HYLOCICHLA FUSCESCENS SALICICOLA. Summer
+resident; rather common; breeds in foothills and parks up to about 8,000
+feet.
+
+758a. =Olive-backed thrush.= HYLOCICHLA USTULATA SWAINSONII. Rare
+migrant.
+
+758c. =Alma's thrush.= HYLOCICHLA USTULATA ALAMÆ. Rare summer resident;
+in migration common.
+
+759. =Dwarf hermit thrush.= HYLOCICHLA AONALASCHKÆ. Rare migrant.
+
+759a. =Audubon's hermit thrush.= HYLOCICHLA AONALASCHKÆ AUDUBONI. Common
+summer resident; breeds from 8,000 feet to timber-line.
+
+759b. =Hermit thrush.= HYLOCICHLA AONALASCHKÆ PALLASII. Rare migrant;
+comes to the eastern edge of Colorado, just touching range of
+_auduboni_.
+
+761. =American robin.= MERULA MIGRATORIA. Summer resident, but not
+common; some interesting questions arise in connection with intermediate
+forms.
+
+761a. =Western robin.= MERULA MIGRATORIA PROPINQUA. Abundant summer
+resident; breeds from plains to timber-line.
+
+765a. =Greenland wheatear.= SAXICOLA OENANTHE LEUCORHOA. European
+species; a straggler taken at Boulder by Minot.
+
+766. =Bluebird.= SIALIA SIALIS. Rare summer resident; west to base of
+Rockies.
+
+767a. =Chestnut-backed bluebird.= SIALIA MEXICANA BAIRDI. Summer
+resident; not common; western form, coming east as far as Pueblo.
+
+768. =Mountain bluebird.= SIALIA ARCTICA. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds from plains to timber-line; in autumn roams up to at least 13,000
+feet.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+ Aerial song, 50, 51, 86, 87, 239, 268-270, 286, 287, 299-301.
+
+ Aiken, Charles E., xiii, 50, 63, 67, 118, 134, 136, 157, 161.
+
+ Arvada, 193, 194, 278, 289, 301.
+
+
+ Blackbird, Brewer's, 25, 98, 125, 126, 133, 139, 140, 141, 187, 215,
+     230, 259, 264, 266, 268, 271-274.
+   red-winged, 98, 142, 215, 271.
+   yellow-headed, 141, 142.
+
+ Bluebird, mountain, 22, 55, 67, 99, 128, 192, 231, 237, 259.
+
+ Bobolink, 286, 287, 289.
+
+ Boulder, 162, 178, 184, 186, 206, 279, 282.
+
+ Breckenridge, 259, 293, 294, 302.
+
+ Buena Vista, 32, 38, 112, 127, 132-136, 139, 146, 162, 193, 267.
+
+ Bunting, lark, 187, 285-292.
+   lazuli (also called finch), 25, 121, 154-159, 178, 187, 290.
+
+ Burro ride, 223-256.
+
+ Butterflies, 177, 252, 253, 266.
+
+
+ Canary, 127.
+
+ Cañon, Arkansas River, 43, 117.
+   Cheyenne, 109, 170.
+   Clear Creek, 184, 187, 197.
+   Eagle River, 117, 125.
+   Engleman's, 40.
+   Grand River, 44, 125.
+   South Platte, 206, 259, 278-282, 293.
+
+ Catbird, 31, 36, 121, 133, 189.
+
+ Chat, yellow-breasted, 186.
+   long-tailed, 186.
+
+ Chatterers, 302.
+
+ Cheyenne Mountain, 91.
+
+ Chewink, 36.
+
+ Chickadee, black-capped, 66, 67, 76, 119.
+   mountain, 66, 67, 73, 76, 77, 119, 212, 231, 235, 254, 262.
+
+ Colorado Springs, 38, 42, 50, 68, 83, 89, 90, 117, 121, 155, 157, 160,
+     177, 178, 183, 187, 193, 210, 279.
+
+ Cooke, Wells W., 24, 51, 67, 76, 134, 184, 261.
+
+ Coot, American, 145, 146.
+
+ Cottonwood Lake, 112, 146, 162.
+
+ Coues, Dr. Elliott, 24, 76, 302, 303.
+
+ Cowbird, 271.
+
+ Coyote, 99, 100.
+
+ Crane, 146.
+
+ Crossbill, Mexican, 262, 263.
+
+ Crow, 25.
+
+
+ Denver, 26, 159, 177, 178, 179, 181, 183, 187, 193, 241, 263, 282, 289,
+     292.
+
+ Dickcissel, 36.
+
+ Dipper (_see_ water-ousel), 163-174, 209, 210.
+
+ Dove, turtle, 43, 44, 97, 122, 126, 129, 186.
+
+ Ducks, 72, 143, 146.
+   ruddy, 143-145.
+
+
+ East and West, birds of, compared, 19, 21, 23-27, 31-40, 43, 44, 54,
+     55, 62, 67, 69, 76, 90-95, 106, 119, 121, 125, 129-131, 133-136,
+     149-159, 186, 191-193, 198, 205, 215, 266, 270, 272, 286, 287.
+
+
+ Flicker, red-shafted, 25, 55, 73, 119, 126, 213, 231, 254, 262, 298.
+   yellow-shafted, 25, 55.
+
+ Flycatchers, 25, 151.
+   Arkansas, 95-97, 99.
+   crested, 95.
+   least, 214.
+   olive-sided, 73, 261.
+   western, 209, 215, 218.
+
+
+ Georgetown, 193, 197-219, 224, 238.
+
+ Glenwood, 38, 40, 109, 120-125, 129, 158, 183, 271.
+
+ Golden, 162, 184, 193, 296, 298.
+
+ Goldfinch, American, 33, 121, 202, 203, 290.
+   Arkansas, 32, 33, 121, 133, 290.
+
+ Grackle, bronzed, 25, 140, 271, 272.
+   purple, 25, 140.
+
+ Grassfinch, eastern, 99, 129.
+   western, 92, 99, 121, 129, 186, 192.
+
+ Graymont, 183, 230, 232.
+
+ Gray's Peak, 26, 178, 190, 193, 206, 224-256, 260, 261, 262, 270, 298.
+   ascent of, 241-243.
+   summit, 243-251.
+
+ Green Lake, 208-214.
+
+ Grosbeak, 25, 298, 299.
+   black-headed, 39, 290.
+   cardinal, 39, 127.
+   rose-breasted, 39.
+   western blue, 39, 157.
+
+
+ Halfway House, 47, 74, 75, 76.
+
+ Harrier, marsh, 99.
+
+ Herbert, George, 59.
+
+ Hawk, pigeon, 214.
+
+ House-finch, 119, 127, 133, 181-183, 217.
+
+ Humming-bird, 25.
+   broad-tailed, 73, 103-109, 112-114, 200, 209, 213, 217, 230, 260.
+   ruby-throated, 106.
+   rufous, 113.
+
+
+ Indigo-bird, 25, 154, 155, 178.
+
+
+ Jack-rabbit, 99.
+
+ Jay, blue, 24, 25, 26, 27, 149, 151, 153.
+   long-crested, 25, 119, 133, 149-151, 154, 189, 230, 260, 279-281.
+   mountain, 71, 119, 151-154, 205, 210, 233, 234, 261.
+   Woodhouse's, 154.
+
+ Junco, slate-colored, 75.
+   gray-headed, 67, 74, 75, 119, 209, 212, 231, 235, 254, 255, 259, 261.
+
+
+ Kelso, Mount, 232, 233, 238, 253, 254, 262.
+
+ Killdeer, 205, 270.
+
+ Kingbird, 97.
+
+ Kingfisher, 119, 282.
+
+ Kinglet, ruby-crowned, 64-66, 72, 119, 211, 216, 235, 254, 261.
+
+
+ Lark, desert horned, 49, 84-89, 186, 264, 268-270.
+   horned, 85.
+   pallid horned, 86.
+   prairie horned, 86.
+
+ Leadville, 38, 126, 127, 183, 202, 271.
+
+ Leucosticte, brown-capped, 22, 27, 59, 60, 125, 240, 241, 244, 248,
+     251, 252, 254, 262.
+
+ Lowell, James Russell, 59, 289.
+
+
+ Magpie, 25, 40-43, 72, 119, 122, 133, 188, 270.
+
+ Manitou, 31, 32, 36, 38, 47, 75, 76, 79, 140, 178.
+
+ Martin, purple, 90.
+
+ Meadow-lark, eastern, 26, 90-95.
+   western, 22, 26, 90-95, 133, 160, 186, 187, 192, 264, 267, 290.
+
+ Merriam, Dr. C. Hart, 113.
+
+ Migration, 19-23, 51, 52, 63, 65, 66, 124, 277, 278.
+
+ Mocking-bird, 98, 301, 302.
+
+ Moraine Lake, 61, 66-73, 146.
+
+ Muir, John, 172, 173.
+
+
+ Nighthawk, eastern, 191.
+   western, 24, 119, 129, 190, 191, 262.
+
+ Nutcracker (also crow) Clark's, 25, 67, 71, 72, 119, 122.
+
+ Nuthatch, pygmy, 119, 174, 279.
+   white-breasted, 119.
+
+
+ Ohio, 21, 65, 141, 215.
+
+ Oriole, 25.
+   Baltimore, 33-35.
+   Bullock's 33-35, 97, 121, 192, 290.
+   orchard, 34.
+
+ Owl, burrowing, 178-180.
+
+ Phoebe, 125.
+   Say's, 125, 131, 270, 271.
+
+ Pike's Peak, 21, 26, 31, 38, 66, 71, 73, 83, 103, 104, 110, 129, 134,
+     146, 152, 159, 224, 239, 250, 252, 262, 281.
+   ascent of, 47, 56-58.
+   descent of, 49-56, 58-79.
+   summit, 47-49, 58, 59, 60.
+
+ Pipit, American, 27, 49-52, 125, 239, 244, 254, 262.
+
+ Ptarmigan, white-tailed, 60, 248.
+
+ Pueblo, 117, 183.
+
+
+ Raven, 25, 53, 125.
+
+ Red Cliff, 38, 40, 109, 117, 120, 183.
+
+ Redstart, 184.
+
+ Rexford, Eben E., 192.
+
+ Ridgway, Robert, 24, 94, 136, 285, 303.
+
+ Roberts, Charles G. D., 69.
+
+ Robin, eastern, 32, 73, 95, 127, 205, 206.
+   western, 22, 24, 31, 32, 55, 68, 70, 72, 73, 106, 121, 127, 129, 151,
+     192, 199, 200, 205-207, 210, 216, 231, 253, 270, 290.
+
+ Royal Gorge, 43, 117, 122.
+
+
+ Sandpiper, spotted, 51, 73, 163, 204, 271.
+
+ Sapsucker, red-naped, 211, 212.
+   Williamson's, 75-79, 160, 161.
+
+ Seton, Ernest Thompson, 194, 229, 272.
+
+ Seven Lakes, 55, 61, 70, 71, 72, 104, 146.
+
+ Shrike, white-rumped, 98.
+
+ Silver Plume, 183, 207, 216, 224, 226.
+
+ Siskin, pine, 128, 200, 202, 203, 210, 216, 231, 261.
+
+ Skylark, European, 87.
+
+ Solitaire, Townsend's, 261, 270, 290, 298-303.
+
+ South Park, 131, 206, 250, 259, 263-278.
+
+ Sparrow, 25.
+   Brewer's, 186.
+   chipping, western, 24, 130, 215, 216, 259.
+   clay-colored, 128, 203.
+   English, 127, 181-183.
+   lark, western, 24, 192.
+   Lincoln's, 70, 71, 73, 99, 106, 134, 187, 200, 278.
+   mountain song, 126, 133-135, 193, 278, 290.
+   savanna, western, 264, 266, 267, 274-276.
+   song, 92, 126, 133-135, 193, 288.
+   white-crowned, 21, 22, 52-55, 60, 61, 68, 72-74, 103, 126, 129, 200,
+     204, 213, 214, 231, 238, 239, 244, 253, 255, 256, 259, 261, 281,
+     282.
+
+ Swallows, 131.
+   barn, 279.
+   cliff, 99, 118, 213, 263, 266.
+   violet-green, 207, 208, 259, 279.
+
+
+ Tabb, John B., 192.
+
+ Tanager, 25, 151.
+   Louisiana, 39, 40, 119, 279.
+   scarlet, 39, 40.
+   summer, 39.
+
+ Thompson, Maurice, 35.
+
+ Thrasher, brown, 37, 302.
+
+ Thrush, 37, 302.
+   hermit, 69.
+   mountain hermit, 38, 68-70, 72, 73, 204, 210, 212, 215, 218, 219,
+     231, 235, 236, 262.
+   veery, 135, 136.
+   willow, 135, 136, 200, 230.
+   wood, 69.
+
+ Tillie Ann, Mount, 260-262.
+
+ Torrey's Peak, 232, 237, 239, 241, 244, 245, 250, 256.
+
+ Towhee, 36, 37.
+   green-tailed, 37-39, 62, 72, 98, 126, 130, 133, 185, 191, 200, 203,
+     204, 210, 218, 259, 278, 292-295.
+   spurred, 36, 37, 185, 189, 191, 200, 204, 290.
+
+
+ Vireo, 151.
+   warbling, 31, 73, 118, 198, 199, 209, 215, 218, 230, 262.
+
+
+ Warbler, Audubon's, 62-64, 68, 70, 126, 159, 200, 204, 208, 215, 216,
+     231, 235, 237, 238, 259.
+   Macgillivray's, 200, 205, 209.
+   mountain, 157.
+   myrtle, 62, 159.
+   pileolated, 63.
+   summer, 31, 119, 133, 157, 158, 192, 290.
+   Wilson's, 63, 64, 70, 72, 126, 200, 204, 213, 214, 231, 238, 244.
+
+ Water-ousel (_see_ dipper), 163-174, 185, 209, 210.
+
+ Woodpeckers, 24, 75, 160, 211, 262.
+   Batchelder's, 67, 72.
+   downy, 67.
+   Lewis's, 160-162, 190.
+   red-headed, 162.
+
+ Wood-pewee, eastern, 32.
+   western, 32, 119, 121, 132, 192, 261.
+
+ Wren, Bewick's, 297.
+   Carolina, 64, 297.
+   rock, 185, 186, 189, 191, 296-298.
+   western house, 73, 106, 117, 118, 217, 230, 278, 279.
+
+
+ Yellow-throat, western, 193, 290.
+
+
+
+PRINTED FOR A. C. McCLURG & CO. BY
+THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, JOHN WILSON
+& SON (INC.) CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+   Page 140
+   The illustration entitled "Brewer's Blackbirds" appears to be
+   one of Yellow-headed Blackbirds.
+   Unchanged.
+
+   Page 333
+   000. =English sparrow.= PASSER DOMESTICUS.
+   This item falls between item 533 and 534. Unchanged from original.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES***
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Birds of the Rockies, by Leander Sylvester
+Keyser, Illustrated by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Bruce Horsfall</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Birds of the Rockies</p>
+<p>Author: Leander Sylvester Keyser</p>
+<p>Release Date: July 5, 2008  [eBook #25973]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Leonard Johnson,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image001" name="image001"></a>
+   <a href="images/i001a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i001b.jpg"
+      alt="Williamson's Sapsucker"
+      title="Williamson's Sapsucker" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate</span> I<br />
+   <span class="smcap">Williamson's Sapsucker</span> <i>Sphyrapicus thyroideus</i><br />
+   (Figure on left, male; on right, female)</p>
+</div>
+
+<h1>BIRDS <i>of the</i> ROCKIES</h1>
+
+<div class="center">
+<p>By LEANDER S. KEYSER</p>
+
+<p>AUTHOR OF "IN BIRD LAND," ETC.</p>
+
+
+<p><i>With Eight Full-page Plates (four in color)<br />
+by</i> <span class="smcap">Louis Agassiz Fuertes</span>; <i>Many Illustrations<br />
+in the Text by</i> <span class="smcap">Bruce Horsfall</span>, <i>and<br />
+Eight Views of Localities from Photographs</i></p>
+
+
+<p>WITH A COMPLETE CHECK-LIST<br />
+OF COLORADO BIRDS</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+   <img src="images/i002b.jpg"
+      alt="McClurg logo"
+      title="McClurg logo" />
+</div>
+
+
+<p>CHICAGO &middot; A. C. McCLURG AND CO.<br />
+<i>NINETEEN HUNDRED AND TWO</i></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <img src="images/icovera.jpg"
+      alt="Book Cover"
+      title="Book Cover" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Copyright</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">A. C. McClurg &amp; Co.</span><br />
+1902</p>
+
+
+<p><i>Published September 27, 1902</i></p>
+
+<p>TO<br />
+KATHERINE<br />
+AND<br />
+THE BOYS</p>
+
+<p>IN MEMORY OF MANY HAPPY DAYS<br />
+BOTH INDOORS AND OUT</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<ul class="toc">
+
+<li>&nbsp;                                 <span class="smcap ralign">Page</span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#UP_AND_DOWN_THE_HEIGHTS"><span class="smcap">Up and Down the Heights</span></a>            <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#INTRODUCTION_TO_SOME_SPECIES"><span class="smcap">Introduction to Some Species</span></a>       <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#BALD_PEAKS_AND_GREEN_VALES"><span class="smcap">Bald Peaks and Green Vales</span></a>         <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#BIRDS_OF_THE_ARID_PLAIN"><span class="smcap">Birds of the Arid Plain</span></a>            <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#A_PRETTY_HUMMER"><span class="smcap">A Pretty Hummer</span></a>                   <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#OVER_THE_DIVIDE_AND_BACK"><span class="smcap">Over the Divide and Back</span></a>          <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#A_ROCKY_MOUNTAIN_LAKE"><span class="smcap">A Rocky Mountain Lake</span></a>             <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#A_BIRD_MISCELLANY"><span class="smcap">A Bird Miscellany</span></a>                 <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#PLAINS_AND_FOOTHILLS"><span class="smcap">Plains and Foothills</span></a>              <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#RAMBLES_ABOUT_GEORGETOWN"><span class="smcap">Rambles about Georgetown</span></a>          <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#HO_FOR_GRAYS_PEAK"><span class="smcap">Ho! for Gray's Peak!</span></a>              <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#PLEASANT_OUTINGS"><span class="smcap">Pleasant Outings</span></a>                  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_259">259</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#A_NOTABLE_QUARTETTE12"><span class="smcap">A Notable Quartette</span></a>               <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_285">285</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#CHECK-LIST_OF_COLORADO_BIRDS"><span class="smcap">Check-List of Colorado Birds</span></a>      <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_307">307</a></span></li>
+
+<li><a href="#INDEX"><span class="smcap">Index</span></a>                             <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_349">349</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+
+<p class="center"><b>FULL-PAGE PLATES</b></p>
+
+<ul class="toc">
+<li>PLATE                                              <span class="ralign">FACING PAGE</span></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="toc" style="list-style-type:upper-roman;">
+   <li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image001">Williamson's Sapsucker</a></span>&mdash;<i>Sphyrapicus thyroideus</i>
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#image001"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></span></li>
+
+  <li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image049">Green-tailed Towhee</a></span>&mdash;<i>Pipilo chlorurus</i>; <span class="smcap">Spurred Towhee</span>&mdash;<i>Pipilo megalonyx</i>
+ <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_46">47</a></span></li>
+
+ <li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image087">Lazuli Bunting</a></span>&mdash;<i>Cyanospiza am&oelig;na</i>
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_84">83</a></span></li>
+
+  <li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image145">Lark Bunting</a></span>&mdash;<i>Calamospiza melanocorys</i>
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></span></li>
+
+   <li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image185">Louisiana Tanager</a></span>&mdash;<i>Pyranga ludoviciana</i>
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_176">177</a></span></li>
+
+  <li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image233">Townsend's Solitaire</a></span>&mdash;<i>Myiadestes townsendii</i>
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_222">223</a></span></li>
+
+ <li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image271">Ruddy Duck</a></span>&mdash;<i>Erismatura rubida</i>
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_258">259</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image317">Brown-capped Leucosticte</a></span>&mdash;<i>Leucosticte australis</i>
+<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_303">303</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<h2>SCENIC AND TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+<ul class="toc">
+<li>&nbsp;                                             <span class="ralign">PAGE</span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image022">White-Crowned Sparrows</a></span> ("Their grass-lined nests by the babbling mountain brook")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image045">Turtle Doves</a></span> ("Darting across the turbulent stream")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image053">Pipits</a></span> ("Te-cheer! te-cheer!")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image054">Pipits</a></span> ("Up over the Bottomless Pit")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image058">White-Crowned Sparrow</a></span> ("Dear Whittier")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image068">Ruby-Crowned Kinglet</a></span> ("The singer elevated his crest feathers")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image089">Desert Horned Larks</a></span> ("They were plentiful in this parched region")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image093">Horned Lark</a></span> ("It was a dear little thing")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image105">Coyote</a></span> ("Looking back to see whether he were being pursued")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image110">One of the Seven Lakes</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image116">Summit of Pike's Peak</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></span></li>
+
+<li>"<span class="smcap"><a href="#image119">Pike's Peak in Cloudland</a></span>"  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image123">Cliff-Swallows</a></span> ("On the rugged face of a cliff")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_118">118</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image128">Royal Gorge</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image133">Pine Siskins</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image141">Willow Thrush</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image146">Brewer's Blackbirds</a></span> ("An interesting place for bird study")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image149">Yellow-Headed Blackbirds</a></span> ("There the youngsters perched")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></span></li>
+
+<li>"<span class="smcap"><a href="#image153">From their place among the reeds</a></span>"  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image159">The Rocky Mountain Jay</a></span> ("Seeking a covert in the dense pineries when a storm sweeps down from the mountains")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image172">Rainbow Falls</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image174">Water-Ousel</a></span> ("Up, up, only a few inches from the dashing current")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image178">Water-Ousel</a></span> ("Three hungry mouths which were opened wide to receive the food")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></span></li>
+
+<li>"<span class="smcap"><a href="#image181">No snowstorm can discourage him</a></span>"  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_174">174</a></span></li>
+
+<li>"<span class="smcap"><a href="#image188">The dark doorway</a></span>"  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image203">Song Sparrow</a></span> ("His songs are bubbling over still with melody and glee")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_194">194</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image210">Clear Creek Valley</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image216">Western Robin</a></span> ("Out-pouring joy")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_207">207</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image220">Red-Naped Sapsuckers</a></span> ("Chiselling grubs out of the bark")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_211">211</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image223">Pigeon Hawk</a></span> ("Watching for quarry")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_214">214</a></span></li>
+
+<li>"<span class="smcap"><a href="#image227">Solo singing in the thrush realm</a></span>"  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image256">Gray's and Torrey's Peaks</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_245">245</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image260">Panorama from Gray's Peak&mdash;Northwest</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_249">249</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image263a">Thistle Butterfly</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image263b">Western White</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image266">Junco</a></span> ("Under a roof of green grass")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image278">South Park from Kenosha Hill</a></span>  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image284">Magpie and Western Robins</a></span> ("They were hot on his trail")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="smcap"><a href="#image292">Violet-green Swallow</a></span> ("Squatted on the dusty road and took a sun-bath")  <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_279">279</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"'What bird is that? Its song is good,'<br /></div>
+<div class="i4">And eager eyes<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Go peering through the dusky wood<br /></div>
+<div class="i4">In glad surprise;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Then late at night when by his fire<br /></div>
+<div class="i4">The traveller sits,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Watching the flame grow brighter, higher,<br /></div>
+<div class="i4">The sweet song flits<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">By snatches through his weary brain<br /></div>
+<div class="i4">To help him rest."<br /></div>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Helen Hunt Jackson</span>: <i>The Way to Sing</i>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2>BRIEF FOREWORD</h2>
+
+
+<p>With sincere pleasure the author would acknowledge the uniform courtesy
+of editors and publishers in permitting him to reprint many of the
+articles comprised in this volume, from the various periodicals in which
+they first appeared.</p>
+
+<p>He also desires to express his special indebtedness to Mr. Charles E.
+Aiken, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, whose contributions to the
+ornithology of the West have been of great scientific value, and to
+whose large and varied collection of bird-skins the author had frequent
+access for the purpose of settling difficult points in bird
+identification. This obliging gentleman also spent many hours in
+conversation with the writer, answering his numerous questions with the
+intelligence of the scientifically trained observer. Lastly, he kindly
+corrected some errors into which the author had inadvertently fallen.</p>
+
+<p>While the area covered by the writer's personal observations may be
+somewhat restricted, yet the scientific bird-list at the close of the
+volume widens the field so as to include the entire avi-fauna of
+Colorado so far as known to systematic students. Besides, constant
+comparison has been made between the birds of the West and the allied
+species and genera of our Central and Eastern States. For this reason
+the range of the volume really extends from the Atlantic seaboard to the
+parks, valleys, and plateaus beyond the Continental Divide.</p>
+
+<p>
+L. S. K.<br />
+</p>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">All are needed by each one;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Nothing is fair or good alone.<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">I thought the sparrow's note from heaven,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Singing at dawn on the alder bough;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">I brought him home, in his nest, at even;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">He sings the song, but it cheers not now,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">For I did not bring home the river and sky;&mdash;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">He sang to my ear,&mdash;they sang to my eye.<br /></div>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i4"><span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson</span>: <i>Each and All</i>.<br /></div>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">Not from his fellows only man may learn<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Rights to compare and duties to discern;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">All creatures and all objects, in degree,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Are friends and patrons of humanity.<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">There are to whom the garden, grove, and field<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Perpetual lessons of forbearance yield;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Who would not lightly violate the grace<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">The lowliest flower possesses in its place;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Nor shorten the sweet life, too fugitive,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Which nothing less than infinite Power could give.<br /></div>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i4"><span class="smcap">William Wordsworth</span>: <i>Humanity</i>.<br /></div>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">Sounds drop in visiting from everywhere&mdash;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">The bluebird's and the robin's trill are there,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Their sweet liquidity diluted some<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">By dewy orchard spaces they have come.<br /></div>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i4"><span class="smcap">James Whitcomb Riley</span>: <i>A Child World</i>.<br /></div>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">Even in the city, I<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Am ever conscious of the sky;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">A portion of its frame no less<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Than in the open wilderness.<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">The stars are in my heart by night,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">I sing beneath the opening light,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">As envious of the bird; I live<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Upon the payment, yet I give<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">My soul to every growing tree<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">That in the narrow ways I see.<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">My heart is in the blade of grass<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Within the courtyard where I pass;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">And the small, half-discovered cloud<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Compels me till I cry aloud.<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">I am the wind that beats the walls<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">And wander trembling till it falls;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">The snow, the summer rain am I,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">In close communion with the sky.<br /></div>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i4"><span class="smcap">Philip Henry Savage.</span><br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2>UP AND DOWN THE HEIGHTS</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p style="font-size:150%; font-weight: bold; text-align: center">BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="UP_AND_DOWN_THE_HEIGHTS" id="UP_AND_DOWN_THE_HEIGHTS"></a>UP AND DOWN THE HEIGHTS</p>
+
+
+<p>To study the birds from the level plains to the crests of the peaks
+swimming in cloudland; to note the species that are peculiar to the
+various altitudes, as well as those that range from the lower areas to
+the alpine heights; to observe the behavior of all the birds encountered
+in the West, and compare their habits, songs, and general deportment
+with those of correlated species and genera in the East; to learn as
+much as possible about the migratory movements up and down the mountains
+as the seasons wax and wane,&mdash;surely that would be an inspiring prospect
+to any student of the feathered fraternity. For many years one of the
+writer's most cherished desires has been to investigate the bird life of
+the Rocky Mountains. In the spring of 1899, and again in 1901, fortune
+smiled upon him in the most genial way, and&mdash;in a mental state akin to
+rapture, it must be confessed&mdash;he found himself rambling over the plains
+and mesas and through the deep ca&ntilde;ons, and clambering up the dizzy
+heights, in search of winged rarities.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In this chapter attention will be called to a few general facts relative
+to bird life in the Rockies, leaving the details for subsequent recital.
+As might be expected, the towering elevations influence the movements of
+the feathered tenants of the district. There is here what might be
+called a vertical migration, aside from the usual pilgrimages north and
+south which are known to the more level portions of North America. The
+migratory journeys up and down the mountains occur with a regularity
+that amounts to a system; yet so far as regards these movements each
+species must be studied for itself, each having manners that are all its
+own.</p>
+
+<p>In regions of a comparatively low altitude many birds, as is well known,
+hie to the far North to find the proper climatic conditions in which to
+rear their broods and spend their summer vacation, some of them going to
+the subarctic provinces and others beyond. How different among the
+sublime heights of the Rockies! Here they are required to make a journey
+of only a few miles, say from five to one hundred or slightly more,
+according to the locality selected, up the defiles and ca&ntilde;ons or over
+the ridges, to find the conditions as to temperature, food, nesting
+sites, etc., that are precisely to their taste. The wind blowing down to
+their haunts from the snowy summits carries on its wings the same
+keenness and invigoration that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> would find if they went to British
+America, where the breezes would descend from the regions of snow and
+ice beyond the Arctic Circle.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image022" name="image022"></a>
+   <a href="images/i022a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i022b.jpg"
+      alt="White-Crowned Sparrows."
+      title="White-Crowned Sparrows." />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><i>White-Crowned Sparrows</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>It will add a little spice of detail if we take a concrete case. There
+is the handsome and lyrical white-crowned sparrow; in my native State,
+Ohio, this bird is only a migrant, passing for the summer far up into
+Canada to court his mate and rear his family. Now remember that Colorado
+is in the same latitude as Ohio; but the Buckeye State, famous as it is
+for furnishing presidents, has no lofty elevations, and therefore no
+white-crowns as summer residents. However, Colorado may claim this
+distinction, as well as that of producing gold and silver, and
+furnishing some of the sublimest scenery on the earth; for on the side
+of Pike's Peak, in a green, well-watered valley just below timber-line,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+I was almost thrown into transports at finding the white-crowns,
+listening to their rhythmic choruses, and discovering their grass-lined
+nests by the side of the babbling mountain brook. Altitude accomplishes
+for these birds what latitude does for their brothers and sisters of
+eastern North America.</p>
+
+<p>There is almost endless variety in the avi-faunal life of the Rockies.
+Some species breed far above timber-line in the thickets that invade the
+open valleys, or clamber far up the steep mountain sides. Others ascend
+still higher, building their nests on the bald summits of the loftiest
+peaks at an altitude of fourteen thousand feet and more, living all
+summer long in an atmosphere that is as rare as it is refreshing and
+pure. Among these alpine dwellers may be mentioned the brown-capped
+leucostictes, which shall be accorded the attention they deserve in
+another chapter. Then, there are species which have representatives both
+on the plains and far up in the mountain parks and valleys, such as the
+western robin, the western meadow-lark, and the mountain bluebird.</p>
+
+<p>In this wonderful country there is to be observed every style of
+migratory habit. A twofold migrating current must be noticed. While
+there is a movement up and down the mountain heights, there is at the
+same time a movement north and south, making the migratory system a
+perfect network of lines of travel. Some species summer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> in the
+mountains and winter on the plains; others summer in the mountains pass
+down to the plains in the autumn, then wing their way farther south into
+New Mexico, Mexico, Central America, and even South America, where they
+spend the winter, reversing this order on their return to the north in
+the spring; others simply pass through this region in their vernal and
+autumnal pilgrimages, stopping for a short time, but spending neither
+the summer nor the winter in this latitude; still others come down from
+the remote north on the approach of autumn, and winter in this State,
+either on the plains or in the sheltering ravines and forests of the
+mountains, and then return to the north in the spring; and, lastly,
+there are species that remain here all the year round, some of them in
+the mountains, others on the plains, and others again in both
+localities. A number of hardy birds&mdash;genuine feathered Norsemen&mdash;brave
+the arctic winters of the upper mountain regions, fairly revelling in
+the swirling snow-storms, and it must be a terrific gale indeed that
+will drive them down from their favorite habitats toward the plains.</p>
+
+<p>Does the avi-fauna of the Rocky Mountain district differ widely from
+that of the Eastern States? The reply must be made in the affirmative.
+Therefore the first work of the bird-student from the East will be that
+of a tyro&mdash;the identification of species. For this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> purpose he must have
+frequent recourse to the useful manuals of Coues and Ridgway, and to the
+invaluable brochure of Professor Wells W. Cooke on the "Birds of
+Colorado." In passing, it may be said that the last-named gentleman
+might almost be called the Colorado Audubon or Wilson.</p>
+
+<p>In studying the birds of the West, one should note that there are
+western subspecies and varieties, which differ in some respects, though
+not materially, from their eastern cousins; for instance, the western
+robin, the western chipping sparrow, the western lark sparrow, and the
+western nighthawk. Besides, intermediate forms are to be met with and
+classified, the eastern types shading off in a very interesting process
+into the western. It would be impossible for any one but a systematist
+with the birds in hand to determine where the intermediate forms become
+either typical easterners or typical westerners.</p>
+
+<p>Most interesting of all to the rambler on avian lore intent is the fact
+that there are many species and genera that are peculiar to the West,
+and therefore new to him, keeping him constantly on the <i>qui vive</i>. In
+Colorado you will look in vain for the common blue jay, so abundant in
+all parts of the East; but you will be more than compensated by the
+presence of seven other species of the jay household. The woodpeckers of
+the West (with one exception) are different from those of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> East, and
+so are the flycatchers, the grosbeaks, the orioles, the tanagers, the
+humming-birds, and many of the sparrows. Instead of the purple and
+bronzed grackles (the latter are sometimes seen on the plains of
+Colorado, but are not common), the Rockies boast of Brewer's blackbird,
+whose habits are not as prosaic as his name would indicate. "Jim Crow"
+shuns the mountains for reasons satisfactory to himself; not so the
+magpie, the raven, and that mischief-maker, Clark's nutcracker. All of
+which keeps the bird-lover from the East in an ecstasy of surprises
+until he has become accustomed to his changed environment.</p>
+
+<p>One cannot help falling into the speculative mood in view of the sharp
+contrasts between the birds of the East and those of the West. Why does
+the hardy and almost ubiquitous blue jay studiously avoid the western
+plains and mountains? Why do not the magpie and the long-crested jay
+come east? What is there that prevents the indigo-bird from taking up
+residence in Colorado, where his pretty western cousin, the lazuli
+finch, finds himself so much at home? Why is the yellow-shafted flicker
+of the East replaced in the West by the red-shafted flicker? These
+questions are more easily asked than answered. From the writer's present
+home in eastern Kansas it is only six hundred miles to the foot of the
+Rockies; yet the avi-fauna of eastern Kansas is much more like that of
+the Eastern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> and New England States than that of the Colorado region.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the reason is largely, if not chiefly, physiological. Evidently
+there are birds that flourish best in a rare, dry atmosphere, while
+others naturally thrive in an atmosphere that is denser and more humid.
+The same is true of people. Many persons find the climate of Colorado
+especially adapted to their needs; indeed, to certain classes of
+invalids it is a veritable sanitarium. Others soon learn that it is
+detrimental to their health. Mayhap the same laws obtain in the bird
+realm.</p>
+
+<p>The altitude of my home is eight hundred and eighty feet above
+sea-level; that of Denver, Colorado, six thousand one hundred and sixty,
+making a difference of over five thousand feet, which may account for
+the absence of many eastern avian forms in the more elevated districts.
+Some day the dissector of birds may find a real difference in the
+physiological structure of the eastern and western meadow-larks. If so,
+it is to be hoped he will at once publish his discoveries for the
+satisfaction of all lovers of birds.</p>
+
+<p>If one had time and opportunity, some intensely interesting experiments
+might be tried. Suppose an eastern blue jay should be carried to the top
+of Pike's Peak, or Gray's, and then set free, how would he fare? Would
+the muscles and tendons of his wings have sufficient strength to bear
+him up in the rarefied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> atmosphere? One may easily imagine that he would
+go wabbling helplessly over the granite boulders, unable to lift himself
+more than a few feet in the air, while the pipit and the leucosticte,
+inured to the heights, would mount up to the sky and shout "Ha! ha!" in
+good-natured raillery at the blue tenderfoot. And would the feathered
+visitor feel a constriction in his chest and be compelled to gasp for
+breath, as the human tourists invariably do? It is even doubtful whether
+any eastern bird would be able to survive the changed meteorological
+conditions, Nature having designed him for a different environment.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p>
+<h2>INTRODUCTION TO SOME SPECIES</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="INTRODUCTION_TO_SOME_SPECIES" id="INTRODUCTION_TO_SOME_SPECIES"></a>INTRODUCTION TO SOME SPECIES</p>
+
+
+<p>It was night when I found lodgings in the picturesque village of
+Manitou, nestling at the foot of the lower mountains that form the
+portico to Pike's Peak. Early the next morning I was out for a stroll
+along the bush-fringed mountain brook which had babbled me a serenade
+all night. To my delight, the place was rife with birds, the first to
+greet me being robins, catbirds, summer warblers, and warbling vireos,
+all of which, being well known in the East, need no description, but are
+mentioned here only to show the reader that some avian species are
+common to both the East and the West.</p>
+
+<p>But let me pause to pay a little tribute to the brave robin redbreast.
+Of course, here he is called the "western robin." His distribution is an
+interesting scientific fact. I found him everywhere&mdash;on the arid plains
+and mesas, in the solemn pines of the deep gulches and passes, and among
+the scraggy trees bordering on timber-line, over ten thousand feet above
+sea-level. In Colorado the robins are designated as "western," forms by
+the system-makers, but, even though called by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> a modified title, they
+deport themselves, build their nests, and sing their "cheerily,
+cheerily, cheer up," just as do their brothers and sisters of the land
+toward the rising sun. If there is any difference, their songs are not
+so loud and ringing, and their breasts not quite so ruddy as are those
+of the eastern types. Perhaps the incessant sunshine of Colorado
+bleaches out the tints somewhat.</p>
+
+<p>But in my ante-breakfast stroll at Manitou I soon stumbled upon
+feathered strangers. What was this little square-shouldered bird that
+kept uttering a shrill scream, which he seemed to mistake for a song? It
+was the western wood-pewee. Instead of piping the sweet, pensive
+"Pe-e-e-o-we-e-e-e" of the woodland bird of the Eastern States, this
+western swain persists in ringing the changes hour by hour upon that
+piercing scream, which sounds more like a cry of anguish than a song. At
+Buena Vista, where these birds are superabundant, their morning concerts
+were positively painful. One thing must be said, however, in defence of
+the western wood-pewee&mdash;he means well.</p>
+
+<p>Another acquaintance of my morning saunter was the debonair Arkansas
+goldfinch, which has received its bunglesome name, not from the State of
+Arkansas, but from the Arkansas River, dashing down from the mountains
+and flowing eastwardly through the southern part of Colorado. Most
+nattily this little bird wears his black<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> cap, his olive-green frock,
+and his bright yellow vest. You will see at once that he dresses
+differently from the American goldfinch, so well known in the East, and,
+for that matter, just as well known on the plains of Colorado, where
+both species dwell in harmony. There are some white markings on the
+wings of <i>Spinus psaltria</i> that give them a gauze-like appearance when
+they are rapidly fluttered.</p>
+
+<p>His song and some of his calls bear a close resemblance to those of the
+common goldfinch, but he is by no means a mere duplicate of that bird;
+he has an individuality of his own. While his flight is undulatory, the
+waviness is not so deeply and distinctly marked; nor does he sing a
+cheery cradle-song while swinging through the ether, although he often
+utters a series of unmusical chirps. One of the most pleasingly pensive
+sounds heard in my western rambles was the little coaxing call of this
+bird, whistled mostly by the female, I think. No doubt it is the tender
+love talk of a young wife or mother, which may account for its
+surpassing sweetness.</p>
+
+<p>Every lover of feathered kind is interested in what may be called
+comparative ornithology, and therefore I wish to speak of another
+western form and its eastern prototype&mdash;Bullock's oriole, which in
+Colorado takes the place of the Baltimore oriole known east of the
+plains all the way to the Atlantic coast. However,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> Bullock's is not
+merely a variety or subspecies, but a well-defined species of the oriole
+family, his scientific title being <i>Icterus bullocki</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Like our familiar Lord Baltimore, he bravely bears black and orange; but
+in <i>bullocki</i> the latter color invades the sides of the neck, head, and
+forehead, leaving only a small black bow for the throat and a narrow
+black stripe running back over the crown and down the back of the neck;
+whereas in <i>Icterus galbula</i> the entire head and neck are black.
+Brilliant as Bullock's oriole is, he does not seem to be anxious to
+display his fineries, for he usually makes it a point to keep himself
+ensconced behind a clump of foliage, so that, while you may hear a
+desultory piping in the trees, apparently inviting your confidence, it
+will be a long time before you can get more than a provoking glimpse of
+the jolly piper himself. "My gorgeous apparel was not made for parade,"
+seems to be his modest disclaimer.</p>
+
+<p>He is quite a vocalist. Here is a quotation from my lead-pencil, dashes
+and all: "Bullock's oriole&mdash;fine singer&mdash;voice stronger than orchard
+oriole's&mdash;song not quite so well articulated or so elaborate, but louder
+and more resonant&mdash;better singer than the Baltimore." It might be added
+that Bullock's, like the orchard, but unlike the Baltimore, pipes a real
+tune, with something of a theme running through its intermittent
+outbursts. The plumage of the young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> bird undergoes some curious
+changes, and what I took to be the year-old males seemed to be the most
+spirited musicians.</p>
+
+<p>Maurice Thompson's tribute to the Baltimore oriole will apply to that
+bird's western kinsman. He calls him:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"Athlete of the air&mdash;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Of fire and song a glowing core;"<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>and then adds, with tropical fervor:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"A hot flambeau on either wing<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">Rimples as you pass me by;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">'T is seeing flame to hear you sing,<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">'T is hearing song to see you fly.<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr />
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"When flowery hints foresay the berry,<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">On spray of haw and tuft of brier,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Then, wandering incendiary,<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">You set the maple swamps afire!"<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Many nests of Bullock's oriole rewarded my slight search. They are
+larger and less compactly woven than the Baltimore's, and have a woolly
+appearance exteriorly, as if the down of the Cottonwood trees had been
+wrought into the fabric. Out on the plains I counted four dangling
+nests, old and new, on one small limb; but that, of course, was unusual,
+there being only one small clump of trees within a radius of many
+miles.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the vicinity of Manitou many trips were taken by the zealous
+pedestrian. Some of the dry, steep sides of the first range of mountains
+were hard climbing, but it was necessary to make the effort in order to
+discover their avian resources. One of the first birds met with on these
+unpromising acclivities was the spurred towhee of the Rockies. In his
+attire he closely resembles the towhee, or "chewink," of the East, but
+has as an extra ornament a beautiful sprinkling of white on his back and
+wings, which makes him look as if he had thrown a gauzy mantle of silver
+over his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>But his song is different from our eastern towhee's. My notes say that
+it is "a cross between the song of the chewink and that of dickcissel,"
+and I shall stand by that assertion until I find good reason to disown
+it&mdash;should that time ever come. The opening syllabication is like
+dickcissel's; then follows a trill of no specially definable character.
+There are times when he sings with more than his wonted force, and it is
+then that his tune bears the strongest likeness to the eastern towhee's.
+But his alarm-call! It is no "chewink" at all, but almost as close a
+reproduction of a cat's mew as is the catbird's well-known call. Such
+crosses and anomalies does this country produce!</p>
+
+<p>On the arid mountain sides among the stunted bushes, cactus plants,
+sand, and rocks, this quaint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> bird makes his home, coming down into the
+valleys to drink at the tinkling brooks and trill his roundelays. Many,
+many times, as I was following a deep fissure in the mountains, his
+ditty came dripping down to me from some spot far up the steep mountain
+side&mdash;a little cascade of song mingling with the cascades of the brooks.
+The nests are usually placed under a bush on the sides of the mesas and
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>And would you believe it? Colorado furnishes another towhee, though why
+he should have been put into the Pipilo group by the ornithologists is
+more than I can tell at this moment. He has no analogue in the East.
+True, he is a bird of the bushes, running sometimes like a little deer
+from one clump to another; but if you should see him mount a boulder or
+a bush, and hear him sing his rich, theme-like, finely modulated song,
+you would aver that he is closer kin to the thrushes or thrashers than
+to the towhees. There is not the remotest suggestion of the towhee
+minstrelsy in his prolonged and well-articulated melody. It would be
+difficult to find a finer lyrist among the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>But, hold! I have neglected to introduce this pretty Mozart of the West.
+He is known by an offensive and inapt title&mdash;the green-tailed towhee.
+Much more appropriately might he be called the chestnut-crowned towhee,
+for his cope is rich chestnut, and the crest is often held erect, making
+him look quite cavalier-like.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> It is the most conspicuous part of his
+toilet. His upper parts are grayish-green, becoming slightly deeper
+green on the tail, from which fact he derives his common name. His white
+throat and chin are a further diagnostic mark. The bright yellow of the
+edge of the wings, under coverts and axillaries is seldom seen, on
+account of the extreme wariness of the bird.</p>
+
+<p>In most of the dry and bushy places I found him at my elbow&mdash;or, rather,
+some distance away, but in evidence by his mellifluous song. Let me
+enumerate the localities in which I found my little favorite: Forty
+miles out on the plain among some bushes of a shallow dip; among the
+foothills about Colorado Springs and Manitou; on many of the open bushy
+slopes along the cog-road leading to Pike's Peak, but never in the dark
+ravines or thick timber; among the bushes just below timber-line on the
+southern acclivity of the peak; everywhere around the village of Buena
+Vista; about four miles below Leadville; and, lastly, beyond the range
+at Red Cliff and Glenwood.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This list was greatly enlarged in my second trip to
+Colorado in 1901.</p></div>
+
+<p>The song, besides its melodious quality, is full of expression. In this
+respect it excels the liquid chansons of the mountain hermit thrush,
+which is justly celebrated as a minstrel, but which does not rehearse a
+well-defined theme. The towhee's song is sprightly and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> cheerful, wild
+and free, has the swing of all outdoors, and is not pitched to a minor
+key. It gives you the impression that a bird which sings so blithesome a
+strain must surely be happy in his domestic relations.</p>
+
+<p>Among the Rockies the black-headed grosbeak is much in evidence, and so
+is his cheerful, good-tempered song, which is an exact counterpart of
+the song of the rose-breasted grosbeak, his eastern kinsman. Neither the
+rose-breast nor the cardinal is to be found in Colorado, but they are
+replaced by the black-headed and blue grosbeaks, the former dwelling
+among the lower mountains, the latter occurring along the streams of the
+plains. Master black-head and his mate are partial to the scrub oaks for
+nesting sites. I found one nest with four callow bantlings in it, but,
+much to my grief and anger, at my next call it had been robbed of its
+precious treasures. A few days later, not far from the same place, a
+female was building a nest, and I am disposed to believe that she was
+the mother whose children had been kidnapped.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of the scarlet and summer tanagers, the Rocky Mountain region is
+honored with that beautiful feathered gentleman, the Louisiana tanager,
+most of whose plumage is rich, glossy yellow, relieved by black on the
+wings, back, and tail; while his most conspicuous decoration is the
+scarlet or crimson tinting of his head<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> and throat, shading off into the
+yellow of the breast. These colors form a picturesque combination,
+especially if set against a background of green. The crimson staining
+gives him the appearance of having washed his face in some bright-red
+pigment, and like an awkward child, blotched his bosom with it in the
+absence of a napkin.</p>
+
+<p>So far as I could analyze it, there is no appreciable difference between
+his lyrical performances and those of the scarlet tanager, both being a
+kind of lazy, drawling song, that is slightly better than no bird music
+at all. One nest was found without difficulty. It was placed on one of
+the lower branches of a pine tree by the roadside at the entrance to
+Engleman's Ca&ntilde;on. As a rule, the males are not excessively shy, as so
+many of the Rocky Mountain birds are. The tanagers were seen far up in
+the mountains, as well as among the foothills, and also at Red Cliff and
+Glenwood on the western side of the Divide.</p>
+
+<p>A unique character in feathers, one that is peculiar to the West, is the
+magpie, who would attract notice wherever he should deign to live, being
+a sort of grand sachem of the outdoor aviary. In some respects the
+magpies are striking birds. In flight they present a peculiar
+appearance; in fact, they closely resemble boys' kites with their long,
+slender tails trailing in the breeze. I could not avoid the impression
+that their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> tails were superfluous appendages, but no doubt they serve
+the birds a useful purpose as rudders and balancing-poles. The magpie
+presents a handsome picture as he swings through the air, the iridescent
+black gleaming in the sun, beautifully set off with snowy-white
+trimmings on both the upper and lower surfaces of the wings. On the
+perch or on the wing he is an ornament to any landscape. As to his
+voice&mdash;well, he is a genuine squawker. There is not, so far as I have
+observed, a musical cord in his larynx,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and I am sure he does not
+profess to be a musical genius, so that my criticism will do him no
+injury. All the use he has for his voice seems to be to call his fellows
+to a new-found banquet, or give warning of the approach of an interloper
+upon his chosen preserves. His cry, if you climb up to his nest, is
+quite pitiful, proving that he has real love for his offspring. Perhaps
+the magpies have won their chief distinction as architects. Their nests
+are really remarkable structures, sometimes as large as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> fair-sized
+tubs, the framework composed of good-sized sticks, skilfully plaited
+together, and the cup lined with grass and other soft material, making a
+cosey nursery for the infantile magpies. Then the nest proper is roofed
+over, and has an entrance to the apartment on either side. When you
+examine the structure closely, you find that it fairly bristles with dry
+twigs and sticks, and it is surprising how large some of the branches
+are that are braided into the domicile. All but one of the many nests I
+found were deserted, for my visit was made in June, and the birds, as a
+rule, breed earlier than that month. Some were placed in bushes, some in
+willow and cottonwood trees, and others in pines; and the birds
+themselves were almost ubiquitous, being found on the plains, among the
+foothills, and up in the mountains as far as the timber-line, not only
+close to human neighborhoods, but also in the most inaccessible
+solitudes.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> In this volume the author has made use of the terminology
+usually employed in describing bird music. Hence such words as "song,"
+"chant," "vocal cords," etc., are of frequent occurrence. In reality the
+writer's personal view is that the birds are whistlers, pipers, fluters,
+and not vocalists, none of the sounds they produce being real voice
+tones. The reader who may desire to go into this matter somewhat
+technically is referred to Maurice Thompson's chapter entitled "The
+Anatomy of Bird-Song" in his "Sylvan Secrets," and the author's article,
+"Are Birds Singers or Whistlers?" in "Our Animal Friends" for June,
+1901.</p></div>
+
+<p>In one of my excursions along a stream below Colorado Springs, one nest
+was found that was still occupied by the brooding bird. It was a bulky
+affair, perhaps half as large as a bushel basket, placed in the crotch
+of a tree about thirty feet from the ground. Within this commodious
+structure was a globular apartment which constituted the nest proper.
+Thus it was roofed over, and had an entrance at each side, so that the
+bird could go into his house at one doorway and out at the other,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> the
+room being too small to permit of his turning around in it. Thinking the
+nest might be occupied, in a tentative way I tossed a small club up
+among the branches, when to my surprise a magpie sprang out of the nest,
+and, making no outcry, swung around among the trees, appearing quite
+nervous and shy. When she saw me climbing the tree, she set up such a
+heart-broken series of cries that I permitted sentiment to get the
+better of me, and clambered down as fast as I could, rather than prolong
+her distress. Since then I have greatly regretted my failure to climb up
+to the nest and examine its contents, which might have been done without
+the least injury to the owner's valuable treasures. A nestful of
+magpie's eggs or bairns would have been a gratifying sight to my
+bird-hungry eyes.</p>
+
+<p>One bird which is familiar in the East as well as the West deserves
+attention on account of its choice of haunts. I refer to the turtle
+dove, which is much hardier than its mild and innocent looks would seem
+to indicate. It may be remarked, in passing, that very few birds are
+found in the deep ca&ntilde;ons and gorges leading up to the higher localities;
+but the doves seem to constitute the one exception to the rule; for I
+saw them in some of the gloomiest defiles through which the train
+scurried in crossing the mountains. For instance, in the ca&ntilde;on of the
+Arkansas River many of them were seen from the car window, a pair just
+beyond the Royal Gorge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> darting across the turbulent stream to the other
+side. A number were also noticed in the darkest portions of the ca&ntilde;on of
+the Grand River, where one would think not a living creature could coax
+subsistence from the bare rocks and beetling cliffs. Turtle doves are so
+plentiful in the West that their distribution over every available
+feeding ground seems to be a matter of social and economic necessity.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image045" name="image045"></a>
+   <a href="images/i045a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i045b.jpg"
+      alt="Turtle Doves."
+      title="Turtle Doves." />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><i>Turtle Doves</i><br />
+   "<i>Darting across the turbulent stream</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+<h2>BALD PEAKS AND GREEN VALES</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image049" name="image049"></a>
+   <a href="images/i049a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i049b.jpg"
+      alt="Towhee."
+      title="Towhee." />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate</span> II<br />
+   <span class="smcap">Green-tailed Towhee</span>&mdash;<i>Pipilo chlorurus</i><br />
+   (Male)<br />
+   <span class="smcap">Spurred Towhee</span>&mdash;<i>Pipilo megalonyx</i><br />
+   (Male)</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="BALD_PEAKS_AND_GREEN_VALES" id="BALD_PEAKS_AND_GREEN_VALES"></a>BALD PEAKS AND GREEN VALES</p>
+
+
+<p>One of my chief objects in visiting the Rockies was to ascend Pike's
+Peak from Manitou, and make observations on the birds from the base to
+the summit. A walk one afternoon up to the Halfway House and back&mdash;the
+Halfway House is only about one-third of the way to the top&mdash;convinced
+me that to climb the entire distance on foot would be a useless
+expenditure of time and effort. An idea struck me: Why not ride up on
+the cog-wheel train, and then walk down, going around by some of the
+valleys and taking all the time needed for observations on the
+avi-faunal tenantry? That was the plan pursued, and an excellent one it
+proved.</p>
+
+<p>When the puffing cog-wheel train landed me on the summit, I was fresh
+and vigorous, and therefore in excellent condition physically and
+mentally to enjoy the scenery and also to ride my hobby at will over the
+realm of cloudland. The summit is a bald area of several acres, strewn
+with immense fragments of granite, with not a spear of grass visible.
+One of the signal-station men asked a friend who had just come up from
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> plain, "Is there anything green down below? I'd give almost
+anything to see a green patch of some kind." There was a yearning strain
+in his tones that really struck me as pathetic. Here were visitors
+revelling in the magnificence of the panorama, their pulses tingling and
+their feelings in many cases too exalted for expression; but those whose
+business or duty it was to remain on the summit day after day soon found
+life growing monotonous, and longed to set their eyes on some patch of
+verdure. To the visitors, however, who were in hale physical condition,
+the panorama of snow-clad ranges and isolated peaks was almost
+overwhelming. In the gorges and sheltered depressions of the old
+mountain's sides large fields of snow still gleamed in the sun and
+imparted to the air a frosty crispness.</p>
+
+<p>When the crowd of tourists, after posing for their photographs, had
+departed on the descending car, I walked out over the summit to see what
+birds, if any, had selected an altitude of fourteen thousand one hundred
+and forty-seven feet above sea-level for their summer home. Below me, to
+the east, stretched the gray plains running off to the skyline, while
+the foothills and lower mountains, which had previously appeared so high
+and rugged and difficult of access, now seemed like ant-hills crouching
+at the foot of the giant on whose crown I stood. Off to the southwest,
+the west, and the northwest, the snowy ranges towered,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> iridescent in
+the sunlight. In contemplating this vast, overawing scene, I almost
+forgot my natural history, and wanted to feast my eyes for hours on its
+ever-changing beauty; but presently I was brought back to a
+consciousness of my special vocation by a sharp chirp. Was it a bird, or
+only one of those playful little chipmunks that abound in the Rockies?
+Directly there sounded out on the serene air another ringing chirp, this
+time overhead, and, to my delight and surprise, a little bird swung over
+the summit, then out over the edge of the cliff, and plunged down into
+the fearsome abyss of the "Bottomless Pit." Other birds of the same
+species soon followed his example, making it evident that this was not a
+birdless region. Unable to identify the winged aeronauts, I clambered
+about over the rocks of the summit for a while, then slowly made my way
+down the southern declivity of the mountain for a short distance. Again
+my ear was greeted with that loud, ringing chirp, and now the bird
+uttering it obligingly alighted on a stone not too far away to be seen
+distinctly through my binocular. Who was the little waif that had chosen
+this sky-invading summit for its summer habitat? At first I mistook it
+for a horned lark, and felt so sure my decision was correct that I did
+not look at the bird as searchingly as I should have done, thereby
+learning a valuable lesson in thoroughness. The error was corrected by
+my friend,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> Mr. Charles E. Aiken, of Colorado Springs, who has been of
+not a little service in determining and classifying the avian fauna of
+Colorado. My new-found friend (the feathered one, I mean) was the
+American pipit, which some years ago was known as the tit-lark.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image053" name="image053"></a>
+   <a href="images/i053a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i053b.jpg"
+      alt="Pipits."
+      title="Pipits." />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><i>Pipits</i><br />
+   "<i>Te-cheer! Te-cheer!</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Te-cheer! te-cheer! te-cheer!" (accent strong on the second syllable)
+the birds exclaimed in half-petulant remonstrance at my intrusion as I
+hobbled about over the rocks. Presently one of them darted up into the
+air; up, up, up, he swung in a series of oblique leaps and circles, this
+way and that, until he became a mere speck in the sky, and then
+disappeared from sight in the cerulean depths beyond. All the while I
+could hear his emphatic and rapidly repeated call, "Te-cheer! te-cheer!"
+sifting down out of the blue canopy. How long he remained aloft in "his
+watch-tower in the skies" I do not know, for one cannot well count
+minutes in such exciting circumstances, but it seemed a long time. By
+and by the call appeared to be coming nearer, and the little aeronaut
+swept down with a swiftness that made my blood tingle, and alighted on a
+rock as lightly as a snowflake. Afterwards a number of other pipits
+performed the same aerial exploit. It was wonderful to see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> them rise
+several hundred feet into the rarefied atmosphere over an abyss so deep
+that it has been named the "Bottomless Pit."</p>
+
+<div class="floatr">
+   <a id="image054" name="image054"></a>
+   <a href="images/i054a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i054b.jpg"
+        alt="Pipits"
+        title="Pipits" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Pipits</i><br />
+    "<i>Up over the<br />Bottomless Pit</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The pipits frequently flitted from rock to rock, teetering their slender
+bodies like sandpipers, and chirping their disapproval of my presence.
+They furnished some evidence of having begun the work of nest
+construction, although no nests were found, as it was doubtless still
+too early in the season. In some respects the pipits are extremely
+interesting, for, while many of them breed in remote northern latitudes,
+others select the loftiest summits of the Rockies for summer homes,
+where they rear their broods and scour the alpine heights in search of
+food. The following interesting facts relative to them in this alpine
+country are gleaned from Professor Cooke's pamphlet on "The Birds of
+Colorado":</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>In migration they are common throughout the State, but breed only on
+the loftiest mountains. They arrive on the plains from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> the South
+about the last of April, tarry for nearly a month, then hie to the
+upper mountain parks, stopping there to spend the month of May. By
+the first of June they have ascended above timber-line to their
+summer home amid the treeless slopes and acclivities. Laying begins
+early in July, as soon as the first grass is started. Most of the
+nests are to be found at an elevation of twelve thousand to thirteen
+thousand feet, the lowest known being one on Mount Audubon,
+discovered on the third of July with fresh eggs. During the breeding
+season these birds never descend below timber-line. The young birds
+having left the nest, in August both old and young gather in flocks
+and range over the bald mountain peaks in quest of such dainties as
+are to the pipit taste. Some of them remain above timber-line until
+October although most of them have by that time gone down into the
+upper parks of the mountains. During this month they descend to the
+plains, and in November return to their winter residence in the
+South. </p></div>
+
+<p>While watching the pipits, I had another surprise. On a small, grassy
+area amid the rocks, about a hundred feet below the summit, a
+white-crowned sparrow was hopping about on the ground, now leaping upon
+a large stone, now creeping into an open space under the rocks, all the
+while picking up some kind of seed or nut or insect. It was very
+confiding, coming close to me, but vouchsafing neither song nor chirp.
+Farther on I shall have more to say about these tuneful birds, but at
+this point it is interesting to observe that they breed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> abundantly
+among the mountains at a height of from eight thousand to eleven
+thousand feet, while the highest nest known to explorers was twelve
+thousand five hundred feet above the sea. One of Colorado's bird men has
+noted the curious fact that they change their location between the first
+and second broods&mdash;that is, in a certain park at an elevation of eight
+thousand feet they breed abundantly in June, and then most of them leave
+that region and become numerous among the stunted bushes above
+timber-line, where they raise a second brood. It only remains to be
+proved that the birds in both localities are the same individuals, which
+is probable.</p>
+
+<p>On a shoulder of the mountain below me, a flock of ravens alighted on
+the ground, walked about awhile, uttered their hoarse croaks, and then
+took their departure, apparently in sullen mood. I could not tell
+whether they croaked "Nevermore!" or not.</p>
+
+<p>Down the mountain side I clambered, occasionally picking a beautiful
+blossom from the many brilliant-hued clusters and inhaling its
+fragrance. Indeed, sometimes the breeze was laden with the aroma of
+these flowers, and in places the slope looked like a cultivated garden.
+The only birds seen that afternoon above timber-line were those already
+mentioned. What do the birds find to eat in these treeless and shrubless
+altitudes? There are many flies, some grasshoppers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> bumble-bees,
+beetles, and other insects, even in these arctic regions, dwelling among
+the rocks and in the short grass below them watered by the melting
+snows.</p>
+
+<p>At about half-past four in the afternoon I reached the timber-line,
+indicated by a few small, scattering pines and many thick clumps of
+bushes. Suddenly a loud, melodious song brought me to a standstill. It
+came from the bushes at the side of the trail. Although I turned aside
+and sought diligently, I could not find the shy lyrist. Another song of
+the same kind soon reached me from a distance. Farther down the path a
+white-crowned sparrow appeared, courting his mate. With crown-feathers
+and head and tail erect, he would glide to the top of a stone, then down
+into the grass where his lady-love sat; up and down, up and down he
+scuttled again and again. My approach put an end to the picturesque
+little comedy. The lady scurried away into hiding, while the little
+prince with the snow-white diadem mounted to the top of a bush and
+whistled the very strain that had surprised me so a little while before,
+farther up the slope. Yes, I had stumbled into the summer home of the
+white-crowned sparrow, which on the Atlantic coast and the central
+portions of the American continent breeds far in the North.</p>
+
+<p>It was not long before I was regaled with a white-crown vesper concert.
+From every part of the lonely valley the voices sounded. And what did
+they say?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> "Oh, de-e-e-ar, de-e-ar, Whittier, Whittier," sometimes
+adding, in low, caressing tones, "Dear Whittier"&mdash;one of the most
+melodious tributes to the Quaker poet I have ever heard. Here I also saw
+my first mountain bluebird, whose back and breast are wholly blue, there
+being no rufous at all in his plumage. He was feeding a youngster
+somewhere among the snags. A red-shafted flicker flew across the vale
+and called, "Zwick-ah! zwick-ah!" and then pealed out his loud call just
+like the eastern yellow-shafted high-holder. Why the Rocky Mountain
+region changes the lining of the flicker's wings from gold to
+crimson&mdash;who can tell? A robin&mdash;the western variety&mdash;sang his
+"Cheerily," a short distance up the hollow, right at the boundary of the
+timber-line.</p>
+
+<div class="floatr">
+   <a id="image058" name="image058"></a>
+   <a href="images/i058a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i058b.jpg"
+        alt="White-Crowned Sparrow"
+        title="White-Crowned Sparrow" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>White-Crowned Sparrow</i><br />
+    "<i>Dear Whittier</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>About half-past five I found myself a few hundred feet below timber-line
+in the lone valley, which was already beginning to look shadowy and a
+little uncanny, the tall ridges that leaped up at the right obscuring
+the light of the declining sun. My purpose had been to find
+accommodations at a mountaineer's cabin far down the valley, in the
+neighborhood of the Seven Lakes; but I had tarried too long on the
+mountain, absorbed in watching the birds, and the danger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> now was that,
+if I ventured farther down the hollow, I should lose my way and be
+compelled to spend the night alone in this deserted place. I am neither
+very brave nor very cowardly; but, in any case, such a prospect was not
+pleasing to contemplate. Besides, I was by no means sure of being able
+to secure lodgings at the mountaineer's shanty, even if I should be able
+to find it in the dark. There seemed to be only one thing to do&mdash;to
+climb back to the signal station on the summit.</p>
+
+<p>I turned about and began the ascent. How much steeper the acclivities
+were than they had seemed to be when I came down! My limbs ached before
+I had gone many rods, and my breath came short. Upward I toiled, and by
+the time my trail reached the cog-road I was ready to drop from
+exhaustion. Yet I had not gone more than a third of the way to the top.
+I had had no supper, but was too weary even to crave food, my only
+desire being to find some place wherein to rest. Night had now come, but
+fortunately the moon shone brightly from a sky that was almost clear,
+and I had no difficulty in following the road.</p>
+
+<p>Wearily I began to climb up the steep cog-wheel track. Having trudged
+around one curve, I came to a portion of the road that stretched
+straight up before me for what seemed an almost interminable distance,
+and, oh! the way looked so steep, almost as if it would tumble back upon
+my head. Could I ever drag myself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> up to the next bend in the track? By
+a prodigious effort I did this at last&mdash;it seemed "at last" to me, at
+all events&mdash;and, lo! there gleamed before me another long stretch of
+four steel rails.</p>
+
+<p>My breath came shorter and shorter, until I was compelled to open my
+mouth widely and gasp the cold, rarefied air, which, it seemed, would
+not fill my chest with the needed oxygen. Sharp pains shot through my
+lungs, especially in the extremities far down in the chest; my head and
+eye-balls ached, and it seemed sometimes as if they would burst; my
+limbs trembled with weakness, and I tottered and reeled like a drunken
+man from side to side of the road, having to watch carefully lest I
+might topple over the edge and meet with a serious accident. Still that
+relentless track, with its quartette of steel rails, stretched steep
+before me in the distance.</p>
+
+<p>For the last half mile or more I was compelled to fling myself down upon
+the track every few rods to rest and recover breath. Up, up, the road
+climbed, until at length I reached the point where it ceases to swing
+around the shoulders of the mountain, and ascends directly to the
+summit. Here was the steepest climb of all. By throwing my weary frame
+on the track at frequent intervals and resting for five minutes, taking
+deep draughts of air between my parched lips, I at last came in sight of
+the government building. It is neither<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> a mansion nor a palace, not even
+a cottage, but never before was I so glad to get a glimpse of a building
+erected by human hands. It was past nine o'clock when I staggered up to
+the door and rang the night bell, having spent more than three hours and
+a half in climbing about two miles and a half. Too weary to sleep, I
+tossed for hours on my bed. At last, however, "nature's sweet restorer"
+came to my relief, and I slept the deep sleep of unconsciousness until
+seven o'clock the next morning, allowing the sun to rise upon the Peak
+without getting up to greet him. That omission may have been an
+unpardonable sin, for one of the chief fads of visitors is to see the
+sun rise from the Peak; but I must say in my defence that, in the first
+place, I failed to wake up in time to witness the Day King's advent,
+and, in a second place, being on bird lore intent rather than scenic
+wonders, my principal need was to recruit my strength for the tramping
+to be done during the day. The sequel proved that, for my special
+purpose, I had chosen the wiser course.</p>
+
+<p>By eight o'clock I had written a letter home, eaten a refreshing
+breakfast, paying a dollar for it, and another for lodging, and was
+starting down the mountain, surprised at the exhilaration I felt, in
+view of my extreme exhaustion of the evening before. I naturally
+expected to feel stiff and sore in every joint, languid and woe-be-gone;
+but such was not the case. It is wonderful how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> soon one recovers
+strength among these heights. How bracing is the cool mountain air, if
+you breathe it deeply! As I began the descent, I whistled and
+sang,&mdash;that is, I tried to. To be frank, it was all noise and no music,
+but I must have some way of giving expression to the uplifted emotions
+that filled my breast. Again and again I said to myself, "I'm so glad!
+I'm so glad! I'm so glad!" It was gladness pure and simple,&mdash;the
+dictionary has no other word to express it. No pen can do justice to the
+panorama of mountain and valley and plain as viewed from such a height
+on a clear, crisp morning of June. One felt like exclaiming with George
+Herbert:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">The bridal of the earth and sky!"<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So far as the &aelig;sthetic value of it went, I was monarch of all I
+surveyed, even though mile on mile of grandeur and glory was spread out
+before me. The quatrain of Lowell recurred to my mind:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"'Tis heaven alone that is given away,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">'Tis only God may be had for the asking;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">No price is set on the lavish summer;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">June may be had by poorest comer."<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Before leaving the Peak, I watched a flock of birds eating from the
+waste-heap at the Summit House. They were the brown-capped rosy finches,
+called scientifically <i>Leucosticte australis</i>. Their plumage was a rich
+chocolate,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> suffused over neck, breast, and back with intense crimson,
+while the pileum was quite black. With one exception&mdash;the white-tailed
+ptarmigan&mdash;they range the highest in summer of all Colorado birds. They
+are never seen below timber-line in that season, and are not known to
+breed below twelve thousand feet; thence to the tops of the highest
+peaks they hatch and rear their young. In August old and young swarm
+over the summits picking edible insects from the snow, while in winter
+they descend to timber-line, where most of them remain to brave the
+arctic weather and its frequent storms.</p>
+
+<p>Bidding a regretful good-by to the summit, for it held me as by a
+magician's spell, I hastened down the steep incline of the cog-wheel
+road, past Windy Point, and turning to the right, descended across the
+green slope below the boulder region to the open, sunlit valley which I
+had visited on the previous afternoon. It was an idyllic place, a
+veritable paradise for birds. Such a chorus as greeted me from the
+throats of I know not how many white-crowned sparrows,&mdash;several dozen,
+perhaps,&mdash;it would have done the heart of any lover of avian minstrelsy
+good to listen to. The whole valley seemed to be transfigured by their
+roundelays, which have about them such an air of poetry and old-world
+romance. During the morning I was so fortunate as to find a nest, the
+first of this species that I had ever discovered. Providence had never
+before cast my lot with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> these birds in their breeding haunts. The nest
+was a pretty structure placed on the ground, beneath a bush amid the
+green grass, its holdings consisting of four dainty, pale-blue eggs,
+speckled with brown. The female leaped from her seat as I passed near,
+and in that act divulged her little family secret. Although she chirped
+uneasily as I bent over her treasures, she had all her solicitude for
+nothing; the last thing I would think of doing would be to mar her
+maternal prospects. As has been said, in this valley these handsome
+sparrows were quite plentiful; but when, toward evening, I clambered
+over a ridge, and descended into the valley of Moraine Lake, several
+hundred feet lower than the Seven Lakes valley, what was my surprise to
+find not a white-crown there! The next day I trudged up to the Seven
+Lakes, and found the white-crowns quite abundant in the copses, as they
+had been farther up the hollow on the previous day; and, besides, in a
+boggy place about two miles below Moraine Lake there were several pairs,
+and I was fortunate enough to find a nest. Strange&mdash;was it not?&mdash;that
+these birds should avoid the copsy swamps near Moraine Lake, and yet
+select for breeding homes the valleys both above and below it. Perhaps
+the valley of Moraine Lake is a little too secluded and shut in by the
+towering mountains on three sides, the other places being more open and
+sunshiny.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The upper valley was the summer home of that musician <i>par excellence</i>
+of the Rockies, the green-tailed towhee, and he sang most divinely,
+pouring out his</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i16">"full heart<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">In profuse strains of unpremeditated art."<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Having elsewhere described his minstrelsy and habits with more or less
+fulness, I need give him only this passing reference here. A little bird
+with which I here first made acquaintance was an elegant species known
+as Audubon's warbler, which may be regarded as the western
+representative of the myrtle warbler of the East. The two birds are
+almost counterparts. Indeed, at first I mistook the Audubon for the
+myrtle. The former has a yellow throat, while the latter's throat is
+white.</p>
+
+<p>In all the upper mountain valleys, and on the steep slopes of the
+western as well as the eastern side of the Divide, I had the Audubon
+warblers often at my elbow. In summer they make their homes at an
+altitude of seven to eleven thousand feet, and are partial to pine
+timber; indeed, I think I never found them elsewhere, save occasionally
+among the quaking asps. I learned to distinguish Audubon's chanson from
+those of his fellow-minstrels. It is not much of a song&mdash;a rather weak
+little trill, with a kind of drawl in the vocalization that forms its
+diagnostic feature. The persistency with which it is repeated on the
+solitary pine-clad mountain sides constitutes its principal charm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The winter haunts of Audubon's warblers are farther south than Colorado,
+mostly in Mexico and Guatemala, although a few of them remain in the
+sheltered mountain valleys of the western part of the United States.
+Early in May they appear on the plains of eastern Colorado, where they
+are known only as migrants. Here a double movement presently takes
+place&mdash;what might be called a longitudinal and a vertical migration&mdash;one
+division of the warbler army sweeping north to their breeding grounds in
+Canada, and the other wheeling westward and ascending to the alpine
+heights among the mountains, where they find the subartic conditions
+that are congenial to their natures without travelling so great a
+distance. Here they build their nests in the pine or spruce trees, rear
+their families, and as autumn approaches, descend to the plains, tarry
+there a week or two, then hie to their winter homes in the South.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most gorgeous tenants of this valley was Wilson's warbler.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+It wears a dainty little cap that is jet black, bordered in front and
+below with golden yellow, while the upper parts are rich olive and the
+lower parts bright yellow. These warblers were quite abundant, and were
+evidently partial to the thickets covering the boggy portions of the
+vale. While Audubon's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> warblers kept themselves for the most part among
+the pines on the slopes and acclivities, the little black-caps preferred
+the lower ground. Their songs were not brilliant performances, though
+rather pleasing, being short, jerky trills, somewhat lower in the scale
+than those of the well-known summer warbler.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Mr. Aiken says, "The Rocky Mountain representative of
+Wilson's warbler is an intermediate form, nearest the Pacific coast bird
+which is distinguished as the pileolated warbler."</p></div>
+
+<p>While I was stalking about in the low, boggy part of the hollow, my
+attention was attracted by an odd little song that came rolling down
+from the pines on the mountain side. At length, time was found to go to
+the place whence the song came. What could the gay little minstrel be?
+Somewhere I had heard such minstrelsy&mdash;but where? There were runs in it
+that bore some resemblance to certain strains of the Carolina wren's
+vigorous lays, but this songster's voice was of a finer quality and had
+less volume than that of the Carolina. The little bird was found
+flitting among the pines, and continued to sing his gay little ballad
+with as much vigor as before. Indeed, my presence seemed to inspire him
+to redouble his efforts and to sing with more snap and challenge. He
+acted somewhat like a wren, but was smaller than any species of that
+family with which I was acquainted, and no part of his plumage was
+barred with brown and white.</p>
+
+<p>Now the midget in feathers leaped up the alternating branches of a pine,
+and now he flew down and fluttered amid the chaos of dead logs and
+boughs on the ground,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> all the while rolling his ditty from his limber
+tongue. Beginning with an exceedingly fine whistle, which could not be
+heard far away, he descanted in sounds that it is impossible to convey
+in syllables. The best literation of his song that I was able to make
+was the following: "Tse-e-ek, tse-e-ek, tse-e-e-ek,
+cholly-cholly-cholly, che-che-che, pur-tie, pur-tie, pur-tie!" the
+<i>pur-tie</i> accented strongly on the second syllable and the whole
+performance closing with an interrogative inflection.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time I watched the little acrobat, but could not settle his
+identity. Some hours later, while stalking along the other side of the
+valley, I heard the song duplicated; this time the singer elevated his
+crest feathers, and at once I recognized him; he was the ruby-crowned
+kinglet, of course, of course! It was a shame not to identify him at
+first sight. In Ohio I had often heard his song during the migrating
+season, and now remembered it well; but never dreaming that the
+ruby-crown would be found in these alpine districts, I was completely
+thrown off my reckoning on hearing his quaint melodies.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image068" name="image068"></a>
+   <a href="images/i068a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i068b.jpg"
+        alt="Ruby-Crowned Kinglet"
+        title="Ruby-Crowned Kinglet" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Ruby-Crowned Kinglet</i><br />
+    "<i>The singer elevated his crest feathers</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The ruby-crowned kinglet migrates to these heights in the spring and
+rears his brood at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> an elevation of from nine thousand feet to the
+timber-line, building a nest far up in a pine tree; whereas his eastern
+kindred hie to the northern part of the United States and beyond, to
+find summer homes and suitable breeding grounds. Within their chosen
+boundaries the rubies are very plentiful in the Rockies, their quaint
+rondeaus tumbling down from every pine-clad acclivity. In October they
+descend to the plains, and in the latter part of the month hurry off to
+a more southerly clime.</p>
+
+<p>The birds were most abundant in the upper part of the valley, keeping
+close to the precipitous heights of the Peak. It was a long walk down to
+the mountaineer's cabin, and I had reason to be glad for not having
+undertaken to find it the evening before, as I should certainly have
+lost my way in the darkness. No one was at home now, but through the
+screen door I could see a canary in a cage. Not a very inviting place to
+spend the night, I reflected, and I crossed the valley, climbed a steep
+ridge, following a slightly used wagon road, and trudged down the other
+side into what I afterwards found was the valley of Moraine Lake, one of
+the crystal sheets of water that are seen from the summit of Pike's Peak
+sparkling in the sunshine. While climbing the ridge, I saw my first
+mountain chickadee, capering about in the trees. He called like the
+familiar black-cap, and his behavior was much like that bird's. As will
+be seen in another chapter, I afterwards heard the mountain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> chickadee's
+song on the western side of the range, and found it to be quite unlike
+the minor strain of our pleasant black-cap of the East.</p>
+
+<p>On the mountain side forming the descent to Moraine Lake a flock of
+Clark's nutcrackers were flying about in the pine woods, giving
+expression to their feelings in a great variety of calls, some of them
+quite strident. A little junco came in sight by the side of the trail,
+and hopped about on the ground, and I was surprised to note a reddish
+patch ornamenting the centre of his back. Afterwards I learned that it
+was the gray-headed junco, which is distinctly a western species,
+breeding among the mountains of Colorado. Thrashing about among some
+dead boles, and making a great to-do, were a pair of small woodpeckers,
+which closely resembled the well-known downies of our eastern
+longitudes. I suppose them to have been their western representatives,
+which are known, according to Mr. Aiken and Professor Cooke, as
+Batchelder's woodpecker. Near the same place I saw a second pair of
+mountain bluebirds, flitting about somewhat nervously, and uttering a
+gentle sigh at intervals; but as evening was now rapidly approaching, I
+felt the need of finding lodging for the night, and could not stop to
+hunt for their nest.</p>
+
+<p>Faring down the mountain side to the lake, I circled around its lower
+end until I came to the cottage of the family who have the care of the
+reservoirs that supply<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> the three towns at the foot of the mountains
+with water fresh from the snow-fields. Here, to my intense relief, I was
+able to secure lodging and board as long as I desired to remain.</p>
+
+<p>I enjoyed the generous hospitality offered me for two nights and
+considerably more than one day. It was a genuine retreat, right at the
+foot of a tall mountain, embowered in a grove of quaking asps. Several
+persons from Colorado Springs, one of them a professor of the college,
+were spending their outing at the cottage, and a delightful fellowship
+we had, discussing birds, literature, and mountain climbing.</p>
+
+<p>After resting awhile, I strolled up the valley to listen to the vesper
+concert of the birds, and a rich one it was. The western robins were
+piping their blithesome "Cheerilies," Audubon's warblers were trilling
+in the pines, and, most of all&mdash;but here I had one of the most
+gratifying finds in all my mountain quest. It will perhaps be remembered
+that the white-crowned sparrows, so plentiful in the upper valley, were
+not to be seen in the valley of Moraine Lake. Still there were
+compensations in this cloistered dip among the towering mountains; the
+mountain hermit thrushes&mdash;sometimes called Audubon's thrushes&mdash;found the
+sequestered valley precisely to their liking, and on the evening in
+question I saw them and heard their pensive cadences for the first time.
+Such exquisite tones, which seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> to take vocal possession of the vale
+and the steep, pine-clad mountain side, it has seldom been my good
+fortune to hear. Scores of the birds were singing simultaneously, some
+of their voices pitched high in the scale and others quite low, as
+though they were furnishing both the air and the contralto of the
+chorus. It was my first opportunity to listen to the songs of any of the
+several varieties of hermit thrushes, and I freely confess that I came,
+a willing captive, under the spell of their minstrelsy, so sweet and sad
+and far away, and yet so rich in vocal expression. In the latter part of
+the run, which is all too brief, there is a strain which bears close
+resemblance to the liquid melody of the eastern wood-thrush, but the
+opening notes have a pathetic quality all their own. Perhaps Charles G.
+D. Roberts can give some idea of one's feelings at a time like this:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"O hermit of evening! thine hour<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">Is the sacrament of desire,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">When love hath a heavenlier flower,<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">And passion a holier fire."<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A happy moment it was when a nest of this mountain hermit was
+discovered, saddled on one of the lower limbs of a pine and containing
+four eggs of a rich green color. These birds are partial to dense pine
+forests on the steep, rocky mountain sides. They are extremely shy and
+elusive, evidently believing that hermit thrushes ought to be heard and
+not seen. A score or more may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> be singing at a stone's throw up an
+acclivity, but if you clamber toward them they will simply remove
+further up the mountain, making your effort to see and hear them at
+close range unavailing. That evening, however, as the gloaming settled
+upon the valley, one selected a perch on a dead branch some distance up
+the hillside, and obligingly permitted me to obtain a fair view of him
+with my glass. The hermits breed far up in the mountains, the greatest
+altitude at which I found them being on the sides of Bald Mountain,
+above Seven Lakes and a little below the timber-line. To this day their
+sad refrains are ringing in my ears, bringing back the thought of many
+half-mournful facts and incidents that haunt the memory.</p>
+
+<p>A good night's rest in the cottage, close beneath the unceiled roof,
+prepared the bird-lover for an all-day ramble. The matutinal concert was
+early in full swing, the hermit thrushes, western robins, and Audubon's
+warblers being the chief choralists. One gaudy Audubon's warbler visited
+the quaking asp grove surrounding the cottage, and trilled the choicest
+selections of his repertory. Farther up the valley several Wilson's
+warblers were seen and heard. A shy little bird flitting about in the
+tangle of grass and bushes in the swampy ground above the lake was a
+conundrum to me for a long time, but I now know that it was Lincoln's
+sparrow, which was later found in other ravines among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> the mountains. It
+is an exceedingly wary bird, keeping itself hidden amid the bushy
+clusters for the greater part of the time, now and then venturing to
+peep out at the intruder, and then bolting quickly into a safe covert.
+Occasionally it will hop out upon the top of a bush in plain sight, and
+remain for a few moments, just long enough for you to fix its identity
+and note the character of its pleasing trill. Some of these points were
+settled afterwards and not on the morning of my first meeting with the
+chary little songster.</p>
+
+<p>My plan for the day was to retrace my steps of the previous afternoon,
+by climbing over the ridge into the upper valley and visiting the famous
+Seven Lakes, which I had missed the day before through a miscalculation
+in my direction. Clark's crows and the mountain jays were abundant on
+the acclivities. One of the latter dashed out of a pine bush with a
+clatter that almost raised the echoes, but, look as I would, I could
+find no nest or young or anything else that would account for the
+racket.</p>
+
+<p>The Seven Lakes are beautiful little sheets of transparent water,
+embosomed among the mountains in a somewhat open valley where there is
+plenty of sunshine. They are visible from the summit of Pike's Peak,
+from which distant viewpoint they sparkle like sapphire gems in a
+setting of green. As seen from the Peak they appear to be quite close
+together, and the land about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> them seems perfectly level, but when you
+visit the place itself, you learn that some of them are separated from
+the others by ridges of considerable height. Beautiful and sequestered
+as the spot is, I did not find as many birds as I expected. Not a duck
+or water bird of any kind was seen. Perhaps there is too much hunting
+about the lakes, and, besides, winged visitors here would have
+absolutely no protection, for the banks are free of bushes of any
+description, and no rushes or flags grow in the shallower parts. On the
+ridges and mountain sides the kinglets and hermit thrushes were
+abundant, a robin was carolling, a Batchelder woodpecker chirped and
+pounded in his tumultuous way, Clark's crows and several magpies lilted
+about, while below the lakes in the copses the white-crowned sparrows
+and green-tailed towhees held lyrical carnival, their sway disputed only
+by the natty Wilson's warblers.</p>
+
+<p>It was a pleasure to be alive and well in such a place, where one
+breathed invigoration at every draught of the fresh, untainted mountain
+air; nor was it less a delight to sit on the bank of one of the
+transparent lakes and eat my luncheon and quaff from a pellucid spring
+that gushed as cold as ice and as sweet as nectar from the sand, while
+the white-crowned sparrows trilled a serenade in the copses.</p>
+
+<p>Toward evening I clambered down to the cottage by Moraine Lake. The next
+morning, in addition to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> birds already observed in the valley, I
+listened to the theme-like recitative of a warbling vireo, and also
+watched a sandpiper teetering about the edge of the water, while a
+red-shafted flicker dashed across the lake to a pine tree on the
+opposite side. As I left this attractive valley, the hermit thrushes
+seemed to waft me a sad farewell.</p>
+
+<p>A little over half a day was spent in walking down from Moraine Lake to
+the Halfway House. It was a saunter that shall never be forgotten, for I
+gathered a half day's tribute of lore from the birds. A narrow green
+hollow, wedging itself into one of the gorges of the towering Peak, and
+watered by a snow-fed mountain brook, proved a very paradise for birds.
+Here was that queer little midget of the Rockies, the broad-tailed
+humming-bird, which performs such wonderful feats of balancing in the
+air; the red-shafted flicker; the western robin, singing precisely like
+his eastern half-brother; a pair of house-wrens guarding their
+treasures; Lincoln's sparrows, not quite so shy as those at Moraine
+Lake; mountain chickadees; olive-sided flycatchers; on the pine-clad
+mountain sides the lyrical hermit thrushes; and finally those
+ballad-singers of the mountain vales, the white-crowned sparrows, one of
+whose nests I was so fortunate as to come upon. It was placed in a small
+pine bush, and was just in process of construction. One of the birds
+flew fiercely at a mischievous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> chipmunk, and drove him away, as if he
+knew him for an arrant nest-robber.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving this enchanting spot, I trudged down the mountain valleys and
+ravines, holding silent converse everywhere with the birds, and at
+length reached a small park, green and bushy, a short distance above the
+Halfway House. While jogging along, my eye caught sight of a gray-headed
+junco, which flitted from a clump of bushes bordering the stream to a
+spot on the ground close to some shrubs. The act appeared so suggestive
+that I decided to reconnoitre. I walked cautiously to the spot where the
+bird had dropped down, and in a moment she flew up with a scolding
+chipper. There was the nest, set on the ground in the grass and cosily
+hidden beneath the over-arching branches of a low bush. Had the mother
+bird been wise and courageous enough to retain her place, her secret
+would not have been betrayed, the nest was so well concealed.</p>
+
+<p>The pretty couch contained four juvenile juncos covered only with down,
+and yet, in spite of their extreme youth, their foreheads and lores
+showed black, and their backs a distinctly reddish tint, so early in
+life were they adopting the pattern worn by their parents. The
+persistency of species in the floral and faunal realms presents some
+hard nuts for the evolutionist to crack. But that is an excursus, and
+would lead us too far afield. This was the first junco's nest I had ever
+found, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> no one can blame me for feeling gratified with the
+discovery. The gray-headed juncos were very abundant in the Rockies, and
+are the only species at present known to breed in the State of Colorado.
+They are differentiated from the common slate-colored snowbird by their
+ash-gray suits, modestly decorated with a rust-colored patch on the
+back.</p>
+
+<p>It was now far past noon, and beginning to feel weak with hunger, I
+reluctantly said adieu to the junco and her brood, and hurried on to the
+Halfway House, where a luncheon of sandwiches, pie and coffee
+strengthened me for the remainder of my tramp down the mountain to
+Manitou. That was a walk which lingers like a Greek legend in my memory
+on account of&mdash;well, that is the story that remains to be told.</p>
+
+<p>On a former visit to the Halfway House I was mentally knocked off my
+feet by several glimpses of a woodpecker which was entirely new to me,
+and of whose existence I was not even aware until this gorgeous
+gentleman hove in sight. He was the handsomest member of the <i>Picid&aelig;</i>
+family I have ever seen&mdash;his upper parts glossy black, some portions
+showing a bluish iridescence; his belly rich sulphur yellow, a bright
+red median stripe on the throat, set in the midst of the black, looking
+like a small necktie; two white stripes running along the side of the
+head, and a large white patch covering the middle and greater
+wing-coverts.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> Altogether, an odd livery for a woodpecker. Silently he
+swung from bole to bole for a few minutes, and then disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Not until I reached my room in Manitou could I fix the bird's place in
+the avicular system. By consulting Coues's <i>Key</i> and Professor Cooke's
+brochure on the <i>Birds of Colorado</i>, I found this quaintly costumed
+woodpecker to be Williamson's sapsucker (<i>Sphyrapicus thyroideus</i>),
+known only in the western part of the United States from the Rocky
+Mountains to the Pacific coast. I now lingered in the beautiful pine
+grove surrounding the Halfway House, hoping to see him again, but he did
+not appear, and I reluctantly started down the cog-wheel track.</p>
+
+<p>As I was turning a bend in the road, I caught sight of a mountain
+chickadee flitting to a dead snag on the slope at the right, the next
+moment slipping into a small hole leading inside. I climbed up to the
+shelf, a small level nook among the tall pines on the mountain side, to
+inspect her retreat, for it was the first nest of this interesting
+species that I found. The chickadee flashed in and out of the orifice,
+carrying food to her little ones, surreptitiously executing her
+housewifely duties. The mountain tit seems to be a shy and quiet little
+body when compared with the common black-cap known in the East.</p>
+
+<p>While watching this bird from my place of concealment, I became
+conscious of the half-suppressed chirping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> of a woodpecker, and, to my
+intense joy, a moment later a Williamson's sapsucker swung to a pine
+bole a little below me and began pecking leisurely and with assumed
+nonchalance for grubs in the fissures of the bark. From my hiding-place
+behind some bushes I kept my eye on the handsome creature. An artist
+might well covet the privilege of painting this elegant bird as he
+scales the wall of a pine tree. Presently he glided to a snag not more
+than a rod from the chickadee's domicile, and then I noticed that the
+dead bole was perforated by a number of woodpecker holes, into one of
+which the sapsucker presently slipped with the tidbit he held in his
+bill. The doorway was almost too small for him, obliging him to turn
+slightly sidewise and make some effort to effect an entrance. Fortune
+had treated me as one of her favorites: I had discovered the nest of
+Williamson's sapsucker.</p>
+
+<p>But still another surprise was in store. A low, dubious chirping was
+heard, and then the female ambled leisurely to the snag and hitched up
+to the orifice. She made several efforts to enter, but could not while
+her spouse was within. Presently he wormed himself out, whereupon she
+went in, and remained for some time. At length I crept to the snag and
+beat against it with my cane. She was loath to leave the nest, but after
+a little while decided that discretion was the better part of valor.
+When she came out, my presence so near her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> nursery caused her not a
+little agitation, which she displayed by flinging about from bole to
+bole and uttering a nervous chirp.</p>
+
+<p>As to costume, the male and the female had little in common. Her back
+was picturesquely mottled and barred with black and white, her head
+light brown, her breast decorated with a large black patch, and her
+other under parts yellow. Had the couple not been seen together flitting
+about the nest, they would not have been regarded as mates, so
+differently were they habited.</p>
+
+<p>Standing before the doorway of the nursery&mdash;it was not quite so high as
+my head&mdash;I could plainly hear the chirping of the youngsters within.
+Much as I coveted the sight of a brood of this rare species, I could not
+bring myself to break down the walls of their cottage and thus expose
+them to the claws and beaks of their foes. Even scientific curiosity
+must be restrained by considerations of mercy.</p>
+
+<p>The liege lord of the family had now disappeared. Desirous of seeing him
+once more, I hid myself in a bush-clump near at hand and awaited his
+return. Presently he came ambling along and scrambled into the orifice,
+turning his body sidewise, as he had done before. I made my way quietly
+to the snag and tapped upon it with my cane, but he did not come out, as
+I expected him to do. Then I struck the snag more vigorously. No result.
+Then I whacked the bole directly in the rear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> of the nest, while I stood
+close at one side watching the doorway. The bird came to the orifice,
+peeped out, then, seeing me, quickly drew back, determined not to desert
+his brood in what he must have regarded as an emergency. In spite of all
+my pounding and coaxing and feigned scolding&mdash;and I kept up the racket
+for several minutes&mdash;I did not succeed in driving the <i>pater familias</i>
+from his post of duty. Once he apparently made a slight effort to
+escape, but evidently stuck fast in the entrance, and so dropped back
+and would not leave, only springing up to the door and peeping out at me
+when my appeals became especially vigorous. It appeared like a genuine
+case of "I'm determined to defend my children, or die in the attempt!"</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the mother bird was flitting about in an agitated way,
+uttering piteous cries of remonstrance and entreaty. Did that bandit
+intend to rob her of both her husband and her children? It was useless,
+if not wanton, to hector the poor creatures any longer, even to study
+their behavior under trying circumstances; and I left them in peace, and
+hurried down to my lodgings in Manitou, satisfied with the results of my
+day's ramble.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p>
+<h2>BIRDS OF THE ARID PLAIN</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image087" name="image087"></a>
+   <a href="images/i087a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i087b.jpg"
+      alt="Lazuli Bunting"
+      title="Lazuli Bunting" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate</span> III<br />
+   <span class="smcap">Lazuli Bunting</span>&mdash;<i>Cyanospiza am&oelig;na</i><br />
+   (Upper figure, male; lower, female)</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="BIRDS_OF_THE_ARID_PLAIN" id="BIRDS_OF_THE_ARID_PLAIN"></a>BIRDS OF THE ARID PLAIN</p>
+
+
+<p>Having explored the summit of Pike's Peak and part of its southern slope
+down to the timber-line, and spent several delightful days in the upper
+valleys of the mountains, as well as in exploring several ca&ntilde;ons, the
+rambler was desirous of knowing what species of birds reside on the
+plain stretching eastward from the bases of the towering ranges. One
+afternoon in the latter part of June, I found myself in a straggling
+village about forty miles east of Colorado Springs.</p>
+
+<p>On looking around, I was discouraged, and almost wished I had not come;
+for all about me extended the parched and treeless plain, with only here
+and there a spot that had a cast of verdure, and even that was of a dull
+and sickly hue. Far off to the northeast rose a range of low hills
+sparsely covered with scraggy pines, but they were at least ten miles
+away, perhaps twenty, and had almost as arid an aspect as that of the
+plains themselves. Only one small cluster of deciduous trees was
+visible, about a mile up a shallow valley or "draw." Surely this was a
+most unpromising field for bird study.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> If I had only been content to
+remain among the mountains, where, even though the climbing was
+difficult, there were brawling brooks, shady woodlands, and green, copsy
+vales in which many feathered friends had lurked!</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image089" name="image089"></a>
+   <a href="images/i089a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i089b.jpg"
+      alt="Desert Horned Larks"
+      title="Desert Horned Larks" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><i>Desert Horned Larks</i><br />
+   "<i>They were plentiful in this parched region</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But wherever the bird-lover chances to be, his mania leads him to look
+for his favorites, and he is seldom disappointed; rather, he is often
+delightfully surprised. People were able to make a livelihood here, as
+was proved by the presence of the village and a few scattering dwellings
+on the plain; then why not the birds, which are as thrifty and wise in
+many ways as their human relatives? In a short time my baggage was
+stowed in a safe place, and, field-glass in hand, I sallied forth for my
+first jaunt on a Colorado plain. But, hold! what were these active
+little birds, hopping about on the street and sipping from the pool by
+the village well? They were the desert horned larks, so called because
+they select the dry plains of the West as their dwelling place. They are
+interesting birds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> The fewer trees and the less humidity, provided
+there is a spot not too far away at which they may quench their thirst
+and rinse their feathers, the better they seem to be pleased. They were
+plentiful in this parched region, running or flying cheerfully before me
+wherever my steps were bent. I could not help wondering how many
+thousands of them&mdash;and millions, perhaps&mdash;had taken up free homesteads
+on the seemingly limitless plains of eastern Colorado.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the young had already left the nest, and were flying about in
+the company of their elders, learning the fine art of making a living
+for themselves and evading the many dangers to which bird flesh is heir.
+The youngsters could readily be distinguished from their seniors by the
+absence of distinct black markings on throat, chest, and forehead, and
+the lighter cast of their entire plumage.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes these birds are called shore larks; but that is evidently a
+misnomer, or at least a very inapt name, for they are not in the least
+partial to the sea-shore or even the shores of lakes, but are more
+disposed to take up their residence in inland and comparatively dry
+regions. There are several varieties, all bearing a very close
+resemblance, so close, indeed, that only an expert ornithologist can
+distinguish them, even with the birds in hand. The common horned lark is
+well known in the eastern part of the United States as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> winter
+resident, while in the middle West, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, etc.,
+are to be found the prairie horned larks, which, as their name
+indicates, choose the open prairie for their home. The desert horned
+larks are tenants exclusively of the arid plains, mesas, and mountain
+parks of the West. There is still another variety, called the pallid
+horned lark, which spends the winter in Colorado, then hies himself
+farther north in summer to rear his brood.</p>
+
+<p>As I pursued my walk, one of these birds suddenly assumed an alert
+attitude, then darted into the air, mounting up, up, up, in a series of
+swift leaps, like "an embodied joy whose race has just begun." Up he
+soared until he could no longer be seen with the naked eye, and even
+through my field-glass he was a mere speck against the blue canopy, and
+yet, high as he had gone, his ditty filtered down to me through the
+still, rarefied atmosphere, like a sifting of fine sand. His descent was
+a grand plunge, made with the swiftness of an Indian's arrow, his head
+bent downward, his wings partly folded, and his tail perked upward at
+precisely the proper angle to make a rudder, all the various organs so
+finely adjusted as to convert him into a perfectly dirigible parachute.
+Swift as his descent was, he alighted on the ground as lightly as a tuft
+of down. It was the poetry of motion. One or two writers have insisted
+that the horned lark's empyrean<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> song compares favorably with that of
+the European skylark; but, loyal and patriotic an American as we are,
+honesty compels us to concede that our bird's voice is much feebler and
+less musical than that of his celebrated relative across the sea. It
+sounds like the unmelodious clicking of pebbles, while the song of the
+skylark is loud, clear, and ringing.</p>
+
+<p>Our birds of the plain find insects to their taste in the short grass
+which carpets the land with greenish or olive gray. The following
+morning a mother lark was seen gathering insects and holding them in her
+bill&mdash;a sure sign of fledglings in the near neighborhood. I decided to
+watch her, and, if possible, find her bantlings. It required not a
+little patience, for she was wary and the sun poured down a flood of
+almost blistering heat. This way and that she scurried over the ground,
+now picking up an insect and adding it to the store already in her bill,
+and now standing almost erect to eye me narrowly and with some
+suspicion. At length she seemed to settle down for a moment upon a
+particular spot, and when I looked again with my glass, her beak was
+empty. I examined every inch of ground, as I thought, in the
+neighborhood of the place where she had stopped, but could find neither
+nest nor nestlings.</p>
+
+<p>Again I turned my attention to the mother bird, which meanwhile had
+gathered another bunch of insects and was hopping about with them
+through the croppy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> grass, now and then adding to her accumulation until
+her mouth was full. For a long time she zigzagged about, going by
+provoking fits and starts. At length fortune favored me, for through my
+levelled glass I suddenly caught sight of a small, grayish-looking ball
+hopping and tumbling from a cactus clump toward the mother bird, who
+jabbed the contents of her bill into a small, open mouth. I followed a
+bee-line to the spot, and actually had to scan the ground sharply for a
+few moments before I could distinguish the youngster from its
+surroundings, for it had squatted flat, its gray and white plumage
+harmonizing perfectly with the grayish desert grass.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image093" name="image093"></a>
+   <a href="images/i093a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i093b.jpg"
+      alt="Larks"
+      title="Larks" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><i>Lark</i><br />
+   "<i>It was a dear little thing</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was a dear little thing, and did not try to escape, although I took
+it up in my hand and stroked its downy back again and again. Sometimes
+it closed its eyes as if it were sleepy. When I placed it on the ground,
+it hopped away a few inches, and by accident punctured the fleshy corner
+of its mouth with a sharp cactus thorn, and had to jerk itself loose,
+bringing the blood from the lacerated part. Meanwhile the mother lark
+went calmly about her household duties,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> merely keeping a watchful eye
+on the human meddler, and making no outcry when she saw her infant in my
+possession. I may have been <i>persona non grata</i>, but, if so, she did not
+express her feeling. This was the youngest horned lark seen by me in my
+rambles on the plains.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the reader will care to know something about the winter habits
+of these birds. They do not spend the season of cold and storm in the
+mountains, not even those that breed there, for the snow is very deep
+and the tempests especially fierce. Many of them, however, remain in the
+foothills and on the mesas and plains, where they find plenty of seeds
+and berries for their sustenance, unless the weather chances to be
+unusually severe. One winter, not long ago, the snow continued to lie
+much longer than usual, cutting off the natural food supply of the
+larks. What regimen did they adopt in that exigency? They simply went to
+town. Many of the kindly disposed citizens of Colorado Springs scattered
+crumbs and millet seeds on the streets and lawns, and of this supply the
+little visitors ate greedily, becoming quite tame. As soon, however, as
+the snow disappeared they took their departure, not even stopping to say
+thanks or adieu; although we may take it for granted that they felt
+grateful for favors bestowed.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the horned larks, many other birds were found on the plain. Next
+in abundance were the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> western meadow-larks. Persons who live in the
+East and are familiar with the songs of the common meadow-lark, should
+hear the vocal performances of the westerners. The first time I heard
+one of them, the minstrelsy was so strange to my ear, so different from
+anything I had ever heard, I was thrown into an ecstasy of delight, and
+could not imagine from what kind of bird larynx so quaint a medley could
+emanate. The song opened with a loud, fine, piercing whistle, and ended
+with an abrupt staccato gurgle much lower in the musical staff, sounding
+precisely as if the soloist's performance had been suddenly choked off
+by the rising of water in the windpipe. It was something after the order
+of the purple martin's melodious sputter, only the tones were richer and
+fuller and the music better defined, as became a genuine oscine. His
+sudden and emphatic cessation seemed to indicate that he was in a
+petulant mood, perhaps impatient with the intruder, or angry with a
+rival songster.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards I heard him&mdash;or, rather, one of his brothers&mdash;sing arias so
+surpassingly sweet that I voted him the master minstrel of the western
+plains, prairies, and meadows. One evening as I was returning to
+Colorado Springs from a long tramp through one of the ca&ntilde;ons of the
+mountains, a western meadow-lark sat on a small tree and sang six
+different tunes within the space of a few minutes. Two of them were so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+exquisite and unique that I involuntarily sprang to my feet with a cry
+of delight. There he sat in the lengthening shadows of Cheyenne
+Mountain, the champion phrase-fluter of the irrigated meadow in which he
+and a number of his comrades had found a summer home.</p>
+
+<p>On the plain, at the time of my visit, the meadow-larks were not quite
+so tuneful, for here the seasons are somewhat earlier than in the
+proximity of the mountains, and the time of courtship and incubation was
+over. Still, they sang enough to prove themselves members of a gifted
+musical family. Observers in the East will remember the sputtering call
+of the eastern larks when they are alarmed or their suspicions are
+aroused. The western larks do not utter alarums of that kind, but a
+harsh "chack" instead, very similar to the call of the grackles. The
+nesting habits of the eastern and western species are the same, their
+domiciles being placed on the ground amid the grass, often prettily
+arched over in the rear and made snug and neat.</p>
+
+<p>It must not be thought, because my monograph on the western larks is
+included in this chapter, that they dwell exclusively on the arid plain.
+No; they revel likewise in the areas of verdure bordering the streams,
+in the irrigated fields and meadows, and in the watered portions of the
+upper mountain parks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>An interesting question is the following: Are the eastern and western
+meadow-larks distinct species, or only varieties somewhat specialized by
+differences of locality and environment? It is a problem over which the
+scientific professors have had not a little disputation. My own opinion
+is that they are distinct species and do not cohabit, and the conviction
+is based on some special investigations, though not of the kind that are
+made with the birds in hand. It has been my privilege to study both
+forms in the field. In the first place, their vocal exhibitions are very
+different, so much so as to indicate a marked diversity in the organic
+structure of their larynxes. Much as I have listened to their
+minstrelsy, I have never known one kind to borrow from the musical
+repertory of the other. True, there are strains in the arias of the
+westerners that closely resemble the clear, liquid whistle of the
+eastern larks, but they occur right in the midst of the song and are
+part and parcel of it, and therefore afford no evidence of mimicry or
+amalgamation. Even the trills of the grassfinch and the song-sparrow
+have points of similarity; does that prove that they borrow from each
+other, or that espousals sometimes occur between the two species?</p>
+
+<p>The habiliments of the two forms of larks are more divergent than would
+appear at first blush. Above, the coloration of <i>neglecta</i> (the western)
+is paler and grayer than that of <i>magna</i>, the black markings being less
+conspicuous,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> and those on the tertials and middle tail-feathers being
+arranged in narrow, isolated bars, and not connected along the shaft.
+While the flanks and under tail-coverts of <i>magna</i> are distinctly washed
+with buff, those of <i>neglecta</i> are white, very faintly tinged with buff,
+if at all. The yellow of the throat of the eastern form does not spread
+out laterally over the malar region, as does that of the western lark.
+All of which tends to prove that the two forms are distinct.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the spring of 1901 the writer took a trip to Oklahoma in the
+interest of bird-study, and found both kinds of meadow-larks extremely
+abundant and lavish of their melodies on the fertile prairies. He
+decided to carry on a little original investigation in the field of
+inquiry now under discussion. One day, in a draw of the prairie, he
+noticed a western meadow-lark which was unusually lyrical, having the
+skill of a past-master in the art of trilling and gurgling and fluting.
+Again and again I went to the place, on the same day and on different
+days, and invariably found the westerner there, perching on the fence or
+a weed-stem, and greeting me with his exultant lays. But, mark: no
+eastern lark ever intruded on his preserve. In other and more distant
+parts of the broad field the easterners were blowing their piccolos, but
+they did not encroach on the domain of the lyrical westerner, who, with
+his mate&mdash;now on her nest in the grass&mdash;had evidently jumped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> his claim
+and held it with a high hand. In many other places in Oklahoma and
+Kansas where both species dwell, I have noticed the same interesting
+fact&mdash;that in the breeding season each form selects a special precinct,
+into which the other form does not intrude. They perhaps put up some
+kind of trespass sign. These observations have all but convinced me that
+<i>S. magna</i> and <i>S. neglecta</i> are distinct species, and avoid getting
+mixed up in their family affairs.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is that all. While both forms dwell on the vast prairies of
+Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, yet, as you travel eastward, the western
+larks gradually diminish in number until at length they entirely
+disappear; whereas, if you journey westward, the precise opposite
+occurs. I have never heard <i>neglecta</i> east of the Missouri River,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> nor
+<i>magna</i> on the plains of Colorado. Therefore the conclusion is almost
+forced upon the observer that there are structural and organic
+differences between the two forms.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> He sometimes ventures, though sparingly, as far east as
+Illinois and Wisconsin; still my statement is true&mdash;I have never heard
+the western lark even in the bottoms and meadows of the broad valley
+east of the Missouri River, while, one spring morning, I did hear one of
+these birds fluting in the top of a cottonwood tree in my yard on the
+high western bluff of that stream.</p></div>
+
+<p>After the foregoing deductions had been reached, the writer bethought
+him of consulting Ridgway's Manual on the subject, and was gratified to
+find his views<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> corroborated by a footnote answering to an asterisk
+affixed to the name of the western lark:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Without much doubt a distinct species. The occurrence of both <i>S.
+neglecta</i> and <i>S. magna</i> together in many portions of the
+Mississippi Valley, each in its typical style (the ranges of the two
+overlapping, in fact, for a distance of several hundred miles),
+taken together with the excessive rarity of intermediate specimens
+and the universally attested radical difference in their notes, are
+facts wholly incompatible with the theory of their being merely
+geographical races of the same species." </p></div>
+
+<p>This has been a long <i>excursus</i>, and we must get back to our jaunt on
+the plain. While I was engaged in watching the birds already named, my
+ear was greeted by a loud, clear, bell-like call; and, on looking in the
+direction from which it came, I observed a bird hovering over a ploughed
+field not far away, and then descending with graceful, poising flight to
+the ground. It proved to be the Arkansas flycatcher, a large, elegant
+bird that is restricted to the West. I had never seen this species.
+Nothing like him is known in the East, the crested flycatcher being most
+nearly a copy of him, although the manners of the two birds are quite
+unlike. The body of the western bird is as large as that of the robin,
+and he must be considerably longer from tip of beak to tip of tail. He
+is a fine-looking fellow, presenting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> a handsome picture as he stands on
+a weed-stalk or a fence-post, his yellow jacket gleaming in the sun. He
+is the possessor of a clear, musical voice, and if he had the vocal
+organs of some of the oscines, he certainly would be one of the best
+feathered lyrists of America. Unfortunately he is able to do nothing but
+chirp and chatter, although he puts not a little music into his simple
+vocal exercises.</p>
+
+<p>It was surprising to note on how slender a weed-stalk so large a bird
+was able to perch. There being few trees and fences in this region, he
+has doubtless gained expertness through practice in the art of securing
+a foot-hold on the tops of the weed-stems. Some of the weeds on which he
+stood with perfect ease and grace were extremely lithe and flexible and
+almost devoid of branches.</p>
+
+<p>But what was the cause of this particular bird's intense solicitude? It
+was obvious there was a nest in the neighborhood. As I sought in the
+grass and weed-clumps, he uttered his piercing calls of protest and
+circled and hovered overhead like a red-winged blackbird. Suddenly the
+thought occurred to me that the flycatchers of my acquaintance do not
+nest on the ground, but on trees. I looked around, and, sure enough, in
+the shallow hollow below me stood a solitary willow tree not more than
+fifteen or twenty feet high, the only tree to be seen within a mile. And
+that lone tree on the plain was occupied by the flycatcher<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> and his mate
+for a nesting place. In a crotch the gray cottage was set, containing
+three callow babies and one beautifully mottled egg.</p>
+
+<p>In another fork of the same small tree a pair of kingbirds&mdash;the same
+species as our well-known eastern bee-martins&mdash;had built their nest, in
+the downy cup of which lay four eggs similarly decorated with brown
+spots. The birds now all circled overhead and joined in an earnest plea
+with me not to destroy their homes and little ones, and I hurriedly
+climbed down from the tree to relieve their agitation, stopping only a
+moment to examine the twine plaited into the felted nests of the
+kingbirds. The willow sapling contained also the nest of a turtle dove.</p>
+
+<p>"If there are three nests in this small tree, there may be a large
+number in the cluster of trees beyond the swell about a mile away," I
+mused, and forthwith made haste to go to the place indicated. I was not
+disappointed. Had the effort been made, I am sure two score of nests
+might have been found in these trees, for they were liberally decorated
+with bird cots and hammocks. Most of these were kingbirds' and Arkansas
+flycatchers' nests, but there were others as well. On one small limb
+there were four of the dangling nests of Bullock's orioles, one of them
+fresh, the rest more or less weather beaten, proving that this bird had
+been rearing broods here for a number of seasons.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Whose song was this ringing from one of the larger trees a little
+farther down the glade? I could scarcely believe the testimony of my
+ears and eyes, yet there could be no mistake&mdash;it was the vivacious
+mimicry of the mocking-bird, which had travelled far across the plain to
+this solitary clump of trees to find singing perches and a site for his
+nests. He piped his musical miscellany with as much good-cheer as if he
+were dwelling in the neighborhood of some embowered cottage in
+Dixie-land. In suitable localities on the plains of Colorado the mockers
+were found to be quite plentiful, but none were seen among the
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>A network of twigs and vines in one of the small willows afforded a
+support and partial covert for the nest of a pair of white-rumped
+shrikes. It contained six thickly speckled eggs, and was the first nest
+of this species I had ever found. The same hollow,&mdash;if so shallow a dip
+in the plain can be called a hollow,&mdash;was selected as the home of
+several pairs of red-winged and Brewer's blackbirds, which built their
+grassy cots in the low bushes of a slightly boggy spot, where a feeble
+spring oozed from the ground. It was a special pleasure to find a
+green-tailed towhee in the copse of the draw, for I had supposed that he
+always hugged close to the steep mountain sides.</p>
+
+<p>A walk before breakfast the next morning added several more avian
+species to my roll. To my surprise, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> pair of mountain bluebirds had
+chosen the village for their summer residence, and were building a nest
+in the coupler of a freight car standing on a side track. The domicile
+was almost completed, and I could not help feeling sorry for the pretty,
+innocent couple, at the thought that the car would soon be rolling
+hundreds of miles away, and all their loving toil would go for naught.
+Bluebirds had previously been seen at the timber-line among the
+mountains, and here was a pair forty miles out on the plain&mdash;quite a
+range for this species, both longitudinally and vertically.</p>
+
+<p>During the forenoon the following birds were observed: A family of
+juvenile Arkansas flycatchers, which were being fed by their parents; a
+half-dozen or more western grassfinches, trilling the same pensive tunes
+as their eastern half-brothers; a small, long-tailed sparrow, which I
+could not identify at the time, but which I now feel certain was
+Lincoln's sparrow; these, with a large marsh-harrier and a colony of
+cliff-swallows, completed my bird catalogue at this place. It may not be
+amiss to add that several jack-rabbits went skipping over the swells;
+that many families of prairie dogs were visited, and that a coyotte
+galloped lightly across the plain, stopping and looking back
+occasionally to see whether he were being pursued.</p>
+
+<p>It was no difficult task to study the birds on the plain. Having few
+hiding-places in a locality almost destitute<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> of trees and bushes, where
+even the grass was too short to afford a covert, they naturally felt
+little fear of man, and hence were easily approached. Their cousins
+residing in the mountains were, as a rule, provokingly wary. The number
+of birds that had pre-empted homesteads on the treeless wastes was
+indeed a gratifying surprise, and I went back to the mountains refreshed
+by the pleasant change my brief excursion upon the plains had afforded
+me.</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image105" name="image105"></a>
+   <a href="images/i105a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i105b.jpg"
+      alt="Coyotte"
+      title="Coyotte" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><i>Coyotte</i><br />
+   "<i>Looking back to see whether he were being pursued</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+<h2>A PRETTY HUMMER</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="A_PRETTY_HUMMER" id="A_PRETTY_HUMMER"></a>A PRETTY HUMMER</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+   <img src="images/i108b.jpg"
+      alt="W"
+      title="W" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Where do you suppose I got my first glimpse of the mite in feathers
+called the broad-tailed humming-bird? It was in a green bower in the
+Rocky Mountains in plain sight of the towering summit of Pike's Peak,
+which seemed almost to be standing guard over the place. Two brawling
+mountain brooks met here, and, joining their forces, went with increased
+speed and gurgle down the glades and gorges. As they sped through this
+ravine, they slightly overflowed their banks, making a boggy area of
+about an acre as green as green could be; and here amid the grass and
+bushes a number of birds found a pleasant summer home, among them the
+dainty hummer.</p>
+
+<p>From the snow-drifts, still to be seen in the sheltered gorges of Pike's
+Peak, the breezes would frequently blow down into the nook with a
+freshness that stimulated like wine with no danger of intoxicating; and
+it was no wonder that the white-crowned sparrows, Lincoln's sparrows,
+the robins and wrens, and several other species, found in this spot a
+pleasant place to live. One of the narrow valleys led directly up to the
+base of the massive cone of the Peak, its stream fed by the snow-fields
+shining in the sun. Going around by the valley of Seven Lakes, I had
+walked down from the summit, but nowhere had I seen the tiny hummer
+until I reached the green nook just described. Still, he sometimes
+ascends to an elevation of eleven thousand feet above the level of the
+sea.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>ONE OF THE SEVEN LAKES</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i><span class="smcap">Pike's Peak</span> shows dimly in the background, more plainly in the
+reflection. Viewed from the peak, the lakes sparkle like opaline gems in
+the sun. The waters are so clear that an inverted world is seen in their
+transparent depths. The valley is an elysium for many kinds of birds,
+most of them described in the text. The white-crowned sparrows love the
+shores of these beautiful lakes, which mirror the blithe forms of the
+birds. The pine forests of the mountain sides are vocal with the
+refrains of the hermit thrushes.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image110" name="image110"></a>
+   <a href="images/i110a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i110b.jpg"
+      alt="ONE OF THE SEVEN LAKES"
+      title="ONE OF THE SEVEN LAKES" />
+   </a>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>Our feathered dot is gorgeous with his metallic green upper parts,
+bordered on the tail with purplish black, his white or grayish under
+parts, and his gorget of purple which gleams in bright, varying tints in
+the sun. He closely resembles our common ruby-throated humming-bird,
+whose gorget is intense crimson instead of purple, and who does not
+venture into the Rocky Mountain region, but dwells exclusively in the
+eastern part of North America. It is a little strange that the eastern
+part of our country attracts only one species of the large hummer
+family, while the western portion, including the Rocky Mountain region,
+can boast of at least seventeen different kinds as summer residents or
+visitors.</p>
+
+<p>My attention was first directed to the broad-tailed hummer by seeing him
+darting about in the air with the swiftness of an arrow, sipping honey
+from the flower<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> cups, and then flying to the twigs of a dead tree that
+stood in the marsh. There he sat, turning his head this way and that,
+and watching me with his keen little eyes. It was plain he did not trust
+me, and therefore resented my presence. Though an unwelcome guest, I
+prolonged my call for several hours, during which I made many heroic but
+vain attempts to find his nest.</p>
+
+<p>But what was the meaning of a sharp, insect-like buzzing that fell at
+intervals on my ear? Presently I succeeded in tracing the sound to the
+hummer, which utters it whenever he darts from his perch and back again,
+especially if there is a spectator or a rival near at hand, for whom he
+seems in this way to express his contempt. It is a vocal sound, or, at
+least, it comes from his throat, and is much louder and sharper than the
+<i>susurrus</i> produced by the rapid movement of his wings. This I ascertain
+by hearing both the sounds at the same time.</p>
+
+<p>But the oddest prank which this hummer performs is to dart up in the
+air, and then down, almost striking a bush or a clump of grass at each
+descent, repeating this feat a number of times with a swiftness that the
+eye can scarcely follow. Having done this, he will swing up into the air
+so far that you can scarcely see him with the naked eye; the next moment
+he will drop into view, poise in mid-air seventy-five or a hundred feet
+above<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> your head, supporting himself by a swift motion of the wings, and
+simply hitching to right and left in short arcs, as if he were fixed on
+a pivot, sometimes meanwhile whirling clear around. There he hangs on
+his invisible axis until you grow tired watching him, and then he darts
+to his favorite perch on the dead tree.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt John Vance Cheney had in mind another species when he composed
+the following metrical description, but it aptly characterized the
+volatile broad-tail as well:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"Voyager on golden air,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Type of all that's fleet and fair,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Incarnate gem,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Live diadem,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Bird-beam of the summer day,&mdash;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Whither on your sunny way?<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr />
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">Stay, forget lost Paradise,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Star-bird fallen from happy skies."<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>After that first meeting the broad-tailed hummers were frequently seen
+in my rambles among the Rockies. In some places there were small
+colonies of them. They did not always dwell together in harmony, but
+often pursued one another like tiny furies, with a loud z-z-z-zip that
+meant defiance and war. The swiftness of their movements often excited
+my wonder, and it was difficult to see how they kept from impaling
+themselves on thorns or snags, so reckless were their lightning-like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
+passages through the bushes and trees. When four or five of them were
+found in one place, they would fairly thread the air with green and
+purple as they described their circles and loops and festoons with a
+rapidity that fairly made my head whirl. At one place several of them
+grew very bold, dashing at me or wheeling around my head, coming so
+close that I could hear the <i>susurrus</i> of their wings as well as the
+sharp, challenging buzz from their throats.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it would interest you to know where the rambler found these tiny
+hummers. They were never in the dark ca&ntilde;ons and gorges, nor in the
+ravines that were heavily wooded with pine, but in the open, sunshiny
+glades and valleys, where there were green grass and bright flowers. In
+the upper part of both North and South Cheyenne Ca&ntilde;ons they were
+plentiful, although they avoided the most scenic parts of these
+wonderful mountain gorges. Another place where they found a pleasant
+summer home was in a green pocket of the mountain above Red Cliff, a
+village on the western side of the great range. On descending the
+mountains to the town of Glenwood, I did not find them, and therefore am
+disposed to think that in the breeding season they do not choose to
+dwell in too low or too high an altitude, but seek suitable places at an
+elevation of from seven thousand to nine thousand feet.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span><i>SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Only a small portion of the peak is shown in the view. The
+comparatively level area referred to in the text lies back of the signal
+station on the crest. At a garbage heap near the building a flock of
+leucostictes were seen, and the writer was told that they came there
+regularly to feed. From this sublime height the American pipits rise on
+resilient wings hundreds of feet into the air until they disappear in
+the cerulean depths of the sky, singing all the while at "heaven's
+gate."</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image116" name="image116"></a>
+   <a href="images/i116a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i116b.jpg"
+      alt="SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK"
+      title="SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK" />
+   </a>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>One day, while staying at Buena Vista, Colorado, I hired a saddle-horse
+and rode to Cottonwood Lake, twelve miles away, among the rugged
+mountains. The valley is wide enough here to admit of a good deal of
+sunshine, and therefore flowers studded the ground in places. It was
+here I saw the only female broad-tailed hummer that was met with in my
+rambles in the Rockies. She was flitting among the flowers, and did not
+make the buzzing sound that the males produce wherever found. She was
+not clad so elegantly as were her masculine relatives, for the
+throat-patch was white instead of purple, and the green on her back did
+not gleam so brightly. But, oddly enough, her sides and under
+tail-coverts were stained with a rufous tint&mdash;a color that does not
+appear at all in the costume of the male.</p>
+
+<p>A curious habit of these hummers is worth describing. The males remain
+in the breeding haunts until the young are out of the nest and are
+beginning to be able to shift for themselves. Then the papas begin to
+disappear, and in about ten days all have gone, leaving the mothers and
+the youngsters to tarry about the summer home until the latter are
+strong enough to make the journey to some resort lower in the mountains
+or farther south. The reason the males do this is perhaps evident
+enough, for at a certain date the flowers upon whose sweets the birds
+largely subsist begin to grow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> scant, and so if they remained there
+would not be enough for all.</p>
+
+<p>In the San Francisco Mountains of Arizona, Doctor Merriam found the
+broad-tails very abundant in the balsam timber and the upper part of the
+pine belt, where they breed in the latter part of July; after which they
+remain in that region until the middle of September, even though the
+weather often becomes quite frosty at night. At break of day, in spite
+of the cold, they will gather in large flocks at some spring to drink
+and bathe. Doctor Merriam says about them at such times:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"They were like swarms of bees, buzzing about one's head and darting
+to and fro in every direction. The air was full of them. They would
+drop down to the water, dip their feet and bellies, and rise and
+shoot away as if propelled by an unseen power. They would often dart
+at the face of an intruder as if bent on piercing the eye with their
+needle-like bills, and then poise for a moment almost within reach
+before turning, when they were again lost in the busy throng.
+Whether this act was prompted by curiosity or resentment I was not
+able to ascertain." </p></div>
+
+<p>As has already been said, there is not always unruffled peace in the
+hummer family. Among the Rocky Mountains, and especially on the western
+side of the range, there dwells another little hummer called the rufous
+humming-bird, because the prevailing color of his plumage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> is reddish,
+and between this family and the broad-tails there exists a bitter feud.
+When, in the migrating season, a large number of both species gather
+together in a locality where there is a cluster of wild-flowers, the
+picture they make as they dart to and fro and bicker and fight for some
+choice blossom, their metallic colors flashing in the sun, is so
+brilliant as never to be forgotten by the spectator who is fortunate
+enough to witness it.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image119" name="image119"></a>
+   <a href="images/i119a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i119b.jpg"
+      alt="Pike's Peak in cloudland"
+      title="Pike's Peak in cloudland" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption">"<i>Pike's Peak in cloudland</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p>
+<h2>OVER THE DIVIDE AND BACK</h2>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="OVER_THE_DIVIDE_AND_BACK" id="OVER_THE_DIVIDE_AND_BACK"></a>OVER THE DIVIDE AND BACK</p>
+
+
+<p>One June day a Denver &amp; Rio Grande train bore the bird-lover from
+Colorado Springs to Pueblo, thence westward to the mountains, up the
+Grand Ca&ntilde;on of the Arkansas River, through the Royal Gorge, past the
+smiling, sunshiny upper mountain valleys, over the Divide at Tennessee
+Pass, and then down the western slopes to the next stopping-place, which
+was Red Cliff, a village nestling in a deep mountain ravine at the
+junction of Eagle River and Turkey Creek. The following day, a little
+after "peep o' dawn," I was out on the street, and was impressed by a
+song coming from the trees on the acclivity above the village. "Surely
+that is a new song," I said to myself; "and yet it seems to have a
+familiar air." A few minutes of hard climbing brought me near enough to
+get my glass on the little lyrist, and then I found it was only the
+house-wren! "How could you be led astray by so familiar a song?" you
+inquire. Well, that is the humiliating part of the incident, for I have
+been listening to the house-wren's gurgling sonata for some twenty
+years&mdash;rather more than less&mdash;and should have recognized it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> at once;
+only it must be remembered that I was in a strange place, and had my
+ears and eyes set for avian rarities, and therefore blundered.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> On this incident I quote a personal note from my friend,
+Mr. Aiken: "The wren of the Rockies is the western house-wren, but is
+the same form as that found in the Mississippi Valley. It is quite
+possible that a difference in song may occur, but I have not noticed
+any."</p></div>
+
+<div class="floatl">
+   <a id="image123" name="image123"></a>
+   <a href="images/i123a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i123b.jpg"
+      alt="Cliff-Swallows"
+      title="Cliff-Swallows" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><i>Cliff-Swallows</i><br />
+   "<i>On the rugged face of a cliff</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>To my surprise, I found many birds on those steep mountain sides, which
+were quite well timbered. Above the village a colony of cliff-swallows
+had a nesting place on the rugged face of a cliff, and were soaring
+about catching insects and attending to the wants of their greedy young.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the species named, I here found warbling vireos, broad-tailed
+humming-birds, western<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> nighthawks, ruby-crowned kinglets, magpies,
+summer warblers, mountain chickadees, western wood-pewees, Louisiana
+tanagers, long-crested jays, kingfishers, gray-headed juncos,
+red-shafted flickers, pygmy nuthatches, house-finches, mountain jays,
+and Clarke's nutcrackers. The only species noted here that had not
+previously been seen east of the Divide was the pygmy nuthatch, a little
+bird which scales the trunks and branches of trees like all his family,
+but which is restricted to the Rocky Mountains. Like the white-breasted
+nuthatch, he utters an alto call, "Yang! yang! yang!" only it is soft
+and low&mdash;a miniature edition of the call of its eastern relative.</p>
+
+<p>A mountain chickadee's nest was also found, and here I heard for the
+first time one of these birds sing. Its performance was quite an
+affecting little minor whistle, usually composed of four distinct notes,
+though sometimes the vocalist contented himself with a song of two or
+three syllables. The ordinary run might be represented phonetically in
+this way, "Phee, ph-e-e-e, phe-phe," with the chief emphasis on the
+second syllable, which is considerably prolonged. The song is quite
+different from that of the black-capped chickadee both in the intoning
+and the technical arrangement, while it does not run so high in the
+scale, nor does it impress me as being quite so much of a minor strain,
+if such a distinction can be made in music. Both<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> birds' tunes, however,
+have the character of being whistled.</p>
+
+<p>Glenwood is a charming summer resort in Colorado on the western side of
+the Rocky Mountain range, and can be reached by both the Denver &amp; Rio
+Grande and the Colorado Midland Railways. Beautifully situated in an
+open mountain valley, it possesses many attractions in the way of
+natural scenery, while the cool breezes blow down from the snow-mantled
+ranges gleaming in the distance, and the medicinal springs draw many
+tourists in search of health and recuperation.</p>
+
+<p>My purpose, however, in visiting this idyllic spot&mdash;I went there from
+Red Cliff&mdash;was not primarily to view the scenery, nor to make use of the
+healing waters, but to gratify my thirst for bird-lore. Having spent
+some weeks in observing the avi-fauna east of the range, I had a
+curiosity to know something of bird life west of the great chain of
+alpine heights, and therefore I selected Glenwood as a fertile field in
+which to carry on some investigations. While my stay at this resort was
+all too short, it was of sufficient length to put me in possession of a
+number of facts that may prove to be of general interest.</p>
+
+<p>For one thing I learned, somewhat to my surprise, that the avian fauna
+on both sides of the Divide is much the same. Indeed, with one
+exception&mdash;to be noted more at length hereafter&mdash;I found no birds on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>
+the western side that I had not previously seen on the eastern side,
+although a longer and minuter examination would undoubtedly have
+resulted in the discovery of a few species that are peculiar to the
+regions beyond the range. In the extreme western and southwestern
+portions of Colorado there are quite a number of species that are seldom
+or never seen in the eastern part of the State. However, keeping to the
+mountainous districts, and given the same altitude and other conditions,
+you will be likely to find the same kinds of feathered folk on both
+sides of the range. A few concrete cases will make this statement clear.
+The elevation of Glenwood is five thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight
+feet; that of Colorado Springs, five thousand nine hundred and
+ninety-two feet; and the climatic conditions otherwise are practically
+the same. Hence at both places the following species were found: Lazuli
+buntings, Arkansas goldfinches, American goldfinches, western
+wood-pewees, Arkansas kingbirds, Bullock's orioles, grassfinches, and
+catbirds. At the same time there were a number of species in both
+localities that have a more extensive vertical range, as, for example,
+the western robins, which were seen in many places from the bases of the
+mountains up to the timber-line, over eleven thousand five hundred feet
+above sea-level.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span><i>ROYAL GORGE</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the Grand Ca&ntilde;on of the Arkansas River. In ca&ntilde;ons like this, their
+walls rising almost vertically from one thousand to fifteen hundred
+feet, few birds are to be seen. Occasionally a dove will fly from one
+side of the gorge to the other before the scurrying train. From below a
+magpie or a Clark's crow may sometimes be seen flying overhead across
+the fearful chasm from one wall to the other, turning its head at
+intervals as if to inspect and question the spectator over a thousand
+feet below.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image128" name="image128"></a>
+   <a href="images/i128a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i128b.jpg"
+      alt="ROYAL GORGE"
+      title="ROYAL GORGE" />
+   </a>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>The presence of practically the same avian fauna on both sides of the
+great range suggests some speculations as to their movements in the
+migrating season. Do those on the western side of the mountains travel
+over the towering summits from the eastern plains? Or do they come up
+from their southern winter homes by way of the valleys and plains west
+of the range? Undoubtedly the latter is the correct surmise, for there
+were birds at Glenwood that are never known to ascend far into the
+mountains, and should they attempt to cross the Divide in the early
+spring, they would surely perish in the intense cold of those elevated
+regions, where snow often falls even in June, July, and August. One can
+easily imagine some of the eastern and western residents meeting in the
+autumn on the plains at the southern extremity of the mountain range,
+dwelling together in some southern locality throughout the winter, and
+then, when spring approaches, taking their separate routes, part going
+east and part west of the range, for their breeding haunts in the North.
+More than likely they do not meet again until the following autumn.
+There are individuals, doubtless, that never catch a glimpse of the
+western side of the great American watershed, while others are deprived
+of the privilege of looking upon the majestic panoramas of the eastern
+side.</p>
+
+<p>What has just been said applies, of course, only to those species that
+prefer to dwell in the lower altitudes. There are other species that
+find habitats to their taste<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> in the most elevated localities, ranging
+at will in the summer time over the bald summits in the regions of
+perpetual snow. Among these may be mentioned the brown-capped
+leucostictes, the American pipits, the ravens, and Brewer's blackbirds.
+These species will often have the privilege of looking upon the scenery
+on both sides of the range, and you and I can scarcely repress a feeling
+of envy when we think of their happy freedom, and their frequent
+opportunities to go sightseeing.</p>
+
+<p>While taking an early morning stroll along one of the streets of
+Glenwood, I caught sight of a new member of the ph&oelig;be family, its
+reddish breast and sides differentiating it from the familiar ph&oelig;be
+of the East. Afterwards I identified it as Say's ph&oelig;be, a distinctly
+western species. Its habits are like those of its eastern relative. A
+pair of Say's ph&oelig;bes had placed their nest on a beam of a veranda,
+near the roof, where they could be seen carrying food to their young. My
+notes say nothing of their singing a tune or even uttering a chirp. This
+was my first observation of Say's ph&oelig;be, although, as will be seen, I
+subsequently saw one under somewhat peculiar circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>Having spent all the time I could spare at Glenwood, one morning I
+boarded the eastward-bound train, and was soon whirling up through the
+sublime ca&ntilde;ons of Grand and Eagle Rivers, keeping on the alert for such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>
+birds as I could see from the car-window. Few birds, as has been said,
+can be seen in the dark gorges of the mountains, the species that are
+most frequently descried being the turtle doves, with now and then a
+small flock of blackbirds. The open, sunlit valleys of the upper
+mountains, watered by the brawling streams, are much more to the liking
+of many birds, especially the mountain song-sparrows, the white-crowned
+sparrows, the green-tailed towhees, and Audubon's and Wilson's warblers.
+Up, up, for many miles the double-headed train crept, tooting and
+puffing hard, until at length it reached the highest point on the route,
+which is Tennessee Pass, through the tunnel of which it swept with a
+sullen roar, issuing into daylight on the eastern side, where the waters
+of the streams flow eastward instead of westward. The elevation of this
+tunnel is ten thousand four hundred and eighteen feet, which is still
+about a thousand feet below the timber-line. A minute after emerging
+from the tunnel's mouth I caught sight of a red-shafted flicker which
+went bolting across the narrow valley. The train swept down the valley
+for some miles, stopped long enough to have another engine coupled to
+the one that had brought us down from the tunnel, then wheeled to the
+left and began the ascent to the city of Leadville. This city is
+situated on a sloping plain on the mountain side, in full view of many
+bald mountain peaks whose gorges are filled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> with deep snow-drifts
+throughout the summer. For some purposes Leadville may be an exceedingly
+desirable city, but it has few attractions for the ornithologist. I took
+a long walk through a part of the city, and, whether you will believe it
+or not, I did not see a single bird outside of a cage, not even a
+house-finch or an English sparrow, nor did I see one tree in my entire
+stroll along the busy streets. The caged birds seen were a canary and a
+cardinal, and, oddly enough, both of them were singing, mayhap for very
+homesickness.</p>
+
+<p>Why should a bird student tarry here? What was there to keep him in a
+birdless place like this? I decided to leave at once, and so, checking
+my baggage through to Buena Vista, I started afoot down the mountain
+side, determined to walk to Malta, a station five miles below, observing
+the birds along the way. Not a feathered lilter was seen until I had
+gone about a mile from Leadville, when a disconsolate robin appeared
+among some scraggy pine bushes, not uttering so much as a chirp by way
+of greeting.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later I heard a vigorous and musical chirping in the pine
+bushes, and, turning aside, found a flock of small, finch-like birds.
+They flitted about so rapidly that it was impossible to get a good view
+of them with my glasses; but such glimpses as I obtained revealed a
+prevailing grayish, streaked with some darker<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> color, while a glint of
+yellow in their wings and tails was displayed as the birds flew from
+bush to bush. When the wings were spread, a narrow bar of yellow or
+whitish-yellow seemed to stretch across them lengthwise, giving them a
+gauzy appearance. The birds remained together in a more or less compact
+flock. They uttered a loud, clear chirp that was almost musical, and
+also piped a quaint trill that was almost as low and harsh as that of
+the little clay-colored sparrow, although occasionally one would lift
+his voice to a much higher pitch. What were these tenants of the dry and
+piney mountain side? They were pine siskins, which I had ample
+opportunity to study in my rambles among the mountains in 1901.</p>
+
+<div class="floatl">
+   <a id="image133" name="image133"></a>
+   <a href="images/i133a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i133b.jpg"
+        alt="Pine Siskins"
+        title="Pine Siskins" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Pine Siskins</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A mile farther down, a lone mountain bluebird appeared in sight, perched
+on a gray stump on the gray hillside, and keeping as silent as if it
+were a crime in bluebird-land to utter a sound. This bird's breeding
+range extends from the plains to the timber-line;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> and he dwells on both
+sides of the mountains, for I met with him at Glenwood. About a half
+mile above Malta a western nighthawk was seen, hurtling in his
+eccentric, zigzag flight overhead, uttering his strident call, and
+"hawking for flies," as White of Selborne would phrase it. A western
+grassfinch flew over to some bushes with a morsel in its bill, but I
+could not discover its nest or young, search as I would. Afterwards it
+perched on a telegraph wire and poured out its evening voluntary, which
+was the precise duplicate of the trills of the grassfinches of eastern
+North America. There seems to be only a slight difference between the
+eastern and western forms of these birds, so slight, indeed, that they
+can be distinguished only by having the birds in hand.</p>
+
+<p>Turtle doves were also plentiful in the valley above Malta, as they were
+in most suitable localities. Here were also several western robins, one
+of which saluted me with a cheerful carol, whose tone and syllabling
+were exactly like those of the merry redbreast of our Eastern States. I
+was delighted to find the sweet-voiced white-crowned sparrows tenants of
+this valley, although they were not so abundant here as they had been a
+little over a week before in the hollows below the summit of Pike's
+Peak. But what was the bird which was singing so blithely a short
+distance up the slope? He remained hidden until I drew near, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> he
+ran off on the ground like a frightened doe, and was soon ensconced in a
+sage bush. Note his chestnut crest and greenish back. This is the
+green-tailed towhee. He is one of the finest vocalists of the Rocky
+Mountains, his tones being strong and well modulated, his execution
+almost perfect as to technique, and his entire song characterized by a
+quality that might be defined as human expressiveness.</p>
+
+<p>A pair of western chipping sparrows were feeding their young in one of
+the sage bushes. I hoped to find a nest, but my quest simply proved that
+the bantlings had already left their nurseries. It was some
+satisfaction, however, to establish the fact at first hand that the
+western chipping sparrows breed at an elevation of nine thousand five
+hundred and eighty feet above sea-level.</p>
+
+<p>While strolling about a short distance above the town, I discovered an
+underground passage leading to some of the factories, or perhaps the
+smelting works, a few miles farther up the valley. The over-arching
+ground and timbers forming the roof were broken through at various
+places, making convenient openings for the unwary pedestrian to tumble
+through should he venture to stroll about here by night. Suddenly a
+little broad-shouldered bird appeared from some mysterious quarter, and
+flitted silently about from bush to bush or from one tussock of grass to
+another. To my surprise, he presently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> dropped into one of the openings
+of the subterranean passage, disappeared for a few moments, and then
+emerged from another opening a little farther away. The bird&mdash;let me say
+at once&mdash;was Say's ph&oelig;be, with which, as previously told, I made
+acquaintance at Glenwood. He may be recognized by the reddish or
+cinnamon-brown cast of his abdomen and sides. Again and again he darted
+into the passage, perhaps to make sure that his bairns had not been
+kidnapped, and then came up to keep a vigilant eye on his visitor, whom
+he was not wholly disposed to trust. I am not sure that there was a nest
+in the subterranean passage, as my time was too short to look for it.
+Others may not regard it as an important ornithological discovery, and I
+do not pretend that it was epoch-making, but to me it was at least
+interesting to find this species, which was new to me, dwelling at an
+elevation of five thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight feet on the
+western side of the range, and on the eastern side at an elevation of
+nine thousand five hundred and eighty feet. Nowhere else in my
+peregrinations among the Rockies did I so much as catch a glimpse of
+Say's ph&oelig;be.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> In 1901 this bird was seen by me in South Park, and its
+quaint whistle was heard,&mdash;it says <i>Phe-by</i>, but its tone and expression
+are different from those of its eastern relative. See the chapter
+entitled "Pleasant Outings."</p></div>
+
+<p>With the exception of some swallows circling about in the air, I saw no
+other birds during my brief stay at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> Malta. I was sorely disappointed in
+not being able to find accommodation at this place, for it had been my
+intention to remain here for the night, and walk the next day to a
+station called Granite, some seventeen miles farther down the valley,
+making observations on bird life in the region by the way. To this day I
+regret that my calculations went "agley"; but I was told that
+accommodation was not to be secured at Malta "for love or money," and so
+I shook the dust from my feet, and boarded an evening train for my next
+stopping-place, which was Buena Vista.</p>
+
+<p>The elevation of this beautiful mountain town is seven thousand nine
+hundred and sixty-seven feet. It nestles amid cottonwood trees and green
+meadows in a wide valley or park, and is flanked on the east by the
+rolling and roaring Arkansas River, while to the west the plain slopes
+up gradually to the foothills of the three towering college
+peaks,&mdash;Harvard, Yale, and Princeton,&mdash;crowned all the year with snow.
+And here were birds in plenty. Before daybreak the avian concert began
+with the shrieking of the western wood-pewees&mdash;a vocal performance that
+they, in their innocence, seriously mistake for melody&mdash;and continued
+until night had again settled on the vale. In this place I spent three
+or four days, giving myself up to my favorite study and pastime, and a
+list of all the birds that I saw in the neighborhood would surprise the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>
+reader. However, a mere catalogue would be of slight interest, I
+apprehend, and therefore mention will be made only of those species
+which I had not seen elsewhere, passing by such familiar feathered folk
+as the Arkansas goldfinches, catbirds, western meadow-larks, Brewer's
+blackbirds, house-finches, green-tailed towhees, magpies, long-crested
+jays, summer warblers, and many others, begging their pardon, of course,
+for paying them such scant courtesy.</p>
+
+<p>Early on a bright morning I was following one of the streets of the
+village, when, on reaching the suburbs, I was greeted by a blithe,
+dulcet trill which could come from no other vocalist than the
+song-sparrow. His tones and vocalization were precisely like those of
+<i>Melospiza fasciata</i>, to which I have so often listened in my native
+State of Ohio. It was a dulcet strain, and stirred memories half sad,
+half glad, of many a charming ramble about my eastern home when the
+song-sparrows were the chief choralists in the outdoor opera festival.
+Peering into the bushes that fringed the gurgling mountain brook, I soon
+caught sight of the little triller, and found that, so far as I could
+distinguish them with my field-glass, his markings were just like those
+of his eastern relative&mdash;the same mottled breast, with the large dusky
+blotch in the centre.</p>
+
+<p>Delighted as I was with the bird's aria, I could not decide whether this
+was the common song-sparrow or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> the mountain song-sparrow. Something
+over a week earlier I had seen what I took to be the mountain
+song-sparrow in a green nook below the summit of Pike's Peak, and had
+noted his trill as a rather shabby performance in comparison with the
+tinkling chansons of the song-sparrow of the East. Had I mistaken some
+other bird for the mountain song-sparrow? Or was the Buena Vista bird
+the common song-sparrow which had gone entirely beyond its Colorado
+range? Consulting Professor W. W. Cooke's list of Colorado birds, I
+found that <i>Melospiza fasciata</i> is marked "migratory, rare," and has
+been known thus far only in the extreme eastern part of the State;
+whereas <i>Melospiza fasciata montana</i> is a summer resident, "common
+throughout the State in migration, and not uncommon as a breeder from
+the plains to eight thousand feet."</p>
+
+<p>But Professor Cooke fails to give a clue to the song of either variety,
+and therefore my little problem remains unsolved, as I could not think
+of taking the life of a dulcet-voiced bird merely to discover whether it
+should have "<i>montana</i>" affixed to its scientific name or not. All I can
+say is, if this soloist was a mountain song-sparrow, he reproduced
+exactly the trills of his half-brothers of the East.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> On the morning
+of my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> departure from Buena Vista another song-sparrow sang his matins,
+in loud, clear tones among the bushes of a stream that flowed through
+the town, ringing quite a number of changes in his tune, all of them
+familiar to my ear from long acquaintance with the eastern forms of the
+<i>Melospiza</i> subfamily.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The problem has since been solved, through the aid of Mr.
+Aiken. The Buena Vista bird was <i>montana</i>, while the bird in the Pike's
+Peak hollow was Lincoln's sparrow.</p></div>
+
+<p>How well I recall a rainy afternoon during my stay at Buena Vista! The
+rain was not so much of a downpour as to drive me indoors, although it
+made rambling in the bushes somewhat unpleasant. What was this haunting
+song that rose from a thick copse fringing one of the babbling mountain
+brooks? It mingled sweetly with the patter of the rain upon the leaves.
+Surely it was the song of the veery thrush! The same rich, melodious
+strain, sounding as if it were blown through a wind-harp, setting all
+the strings a-tune at the same time. Too long and closely had I studied
+the veery's minstrelsy in his summer haunts in northern Minnesota to be
+deceived now&mdash;unless, indeed, this fertile avian region produced another
+thrush which whistled precisely the same tune. The bird's alarm-call was
+also like that of the veery. The few glimpses he permitted of his
+flitting, shadowy form convinced me that he must be a veery, and so I
+entered him in my note-book.</p>
+
+<div class="floatl">
+   <a id="image141" name="image141"></a>
+   <a href="images/i141a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i141b.jpg"
+        alt="Willow Thrush"
+        title="Willow Thrush" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Willow Thrush</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But on looking up the matter&mdash;for the bird student must aim at
+accuracy&mdash;what was my surprise to find that the Colorado ornithologists
+have decided that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> veery thrush is not a resident of the State, nor
+even an occasional visitor! Of course I could not set up my judgment
+against that of those scientific gentlemen. But what could this minstrel
+be? I wrote to my friend, Mr. Charles E. Aiken, of Colorado Springs, who
+replied that the bird was undoubtedly the willow thrush, which is the
+western representative of the veery. I am willing to abide by this
+decision, especially as Ridgway indicates in his Manual that there is
+very little difference in the coloration of the two varieties. One more
+mile-post had been passed in my never-ending ornithological journey&mdash;I
+had learned for myself and others that the willow thrush of the Rockies
+and the veery of our Eastern and Middle States have practically the same
+musical repertory, and nowhere in the East or the West is sweeter and
+more haunting avian minstrelsy to be heard, if only it did not give one
+that sad feeling which Heine calls <i>Heimweh</i>!</p>
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p>
+<h2>A ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAKE</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image145" name="image145"></a>
+   <a href="images/i145a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i145b.jpg"
+      alt="Lark Bunting"
+      title="Lark Bunting" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate</span> IV<br />
+   <span class="smcap">Lark Bunting</span>&mdash;<i>Calamospiza melanocorys</i><br />
+   (Upper figure, male; lower, female)</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="A_ROCKY_MOUNTAIN_LAKE" id="A_ROCKY_MOUNTAIN_LAKE"></a>A ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAKE</p>
+
+
+<p>"You will find a small lake just about a mile from town. Follow the road
+leading out this way"&mdash;indicating the direction&mdash;"until you come to a
+red gate. The lake is private property, but you can go right in, as you
+don't shoot. No one will drive you out. I think you will find it an
+interesting place for bird study."</p>
+
+<div class="floatr">
+   <a id="image146" name="image146"></a>
+   <a href="images/i146a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i146b.jpg"
+        alt="Brewer's Blackbirds"
+        title="Brewer's Blackbirds" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Brewer's Blackbirds</i><br />
+    "<i>An interesting place for bird study</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The foregoing is what my landlord told me one morning at Buena Vista.
+Nor did I waste time in finding the way to the lake, a small sheet of
+water, as clear as crystal, embowered in the lovely park lying between
+towering, snow-clad mountains. One might almost call the spot a bird's
+Arcadia.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> In no place, in all my tramping among the Rockies, did I find
+so many birds in an equal area.</p>
+
+<p>In the green, irrigated meadow bordering one side of the sheet of water,
+I was pleased to find a number of Brewer's blackbirds busily gathering
+food in the wet grass for their young. And who or what are Brewer's
+blackbirds? In the East, the purple and bronzed grackles, or crow
+blackbirds, are found in great abundance; but in Colorado these birds
+are replaced by Brewer's blackbirds, which closely resemble their
+eastern kinsfolk, although not quite so large. The iridescence of the
+plumage is somewhat different in the two species, but in both the golden
+eye-balls show white at a distance. When I first saw a couple of
+Brewer's blackbirds stalking featly about on a lawn at Manitou, digging
+worms and grubs out of the sod, I simply put them down in my note-book
+as bronzed or purple grackles&mdash;an error that had to be corrected
+afterwards, on more careful examination. The mistake shows how close is
+the resemblance between the two species.</p>
+
+<p>The Brewer division of the family breed on the plains and in the
+mountains, to an altitude of ten thousand feet, always selecting marshy
+places for their early summer home; then in August and September, the
+breeding season over, large flocks of old and young ascend to the
+regions above the timber-line, about thirteen thousand feet above
+sea-level, where they swarm over the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> grassy but treeless mountain sides
+in search of food. In October they retire to the plains, in advance of
+the austere weather of the great altitudes, and soon the majority of
+them hie to a blander climate than Colorado affords in winter.</p>
+
+<p>Still more interesting to me was the large colony of yellow-headed
+blackbirds that had taken up their residence in the rushes and flags of
+the upper end of the lake. These birds are not such exclusive westerners
+as their ebon-hued cousins just described; for I found them breeding at
+Lake Minnetonka, near Minneapolis, Minnesota, a few years ago, and they
+sometimes straggle, I believe, as far east as Ohio. A most beautiful
+bird is this member of the <i>Icterid&aelig;</i> family, a kind of Beau Brummel
+among his fellows, with his glossy black coat and rich yellow&mdash;and even
+orange, in highest feather&mdash;mantle covering the whole head, neck, and
+breast, and a large white, decorative spot on the wings, showing plainly
+in flight. He is the handsomest blackbird with which I am acquainted.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of my visit to the lake, the latter part of June, the
+yellow-heads were busy feeding their young, many of which had already
+left the nest. From the shore, I could see dozens of them clinging to
+the reeds, several of which they would grasp with the claws of each
+foot, their little legs straddled far apart, the flexile rushes
+spreading out beneath their weight. There the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> youngsters perched,
+without seeming to feel any discomfort from their strained position. And
+what a racket they made when the parent birds returned from an excursion
+to distant meadows and lawns, with bill-some tidbits! They were
+certainly a hungry lot of bairns. When I waded out into the shallow
+water toward their rushy home, the old birds became quite uneasy,
+circling about above me like the red-wings, and uttering a harsh
+blackbird "chack," varied at intervals by a loud, and not unmusical,
+chirp.</p>
+
+<div class="floatl">
+   <a id="image149" name="image149"></a>
+   <a href="images/i149a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i149b.jpg"
+        alt="Yellow-Headed Blackbirds"
+        title="Yellow-Headed Blackbirds" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Yellow-Headed Blackbirds</i><br />
+    "<i>There the youngsters perched</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>You should see the nest of the yellow-head. It is really a fine
+structure, showing no small amount of artistic skill&mdash;a plaited cup,
+looking almost as if it had been woven by human hands, the rushes of the
+rim and sides folding the supporting reeds in their loops. Thus the nest
+and its reedy pillars are firmly bound together. I waded out to a clump
+of rushes and found one nest with three eggs in its softly felted
+cup&mdash;the promise, no doubt, of a belated, or possibly a second, brood.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This mountain lake was also the abode of a number of species of ducks,
+not all of which could be identified, on account of the distance they
+constantly put between themselves and the observer. Flocks of them
+floated like light, feathered craft upon the silvery bosom of the lake,
+now pursuing one another, now drifting lazily, now diving, and anon
+playing many attractive gambols.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most curious ducks I have ever seen was the ruddy duck,
+called in the scientific manuals <i>Erismatura rubida</i>. As I sat on a rock
+on the shore, watching the aquatic fowl, one of the male ruddy ducks,
+accompanied by three or four females, swam out from the reeds into an
+open space where I could see him plainly with my field-glass. A
+beautiful picture he presented, as he glided proudly about on the water,
+surrounded by his devoted harem. Imagine, if you can, how regal he must
+have appeared&mdash;his broad, flat bill, light blue, widening out at the
+commissure, and seeming to shade off into the large white cheeks, which
+looked like snowy puffballs on the sides of his head; his crown, black
+and tapering; his neck, back, and sides, a rich, glossy brownish-red;
+his lower parts, "silky, silvery white, 'watered' with dusky, yielding,
+gray undulations"; and his wing-coverts and jauntily perked-up tail,
+black. If that was not a picture worthy of an artist's brush I have
+never seen one in the outdoor world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>No less quaint was his conduct. That he was proud and self-conscious, no
+one seeing him could doubt; and it was just as plain from his
+consequential mien, that he was posing before his train of plainly clad
+wives, who, no doubt, looked upon him as the greatest "catch" of the
+lake. Unlike most ducks, in swimming this haughty major carries his head
+erect, and even bent backward at a sharp angle; and his short tail is
+cocked up and bent forward, so that his glossy back forms a graceful
+half-circle or more, and does not slope downward, as do the backs of
+most ducks on the water.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the odd gestures, this fellow's carried off the palm. He would
+draw his head up and back, then thrust it forward a few inches, extend
+his blue bill in a horizontal line, and at the same time emit a low,
+coarse squawk that I could barely hear. Oddly enough, all the females,
+staid as they were, imitated their liege lord's deportment. It was their
+way of protesting against my ill-bred intrusion into their demesne.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a second male came out into the open space, accompanied by a
+retinue of wives, and then a third emerged, similarly attended. With
+this there was a challenging among the rivals that was interesting to
+witness; they fairly strutted about on the water, now advancing, now
+retreating, and occasionally almost, but never quite, closing in combat.
+Sometimes one would pursue another for a rod or more, in a swift rush
+that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> would make the spray fly and cut a swath on the smooth bosom of
+the lake.</p>
+
+<p>Several coots now appeared on the scene. Between them and the ruddy
+ducks there seemed to be a feud of more or less intensity, each being on
+the offensive or the defensive as the exigencies of naval warfare
+demanded. Once I was moved to laughter as a coot made a fierce dash
+toward one of the ducks, and was almost upon her, and I thought she was
+destined to receive a severe trouncing, when she suddenly dodged her
+pursuer by diving. He just as suddenly gave up the chase, looking as if
+it were a case of "sour grapes," anyway.</p>
+
+<p>After watching the antics of these birds for a long time, I turned my
+attention to another pretty scene,&mdash;a pair of coots leading their family
+of eight or ten little ones out into the clear area from their
+hiding-place among the reeds, presenting a picture of unruffled domestic
+bliss. How sweet and innocent the little coots were! Instead of the
+black heads and necks of their parents, and the white bills and frontal
+bones, these parts were tinted with red, which appeared quite bright and
+gauze-like in the sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>The process of feeding the juvenile birds was interesting. The parents
+would swim about, then suddenly dip their heads into the water, or else
+dive clear under, coming up with slugs in their bills. Turning to the
+youngsters, which were always close upon their heels&mdash;or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> perhaps I
+would better say their tails&mdash;they would hold out their bills, when the
+little ones would swim up and pick off the toothsome morsel. It must not
+be supposed that the bantlings opened their mouths, as most young birds
+do, to receive the tidbits. No, indeed! That is not coot vogue. The
+little ones picked the insects from the sides of the papa's or mamma's
+beak, turning their own little heads cunningly to one side as they
+helped themselves to their luncheon.</p>
+
+<p>The other waterfowl of the lake acted in an ordinary way, and therefore
+need no description. It was strange, however, that this was the only
+lake seen in all my Rocky Mountain touring where I found waterfowl. At
+Seven Lakes, Moraine Lake, and others in the vicinity of Pike's Peak,
+not a duck, crane, or coot was to be seen; and the same was true of
+Cottonwood Lake, twelve miles from Buena Vista, right in the heart of
+the rugged mountains.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image153" name="image153"></a>
+   <a href="images/i153a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i153b.jpg"
+      alt="From their place among the reeds"
+      title="From their place among the reeds" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption">"<i>From their place among the reeds</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Two facts may account for the abundance of birds at the little lake near
+Buena Vista; first, here they were protected from gunners and pot
+hunters by the owner, whose residence commanded a full view of the whole
+area; and, second, large spaces of the upper end of the lake was thickly
+grown with flags and rushes, which were cut off from the shore by a
+watery space of considerable breadth. In this place these birds found
+coverts from enemies and suitable sites for their nests.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p>
+<h2>A BIRD MISCELLANY</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="A_BIRD_MISCELLANY" id="A_BIRD_MISCELLANY"></a>A BIRD MISCELLANY</p>
+
+
+<p>It shall be my purpose in this chapter to describe with more or less
+fulness a number of Rocky Mountain birds which have either not been
+mentioned in previous chapters or have received only casual attention.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching Colorado one is surprised to find none of our common blue
+jays which are so abundant in the Eastern and Middle States. In my
+numerous Rocky Mountain jaunts not one was seen. Yet this region does
+not need to go begging for jays, only they belong to different groups of
+the <i>Garrulin&aelig;</i> subfamily. The most abundant and conspicuous of these
+western forms are the long-crested jays, so called on account of the
+long tuft of black feathers adorning the occiput. This distinguishing
+mark is not like the firm pyramidal crest of the eastern jay, but is
+longer and narrower, and so flexible that it sways back and forth as the
+bird flits from branch to branch or takes a hop-skip-and-jump over the
+ground. Its owner can raise and lower it at will.</p>
+
+<p>The forehead of this jay is prettily sprinkled with white; his head and
+neck are black, in decided contrast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> with the umber-brown of the back;
+his rump and belly are pale blue, and his wings and tail are rich
+indigo-blue, somewhat iridescent and widely barred with black. Thus it
+will be seen that he has quite a different costume from that of our
+eastern jay, with his gaudy trimmings of white and black and purplish
+blue. The westerner cannot boast of <i>cristata's</i> dressy black collar,
+but otherwise he is more richly attired, although he may not be quite so
+showy.</p>
+
+<p>The long-crested jays have a wide range among the mountains, breeding
+from the base of the foothills to the timber-line, although their nests
+are not commonly found below an altitude of seven thousand feet. In many
+places from nine to eleven thousand feet up the acclivities of the
+mountains they were seen flitting among the pines or the quaking asps.
+Like their eastern relatives, some individuals seem to prefer the
+society of man, dwelling in the villages or in the vicinity of country
+homes, while others choose the most secluded and solitary localities for
+their habitat. The fact is, I rarely made an excursion anywhere without
+sooner or later discovering that these jays had pre-empted the place for
+feeding or breeding purposes, sometimes with loud objurgations bidding
+me be gone, and at other times making no to-do whatever over my
+intrusion. Perhaps the proximity or remoteness of their nests was the
+chief cause of this variableness in their behavior.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A pretty picture is one of these jays mounting from branch to branch
+around the stem of a pine tree, from the lower limbs to the top, as if
+he were ascending a spiral staircase. This seems to be one of their
+regulation habits when they find themselves under inspection. If you
+intrude on their domestic precincts, their cry is quite harsh, and bears
+no resemblance to the quaint calls of the eastern jays; nor does the
+plaintive note of the eastern representative, so frequently heard in the
+autumnal woods, ever issue from any of the numerous jay throats of the
+West.</p>
+
+<p>Far be it from me to blacken the reputation of any bird, but there is at
+least circumstantial evidence that the long-crested jay, like his
+eastern cousin, is a nest robber; for such birds as robins, tanagers,
+flycatchers, and vireos make war upon him whenever he comes within their
+breeding districts, and this would indicate that they are only too well
+aware of his predatory habits. More than that, he has the sly and
+stealthy manners of the sneak-thief and the brigand. Of course, he is by
+no means an unmixed evil, for you will often see him leaping about on
+the lawns, capturing beetles and worms which would surely be injurious
+to vegetation if allowed to live and multiply.</p>
+
+<p>There are other jays in the Rockies that deserve attention. The Rocky
+Mountain jay&mdash;<i>Perisoneus canadensis capitalis</i>&mdash;is a bird of the higher
+altitudes, remaining<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> near the timber-line all the year round, braving
+the most rigorous weather and the fiercest mountain storms during the
+winter. Although not an attractive species, his hardiness invests him
+with not a little interest. One can imagine him seeking a covert in the
+dense pineries when a storm sweeps down from the bald, snow-mantled
+summits, squawking his disapproval of the ferocity of old Boreas, and
+yet able to resist his most violent onsets.</p>
+
+<div class="floatl">
+   <a id="image159" name="image159"></a>
+   <a href="images/i159a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i159b.jpg"
+        alt="The Rocky Mountain Jay"
+        title="The Rocky Mountain Jay" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>The Rocky Mountain Jay</i><br />
+    "<i>Seeking a covert in the dense pineries<br />when a storm sweeps down<br />from
+the mountains</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Early in April, at an altitude of from eight thousand to eleven thousand
+five hundred feet, these jays begin to breed. At that height this is
+long before the snow ceases to fall; indeed, on the twentieth of June,
+while making the descent from Pike's Peak, I was caught in a snowfall
+that gave the ground quite a frosty aspect for a few minutes. One can
+readily fancy, therefore, that the nests of these birds are often
+surrounded with snow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>, and that the bantlings may get their first view
+of the world in the swirl of a snow-squall. The nests are built in pine
+bushes and trees at various distances from the ground. Of all the
+hurly-burlies ever heard, that which these birds are able to make when
+you go near their nests, or discover them, bears off the palm, their
+voices being as raucous as a buzz-saw, fairly setting your teeth on
+edge.</p>
+
+<p>Those of us who live in the East are so accustomed to the adjective
+"blue" in connection with the jay that we are surprised to find that <i>P.
+c. capitalis</i> wears no blue whatever, but dons a sombre suit of leaden
+gray, somewhat relieved by the blackish shade of the wings and tail,
+with their silvery or frosted lustre. He is certainly not an attractive
+bird, either in dress or in form, for he appears very "thick-headed" and
+lumpish, as if he scarcely knew enough to seek shelter in a time of
+storm; but, of course, a bird that contrives to coax a livelihood out of
+such unpromising surroundings must possess a fine degree of
+intelligence, and, therefore, cannot be so much of a dullard as his
+appearance would indicate.</p>
+
+<p>He has some interesting ways, too, as will be seen from the following
+quotation from a Colorado writer: "White-headed, grave, and sedate, he
+seems a very paragon of propriety, and if you appear to be a suitable
+personage, he will be apt to give you a bit of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> advice. Becoming
+confidential, he sputters out a lot of nonsense which causes you to
+think him a veritable 'whiskey Jack.' Yet, whenever he is disposed, a
+more bland, mind-your-own-business appearing bird will be hard to find;
+as will also many small articles around camp after one of his visits,
+for his whimsical brain has a great fancy for anything which may be
+valuable to you, but perfectly useless to himself." This habit of
+purloining has won him the title of "camp robber" among the people of
+the Rocky Mountains.</p>
+
+<p>Woodhouse's jay, also peculiar to the Rocky Mountain region, is mostly
+to be found along the base of the foothills and the lower wooded
+mountains. While he may be called a "blue" jay, having more of that
+color in his plumage than even the long-crested, he belongs to the
+<i>Aphelcoma</i> group&mdash;that is, he is without a crest.</p>
+
+<p>Every observer of eastern feathered folk is familiar with our "little
+boy blue," the indigo-bird, whose song is such a rollicking and saucy
+air, making you feel as if the little lyrist were chaffing you. In
+Colorado, however, you do not meet this animated chunk of blue, but
+another little bird that belongs to the same group, called the "painted
+finches," although their plumes are not painted any more than those of
+other species. This bird is the lazuli bunting. He wears a great deal of
+blue, but it is azure, and not indigo, covering the head, neck, most of
+the upper parts, and the lining of the wings;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> and, as if to give
+variety to the bird's attire, the nape and back are prettily shaded with
+brown, and the wings and tail with black. But his plumage is still more
+variegated, for he bears a conspicuous white spot on the greater
+wing-coverts, and his breast is daintily tinted with chestnut-brown,
+abruptly cut off from the blue of the throat, while the remaining under
+parts are snowy white. From this description it will be seen that he is
+quite unlike the indigo-bird, which has no brown or white in his
+cerulean attire. Handsome as Master Indigo is, the lazuli finch, with
+his sextet of hues, is a more showily dressed bird; in fact, a lyric in
+colors.</p>
+
+<p>The habits of the two birds are quite similar. However, the lazuli
+seemed to be much shyer than his relative, for the latter is a familiar
+figure at the border of our eastern woodlands, about our country homes,
+and even in the neighborhood of our town dwellings, when there are
+bushes and trees close at hand. My saunterings among the mountains took
+me into the haunts of the lazulis, but I regret to have to confess that
+all my alertness was of so little avail that I saw only three males and
+one female. One day, while rambling among the cottonwoods that broidered
+the creek flowing south of Colorado Springs, I was brought to a
+standstill by a sharp chirp, and the next moment a pair of lazulis
+appeared on the lower branches and twigs of a tree. There they sat quiet
+enough, watching me keenly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> but allowing me to peer at them at will
+with my field-glass. I could not understand why birds that otherwise
+were so shy should now permit a prolonged inspection and manifest so
+little anxiety; but perhaps they reasoned that they had been discovered
+anyway, and there was no need of pretending that no lazulis dwelt in the
+neighborhood. How elegant the little husband looked in his variegated
+attire! The wife was soberly clad in warm brown, slightly streaked with
+dusk, but she was trig and pretty and worthy of her more richly
+apparelled spouse. In the bushes below I found a well-made nest, which I
+felt morally certain belonged to the little couple that was keeping such
+faithful surveillance over it. As yet it contained no eggs.</p>
+
+<p>In order to make certainty doubly sure, I visited the place a week or so
+later, and found that my previous conclusion had been correct. I flushed
+the little madame from the nest, and saw her flit with a chirp to the
+twigs above, where she sat quietly watching her visitor, exhibiting no
+uneasiness whatever about her cot in the bushes with its three precious
+eggs. It was pleasing to note the calmness and dignity with which she
+regarded me. But where was that important personage, the little husband?
+He was nowhere to be seen, although I lingered about the charmed spot
+for over two hours, hoping to get at least a glimpse of him. A friend,
+who understands the sly ways of the lazulis, suggested that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> very likely
+the male was watching me narrowly all the while from a safe hiding-place
+in the dense foliage of some tree not far away.</p>
+
+<p>My friend told me that I would not be able to distinguish the song of
+the lazuli from those of the summer and mountain warblers. We shall see
+whether he was right. One evening I was searching for a couple of blue
+grosbeaks at the border of Colorado Springs, where I had previously seen
+them, when a loud, somewhat percussive song, much like the summer
+warbler's, burst on my ear, coming from a clump of willow bushes hard by
+the stream. At once I said to myself, "That is not the summer warbler's
+trill. It resembles the challenging song of the indigo-bird, only it is
+not quite so loud and defiant. A lazuli finch's song, or I am sadly
+astray! Let me settle the question now."</p>
+
+<p>I did settle it to my great satisfaction, for, after no little effort, I
+succeeded in obtaining a plain view of the elusive little lyrist, and,
+sure enough, it proved to be the lazuli finch. Metaphorically I patted
+myself with a great deal of self-complacency, as I muttered: "The idea
+of Mr. Aiken's thinking I had so little discrimination! I know that
+hereafter I shall be able to detect the lazuli's peculiar intonations
+every time." So I walked home in a very self-confident frame of mind. A
+few days later I heard another song lilting down from the upper branches
+of a small tree. "Surely that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> is the lazuli again," I muttered. "I know
+that voice." For a while I eyed the tree, and presently caught sight of
+the little triller, and behold, it was&mdash;a summer warbler! All my
+self-complacency vanished in a moment; I wasn't cock-sure of anything;
+and I am obliged to confess that I was led astray in a similar manner
+more than once afterward. It may indicate an odd psychological condition
+to make the claim; but, absurd or not, I am disposed to believe that,
+whenever I really heard the lazuli, I was able to recognize his song
+with a fair degree of certainty, but when I heard the summer warbler I
+was thrown into more or less confusion, not being quite sure whether it
+was that bird or the other.</p>
+
+<p>The most satisfactory lazuli song I heard was on the western side of the
+range, at the resort called Glenwood. This time, as was usually the
+case, I heard the little triller before seeing him, and was sure it was
+<i>Passerina am&oelig;na</i>, as the bunting strains were plainly discernible.
+He was sitting on a telephone wire, and did not flit away as I stood
+below and peered at him through my glass, and admired his trig and
+handsome form. I studied his song, and tried to fix the peculiar
+intonations in my mind, and felt positive that I could never be caught
+again&mdash;but I was.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> In the foregoing remarks the lazuli finches have been
+represented as excessively shy. So they were in 1899 in the
+neighborhoods then visited. Strangely enough, in the vicinity of Denver
+in 1901, these birds were abundant and as easily approached and studied
+as are the indigoes of the East. See the chapter entitled, "Plains and
+Foothills."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p></div>
+
+<p>The lazuli finch does not venture very high into the mountains, seldom
+reaching an altitude of more than seven thousand feet. He is a lover of
+the plains, the foothills, and the lower ranges of the mountains. In
+this respect he differs from some other little birds, which seek a
+summer home in the higher regions. On the southern slope of Pike's Peak,
+a little below the timber-line, I found a dainty little bird which was a
+stranger to me. It was Audubon's warbler. At first sight I decided that
+he must be the myrtle warbler, but was compelled to change my conclusion
+when I got a glimpse of his throat, which was golden yellow, whereas the
+throat of <i>Dendroica coronata</i> is pure white. Then, too, the myrtle
+warbler is only a migrant in Colorado, passing farther north to breed.
+Audubon's, it must be said, has extremely rich habiliments, his upper
+parts being bluish-ash, streaked with black, his belly and under
+tail-coverts white, and his breast in high feather, black, prettily
+skirted with gray or invaded with white from below; but his yellow
+spots, set like gleaming gold in various parts of his plumage,
+constitute his most marked embellishment, being found on the crown,
+rump, throat, and each side of the chest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On my first excursion to some meadows and wooded low-grounds south of
+Colorado Springs, while listening to a concert given by western
+meadow-larks, my attention was attracted to a large, black bird circling
+about the fields and then alighting on a fence-post. My first thought
+was: "It is only a crow blackbird." But on second thought I decided that
+the crow blackbird did not soar and circle about in this manner. At all
+events, there seemed to be something slightly peculiar about this bird's
+behavior, so I went nearer to inspect him, when he left his perch on the
+post, flapped around over the meadow, and finally flew to a large,
+partially decayed cottonwood tree in a pasture field. If I could believe
+my eyes, he clung to the upright stems of the branches after the style
+of a woodpecker! That was queer indeed&mdash;a woodpecker that looked
+precisely like a blackbird! Such a featherland oddity was certainly
+foreign to any of my calculations; for, it must be remembered, this was
+prior to my making acquaintance with Williamson's sapsucker.</p>
+
+<p>Closer inspection proved that this bird was actually hitching up and
+down the branches of the tree in the regular woodpecker fashion.
+Presently he slipped into a hole in a large limb, and the loud, eager
+chirping of young birds was heard. It was not long before his mate
+appeared, entered the cavity, and fed the clamorous brood. The birds
+proved to be Lewis's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> woodpeckers, another distinctly western type. My
+field-glass soon clearly brought out their peculiar markings.</p>
+
+<p>A beautiful bird-skin, bought of Mr. Charles E. Aiken, now lies on my
+desk and enables me to describe the fine habiliments of this kind from
+an actual specimen. His upper parts are glossy black, the sheen on the
+back being greenish, and that on the wings and tail bluish or purplish,
+according to the angle of the sun's light; a white collar prettily
+encircles the neck, becoming quite narrow on the nape, but widening out
+on the side so as to cover the entire breast and throat. This pectoral
+shield is mottled with black and lightly stained with buff in spots; the
+forehead, chin, superciliary line, and a broad space on the cheek are
+dyed a deep crimson; and, not least by any means, the abdomen is washed
+with pink, which is delicately stencilled with white, gray, and buff. A
+most gorgeous bird, fairly rivalling, but not distancing, Williamson's
+sapsucker.</p>
+
+<p>By accident I made a little discovery relative to the claws of this
+woodpecker which, I suppose, would be true of all the <i>Picid&aelig;</i> family.
+The claws of the two fore toes are sharply curved and extremely acute,
+making genuine hooks, so that when I attempt to pass my finger over them
+the points catch at the skin. Could a better hook be contrived for
+enabling the bird to clamber up the trunks and branches of trees? But
+note: the claws<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> of the two hind toes are not so sharply decurved, nor
+so acute at the points, the finger slipping readily over them. Who can
+deny the evidence of design in nature? The fore claws are highly
+specialized for clinging, the very purpose for which they are needed,
+while the hind claws, being used for a different purpose&mdash;only that of
+support&mdash;are moulded over a different pattern.</p>
+
+<p>Like our common red-head, this bird has the habit of soaring out into
+the air and nabbing insects on the wing. The only other pair of these
+woodpeckers I was so fortunate as to meet with were found in the ravine
+leading up from Buena Vista to Cottonwood Lake.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Their nest was in a
+dead tree by the roadside. While the first couple had been entirely
+silent, one of the second pair chirped somewhat uneasily when I lingered
+beneath his tree, suspecting, no doubt, that I had sinister designs upon
+his nest. Unlike some of their kinsmen, these pickers of wood seem to be
+quiet and dignified, not given to much demonstration, and are quite
+leisurely in their movements both on the branch and on the wing.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Two years later a pair were seen on a mountain near Golden,
+Colorado, and probably twenty individuals were watched a long time from
+a ca&ntilde;on above Boulder as they circled gracefully over the mountains,
+catching insects on the wing.</p></div>
+
+<p>One day, when walking up Ute Pass, celebrated both for its magnificent
+scenery and its Indian history, I first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> saw the water-ousel. I had been
+inspecting Rainbow Falls, and was duly impressed with its
+attractiveness. Thinking I had lingered long enough, I turned away and
+clambered up the rocky wall below the falls towards the road above. As I
+did so, a loud, bell-like song rang above the roar of the water. On
+looking down into the ravine, I saw a mouse-colored bird, a little
+smaller than the robin, his tail perked up almost vertically, scuttling
+about on the rocks below and dipping his body in an expressive way like
+the "tip-up" sandpiper. Having read about this bird, I at once
+recognized it as the water-ousel. My interest in everything else
+vanished. This was one of the birds I had made my pilgrimage to the
+Rockies to study. It required only a few minutes to scramble down into
+the ravine again.</p>
+
+<p>Breathlessly I watched the little bird. Its queer teetering is like that
+of some of the wrens, accentors, and water-thrushes. Now it ran to the
+top of a rock and stood dipping and eying me narrowly, flirting its
+bobby tail; now it flew to one of the steep, almost vertical walls of
+rock and scrambled up to a protuberance; then down again to the water;
+then, to my intense delight, it plunged into the limpid stream, and came
+up the next moment with a slug or water-beetle in its bill. Presently it
+flew over to the opposite wall, its feet slipping on the wet rocks, and
+darted into a small crevice just below the foot of the falls, gave a
+quick poke with its beak and flitted away&mdash;minus the tidbit it had held
+in its bill.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>RAINBOW FALLS</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>When the sun strikes the spray and mist at the proper angle, a
+beautiful rainbow is painted on the face of the falls. At the time of
+the author's visit to this idyllic spot a pair of water-ousels had
+chosen it for a summer residence. They flew from the rocks below to the
+top of the falls, hugging close to the rushing torrent. In returning,
+they darted in one swift plunge from the top to the bottom, alighting on
+the rocks below. With the utmost abandon they dived into the seething
+waters at the foot of the falls, usually emerging with a slug or beetle
+in their bills for the nestlings. Shod with tall rubber boots, the
+writer waded close up to the foot of the falls in search of the dipper's
+nest, which was set in a cleft of the rocks a few inches above the
+water, in the little shadowed cavern at the left of the stream. The
+pointed rock wrapped in mist, almost in the line of the plunging tide,
+was a favorite perch for the dippers.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image172" name="image172"></a>
+   <a href="images/i172a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i172b.jpg"
+      alt="RAINBOW FALLS"
+      title="RAINBOW FALLS" />
+   </a>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>Ah! my propitious stars shone on me that day with special favor. I had
+found not only the water-ousel itself, but also its nest. Suddenly
+water-ousel number two, the mate of number one, appeared on the scene,
+dipped, scanned me closely, flew to the slippery wall, darted to the
+cranny, and deposited its morsel, as its spouse had done. This time I
+heard the chirping of the youngsters. Before examining the nest I
+decided to watch the performances of the parent birds, which soon cast
+off all the restraint caused for a moment by my presence, taking me, no
+doubt, for the ordinary sightseer who overlooks them altogether.</p>
+
+<p>Again and again the birds plunged into the churning flood at the foot of
+the falls, sometimes remaining under water what seemed a long while, and
+always coming to the surface with a delicacy for the nestlings. They
+were able to dip into the swift, white currents and wrestle with them
+without being washed away. Of course, the water would sometimes carry
+them down stream, but never more than a few inches, and never to a point
+where they could be injured. They were perfect masters of the situation.
+They simply slipped in and out like living chunks of cork. Their coats
+were waterproof, all they needed to do being to shake off the crystal
+drops now and then.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Their flight up the almost perpendicular face of the falls was one of
+graceful celerity. Up, up, they would mount only a few inches from the
+dashing current, and disappear upstream in search of food. In returning,
+they would sweep down over the precipitous falls with the swiftness of
+arrows, stopping themselves lightly with their outspread wings before
+reaching the rocks below. From a human point of view it was a frightful
+plunge; from the ousel point of view it was an every-day affair.</p>
+
+<div class="floatr">
+   <a id="image174" name="image174"></a>
+   <a href="images/i174a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i174b.jpg"
+        alt="Water-Ousel"
+        title="Water-Ousel" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Water-Ousel</i><br />
+    "<i>Up, up, only<br />a few inches from<br />the dashing current</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>After watching the tussle between ousel and water for a long time, I
+decided to take a peep at their nursery. In order to do this I was
+compelled to wade into the stream a little below the falls, through mist
+and spray; yet such humid quarters were the natural habitat and
+playground of these interesting cinclids. And there the nest was, set in
+a cleft about a foot and a half above the water, its outer walls kept
+moist by the spray which constantly dashed against them from the falls.
+The water was also dripping from the rock that over-hung<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> the nest and
+formed its roof. A damp, uncanny place for a bird's domicile, you would
+naturally suppose, but the little lovers of cascades knew what they were
+about. Only the exterior of the thick, moss-covered walls were moist.
+Within, the nest was dry and cosey. It was an oval structure, set in its
+rocky cleft like a small oven, with an opening at the front. And there
+in the doorway cuddled the two fledglings, looking out at the dripping
+walls and the watery tumult, but kept warm and comfortable. I could not
+resist touching them and caressing their little heads, considering it
+quite an ornithological triumph for one day to find a pair of
+water-ousels, discover a nest, and place my finger upon the crowns of
+the nestlings.</p>
+
+<p>Scores of tourists visited the famous falls every day, some of them
+lingering long in the beautiful place, and yet the little ousels had
+gone on with their nest-building and brood-rearing, undisturbed by human
+spectators. I wondered whether many of the visitors noticed the birds,
+and whether any one but myself had discovered their nest. Indeed, their
+little ones were safe enough from human meddling, for one could not see
+the nest without wading up the stream into the sphere of the flying
+mists.</p>
+
+<p>The natural home of <i>Cinclus mexicanus</i> is the Rocky Mountains, to which
+he is restricted, not being known anywhere else on this continent. He is
+the only member<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> of the dipper family in North America. There is one
+species in South America, and another in Europe. He loves the mountain
+stream, with its dashing rapids and cascades. Indeed, he will erect his
+oven-like cottage nowhere else, and it must be a fall and not a mere
+ripple or rapid. Then from this point as a centre&mdash;or, rather, the
+middle point of a wavering line&mdash;he forages up and down the babbling,
+meandering brook, feeding chiefly, if not wholly, on water insects.
+Strange to say, he never leaves the streams, never makes excursions to
+the country roundabout, never flies over a mountain ridge or divide to
+reach another valley, but simply pursues the winding streams with a
+fidelity that deserves praise for its very singleness of purpose. No
+"landlubber" he. It is said by one writer that the dipper has never been
+known to alight on a tree, preferring a rock or a piece of driftwood
+beside the babbling stream; yet he has the digits and claws of the
+passeres, among which he is placed systematically. He is indeed an
+anomaly, though a very engaging one. Should he wish to go to another
+ca&ntilde;on, he will simply follow the devious stream he is on to its junction
+with the stream of the other valley; then up the second defile. His
+flight is exceedingly swift. His song is a loud, clear, cheerful strain,
+the very quintessence of gladness as it mingles with the roar of the
+cataracts.</p>
+
+<p>Farther up Ute Pass I found another nest, which was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> placed right back
+of a cascade, so that the birds had to dash through a curtain of spray
+to reach their cot. They also were feeding their young, and I could see
+them standing on a rock beneath the shelf, tilting their bodies and
+scanning me narrowly before diving into the cleft where the nest was
+hidden. This nest, being placed back of the falls, could not be reached.</p>
+
+<p>In Bear Creek ca&ntilde;on I discovered another inaccessible nest, which was
+placed in a fissure at the very foot of the falls and only an inch or
+two above the agitated waters. There must have been a cavity running
+back into the rock, else the nest would have been kept in a soggy
+condition all the time.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the most interesting dipper's nest I found was one at the
+celebrated Seven Falls in the south Cheyenne Ca&ntilde;on. On the face of the
+cliff by the side of the lowest fall there was a cleft, in which the
+nest was placed, looking like a large bunch of moss and grass. My glass
+brought the structure so near that I could plainly see three little
+heads protruding from the doorway. There were a dozen or more people
+about the falls at the time, who made no attempt at being quiet, and yet
+the parent birds flew fearlessly up to the nest with tidbits in their
+bills, and were greeted with loud, impatient cries from three hungry
+mouths, which were opened wide to receive the food. The total plunge of
+the stream over the Seven Falls is hundreds of feet, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> yet the adult
+birds would toss themselves over the abyss with reckless abandon, stop
+themselves without apparent effort in front of their cleft, and thrust
+the gathered morsels into the little yellow-lined mouths. It was an
+aerial feat that made our heads dizzy. This pair of birds did not fly up
+the face of the falls in ascending to the top, as did those at Rainbow
+Falls, but clambered up the wall of the cliff close to the side of the
+roaring cataract, aiding themselves with both claws and wings. When
+gathering food below the falls, they would usually, in going or
+returning, fly in a graceful curve over the heads of their human
+visitors.</p>
+
+<div class="floatr">
+   <a id="image178" name="image178"></a>
+   <a href="images/i178a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i178b.jpg"
+        alt="Water-Ousel"
+        title="Water-Ousel" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Water-Ousel</i><br />
+    "<i>Three hungry<br />mouths, which<br />were opened wide<br />to receive the food</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Although the dipper is not a web-footed bird, and is not classed by the
+naturalists among the aquatic fowl, but is, indeed, a genuine passerine,
+yet he can swim quite dexterously on the surface of the water. However,
+his greatest strength and skill are shown in swimming under water, where
+he propels himself with his wings, often to a considerable distance,
+either with or against the current. Sometimes he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> will allow the current
+to carry him a short distance down the stream, but he is always able to
+stop himself at a chosen point. "Ever and anon," says Mr. John Muir, in
+his attractive book on "The Mountains of California," "while searching
+for food in the rushing stream, he sidles out to where the too powerful
+current carries him off his feet; then he dexterously rises on the wing
+and goes gleaning again in shallower places." So it seems that our
+little acrobat is equal to every emergency that may arise in his
+adventurous life.</p>
+
+<p>In winter, when the rushing mountain streams are flowing with the sludge
+of the half-melted snow, so that he cannot see the bottom, where most of
+his delicacies lie, he betakes himself to the quieter stretches of the
+rivers, or to the mill ponds or mountain lakes, where he finds clearer
+and smoother water, although a little deeper than he usually selects.
+Such weather does not find him at the end of his resources; no, indeed!
+Having betaken himself to a lake, he does not at once plunge into its
+depths after the manner of a duck, but finding a perch on a snag or a
+fallen pine, he sits there a moment, and then, flying out thirty or
+forty yards, "he alights with a dainty glint on the surface, swims
+about, looks down, finally makes up his mind, and disappears with a
+sharp stroke of his wings." So says Mr. John Muir, who continues: "After
+feeding for two or three minutes he suddenly reappears, showers the
+water from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> his wings with one vigorous shake, and rises abruptly into
+the air as if pushed up from beneath, comes back to his perch, sings a
+few minutes, and goes out to dive again; thus coming and going, singing
+and diving, at the same place for hours."</p>
+
+<p>The depths to which the cinclid dives for the food on the bottom is
+often from fifteen to twenty feet. When he selects a river instead of a
+lake for his winter bathing, its waters, like those of the shallower
+streams, may also contain a large quantity of sludge, thus rendering
+them opaque even to the sharp little eyes of the dipper. Then what does
+he do? He has a very natural and cunning way of solving this problem; he
+simply seeks a deep portion of the river and dives through the turbid
+water to the clear water beneath, where he can plainly see the "goodies"
+on the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>It must not be thought that this little bird is mute amid all the watery
+tumult of his mountain home, for he is a rare vocalist, his song
+mingling with the ripple and gurgle and roar of the streams that he
+haunts. Nor does he sing only in the springtime, but all the year round,
+on stormy days as well as fair. During Indian summer, when the streams
+are small, and silence broods over many a mountain solitude, the song of
+the ousel falls to its lowest ebb; but when winter comes and the streams
+are converted into rolling torrents, he resumes his vocal efforts, which
+reach their height in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> early summer. Thus it would seem that the bird's
+mood is the gayest when his favorite stream is dashing at its noisiest
+and most rapid pace down the steep mountain defiles. The clamor of the
+stream often drowns the song of the bird, the movement of his mandibles
+being seen when not a sound from his music-box can be heard. There must
+be a feeling of fellowship between the bird and the stream he loves so
+well.</p>
+
+<div class="floatl">
+   <a id="image181" name="image181"></a>
+   <a href="images/i181a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i181b.jpg"
+        alt="Dipper"
+        title="Dipper" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption">"<i>No snowstorm can discourage him</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>You will not be surprised to learn that the dipper is an extremely hardy
+bird. No snowstorm, however violent, can discourage him, but in the
+midst of it all he sings his most cheerful lays, as if defying all the
+gods of the winds. While other birds, even the hardy nuthatches, often
+succumb to discouragement in cold weather, and move about with
+fluffed-up feathers, the very picture of dejection&mdash;not so the little
+dipper, who always preserves his cheerful temper, and is ready to say,
+in acts, if not in words: "Isn't this the jolliest weather you ever
+saw?" Away up in Alaska, where the glaciers hold perpetual sway, this
+bird has been seen in the month of November as glad and blithesome as
+were his comrades in the summery gorges of New Mexico.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p>
+<h2>PLAINS AND FOOTHILLS</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image185" name="image185"></a>
+   <a href="images/i185a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i185b.jpg"
+      alt="Louisiana Tanager"
+      title="Louisiana Tanager" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate</span> V<br />
+   <span class="smcap">Louisiana Tanager</span>&mdash;<i>Pyranga ludoviciana</i><br />
+   (Upper figure, male; lower, female)</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="PLAINS_AND_FOOTHILLS" id="PLAINS_AND_FOOTHILLS"></a>PLAINS AND FOOTHILLS</p>
+
+
+<p>The foregoing chapters contain a recital of observations made in the
+neighborhood of Colorado Springs and in trips on the plains and among
+the mountains in that latitude. Two years later&mdash;that is, in 1901&mdash;the
+rambler's good angel again smiled upon him and made possible another
+tour among the Colorado mountains. This time he made Denver, instead of
+Colorado Springs, the centre of operations; nor did he go alone, his
+companion being an active boy of fourteen who has a penchant for
+Butterflies, while that of the writer, as need scarcely be said, is for
+the Birds&mdash;in our estimation, the two cardinal B's of the English
+language. Imagine two inveterate ramblers, then, with two such
+enchanting hobbies, set loose on the Colorado plains and in the
+mountains, with the prospect of a month of uninterrupted indulgence in
+their manias!</p>
+
+<p>In the account of my first visit, most of the species met with were
+described in detail both as to their habits and personal appearance. In
+the present record no such minuti&aelig; will be necessary so far as the same
+species were observed, and therefore the chief objects of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> following
+chapters will be, first, to note the diversities in the avian fauna of
+the two regions; second, to give special attention to such birds as
+either were not seen in my first visit or were for some cause partly
+overlooked; and, third, to trace the peculiar transitions in bird life
+in passing from the plains about Denver to the crest of Gray's Peak,
+including jaunts to several other localities.</p>
+
+<p>In my rambles in the neighborhood of Denver only a few species not
+previously described were observed, and yet there were some noteworthy
+points of difference in the avi-fauna of the two latitudes, which are
+only about seventy-five miles apart. It will perhaps be remembered that,
+in the vicinity of Colorado Springs and Manitou, the pretty lazuli
+buntings were quite rare and exceedingly shy, only two or three
+individuals having been seen. The reverse was the case in the suburbs of
+Denver and on the irrigated plains between that city and the mountains,
+and also in the neighborhood of Boulder, where in all suitable haunts
+the lazulis were constantly at my elbow, lavish enough of their pert
+little melodies to satisfy the most exacting, and almost as familiar and
+approachable as the indigo-birds of the East. It is possible that, for
+the most part, the blue-coated beauties prefer a more northern latitude
+than Colorado Springs for the breeding season.</p>
+
+<p>At the latter place I failed to find the burrowing owl, although there
+can be little doubt of his presence there,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> especially out on the
+plains. Not far from Denver one of these uncanny, sepulchral birds was
+seen, having been frightened from her tunnel as I came stalking near it.
+She flew over the brow of the hill in her smooth, silent way, and
+uttered no syllable of protest as I examined her domicile&mdash;or, rather,
+the outside of it. Scattered about the dark doorway were a number of
+bones, feathers, and the skin of a frog, telling the story of the <i>table
+d'h&ocirc;te</i> set by this underground dweller before her nestlings. She might
+have put up the crossbones and skull as a sign at the entrance to her
+burrow, or even placed there the well-known Dantean legend, "All hope
+abandon, ye who enter here," neither of which would have been more
+suggestive than the telltale litter piled up before her door. When I
+chased her from her hiding-place, she flew down the hill and alighted on
+a fence-post in the neighborhood of her nest, uttering several screechy
+notes as I came near her again, as if she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> meant to say that I was
+carrying the joke a little too far in pursuing her about. Presently she
+circled away on oily wings, and I saw her no more.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image188" name="image188"></a>
+   <a href="images/i188a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i188b.jpg"
+      alt="Burrowing Owl"
+      title="Burrowing Owl" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption">"<i>The dark doorway</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>So little enthusiasm does such a bird stir within me that I felt too
+lazy to follow her about on the arid plain. It may be interesting as a
+matter of scientific information to know that the burrowing owl breeds
+in a hole in the ground, and keeps company with the prairie dog and the
+rattlesnake, but a bird that lives in a gloomy, malodorous cave, whose
+manners are far from attractive, and whose voice sounds as strident as a
+buzz-saw&mdash;surely such a bird can cast no spell upon the observer who is
+interested in the &aelig;sthetic side of bird nature. A recent writer, in
+describing "A Buzzards' Banquet," asks a couple of pregnant questions:
+"Is there anything ugly out of doors? Can the ardent, sympathetic lover
+of nature ever find her unlovely?" To the present writer these questions
+present no Chinese puzzle. He simply brushes all speculation and
+theorizing aside by responding "Yes," to both interrogatories, on the
+principle that it is sometimes just as well to cut the Gordian knot as
+to waste precious time trying to untie it. The burrowing owl makes me
+think of a denizen of the other side of the river Styx, and why should
+one try to love that which nature has made unattractive, especially when
+one cannot help one's feeling?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the preceding chronicles no mention, I believe, has been made of one
+little bird that deserves more than a mere <i>obiter dictum</i>. My first
+meeting with the blithesome house-finch of the West occurred in the city
+of Denver, in 1899. It could not properly be called a formal
+presentment, but was none the less welcome on that account. I had
+scarcely stepped out upon the busy street before my ear was accosted by
+a kind of half twitter and half song that was new to me. "Surely that is
+not the racket of the English sparrow; it is too musical," I remarked to
+a friend walking by my side.</p>
+
+<p>Peering among the trees and houses, I presently focussed my field-glass
+upon a small, finch-like bird whose coat was striped with gray and
+brown, and whose face, crown, breast, and rump were beautifully tinged
+or washed with crimson, giving him quite a dressy appearance. What could
+this chipper little city chap be, with his trig form and well-bred
+manners, in such marked contrast with those of the swaggering English
+sparrow? Afterwards he was identified as the house-finch, which rejoices
+in the high-sounding Latin name of <i>Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis</i>. His
+distribution is restricted to the Rocky Mountain district chiefly south
+of the fortieth parallel of north latitude.</p>
+
+<p>He is certainly an attractive species, and I wish we could offer
+sufficient inducements to bring him east. A bird like him is a boon and
+an ornament to the streets<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> and parks of any city that he graces with
+his presence and enlivens with his songs. No selfish recluse is he; no,
+indeed! In no dark gulch or wilderness, far from human neighborhood,
+does he sulkily take up his abode, but prefers the companionship of man
+to the solitudes of nature, declaring in all his conduct that he likes
+to be where there are "folks." In this respect he bears likeness to the
+English sparrow; but let it be remembered that there the analogy stops.
+Even his chirruping is musical as he flies overhead, or makes his
+<i>caveat</i> from a tree or a telegraph wire against your ill-bred
+espionage. He and his plainly clad little spouse build a neat cottage
+for their bairns about the houses, but do not clog the spouting and make
+themselves a nuisance otherwise, as is the habit of their English
+cousins.</p>
+
+<p>This finch is a minstrel, not of the first class, still one that merits
+a high place among the minor songsters; and, withal, he is generous with
+his music. You might call him a kind of urban Arion, for there is real
+melody in his little score. As he is an early riser, his matin
+voluntaries often mingled with my half-waking dreams in the morning at
+dawn's peeping, and I loved to hear it too well to be angry for being
+aroused at an unseasonable hour. The song is quite a complicated
+performance at its best, considerably prolonged and varied, running up
+and down the chromatic scale with a swing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> and gallop, and delivered
+with great rapidity, as if the lyrist were in a hurry to have done, so
+that he could get at something else.</p>
+
+<p>In my rambles he was found not only in the cities of the plains (Denver,
+Colorado Springs, and Pueblo), but also in many of the mountain towns
+and villages visited, Leadville, over ten thousand feet skyward, being,
+I believe, one of the exceptions, while Silver Plume and Graymont were
+others. He does not fancy altitudes, I take it, much over eight thousand
+feet. In the villages of Red Cliff and Glenwood, both beyond the
+continental divide, he was the same sprightly citizen, making himself
+very much at home.</p>
+
+<p>Much as this finch cherishes the society of man, he is quite wary and
+suspicious, and does not fancy being watched. As long as you go on your
+way without seeming to notice him, he also goes his way, coming into
+plain sight and chirping and singing; but just stop to watch him with
+your binocular, and see how quickly he will take alarm, dart away, and
+ensconce himself behind a clump of foliage, uttering a protest which
+seems to say, "Why doesn't that old fellow go about his own business?"
+If in some way the American house-finch could be persuaded to come east,
+and the English sparrow could be given papers of extradition, the
+exchange would be a relief and a benefit to the whole country.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Some idyllic days were spent in sauntering about Golden, which keeps
+guard at the entrance of Clear Creek Ca&ntilde;on, and has tucked itself in a
+beautiful valley among the foothills, which in turn stand sentinel over
+it. In the village itself and along the bush-fringed border of the creek
+below, as well as in the little park at its border, there were many
+birds, nearly all of which have been described in the previous chapters.
+However, several exceptions are worthy of note. A matted copse a mile
+and a half below the town afforded a hiding-place for three young or
+female redstarts, which were "playing butterfly," as usual, and chanting
+their vivacious little tunes. These and several near Boulder were the
+only redstarts seen in my Colorado wanderings, although Professor Cooke
+says they breed sparingly on the plains, and a little more commonly in
+the mountains to an altitude of eight thousand feet, while one observer
+saw a female in July at the timber-line, which is three thousand feet
+above the normal range of the species. Why did not this birdlet remain
+within the bounds set by the scientific guild? Suit for contempt of
+court should be brought against it. Redstarts must have been very scarce
+in the regions over which I rambled, else I certainly should have
+noticed birds that are so fearless and so lavish of song.</p>
+
+<p>One day my companion and I clambered up the steep side of a mesa some
+distance below Golden&mdash;that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> is, the base of the mesa was below the
+village, while its top towered far above it. A mesa was a structural
+portion of Colorado topography that neither of the two ramblers had yet
+explored, and we were anxious to know something about its resources from
+a natural history point of view. It was hard climbing on account of the
+steepness of the acclivity, its rocky character, and the thick network
+of bushes and brambles in many places; but "excelsior" was our motto in
+all our mountaineering, and we allowed no surmountable difficulties to
+daunt us. What birds select such steep places for a habitat? Here lived
+in happy domesticity the lyrical green-tailed towhee, the bird of the
+liquid voice, the poet laureate of the steep, bushy mountain sides, just
+as the water-ousel is the poet of the cascades far down in the ca&ntilde;ons
+and gulches; here also thrived the spurred towhees, one of which had
+tucked a nest beneath a bush cradling three speckled eggs. This was the
+second nest of this species I had found, albeit not the last. Here also
+dwelt the rock wren, a little bird that was new to me and that I had not
+found in the latitude of Colorado Springs either east or west of the
+continental divide. A description of this anchorite of the rocks will be
+given in a later chapter. I simply pause here to remark that he has a
+sort of "monarch-of-all-I-survey" air as he sits on a tall sandstone
+rock and blows the music from his Huon's horn on the messenger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> breezes.
+His wild melodies, often sounding like a blast from a bugle, are in
+perfect concord with the wild and rugged acclivities which he haunts,
+from which he can command many a prospect that pleases, whether he
+glances down into the valleys or up to the silver-capped mountain peaks.
+One cannot help feeling&mdash;at least, after one has left his rock-strewn
+dwelling-place&mdash;that a kind of glamour hangs about it and him.</p>
+
+<p>The loud hurly-burly of the long-tailed chat reached us from a bushy
+hollow not far away. So far as I could determine, this fellow is as
+garrulous a churl and bully as his yellow-breasted cousin so well known
+in the East. (Afterwards I found the chats quite numerous at Boulder.)
+At length we scaled the cliffs, and presently stood on the edge of the
+mesa, which we found to be a somewhat rolling plateau, looking much like
+the plains themselves in general features, with here and there a hint of
+verdure, on which a herd of cattle were grazing. The pasture was the
+buffalo grass. Does the bird-lover ask what species dwell on a treeless
+mesa like this? It was the home of western grassfinches, western
+meadow-larks, turtle doves, desert horned larks, and a little bird that
+was new to me, evidently Brewer's sparrow. Its favorite resort was in
+the low bushes growing on the border of the mesa and along the edge of
+the cliff. Its song was unique, the opening syllable running low on the
+alto clef, while the closing notes constituted a very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> respectable
+soprano. A few extremely shy sparrows flitted about in the thickets of a
+hollow as we began our descent, and I have no doubt they were Lincoln's
+sparrows.</p>
+
+<p>The valley and the irrigated plain were the birds' elysium. Here we
+first saw and heard that captivating bird, the lark bunting, as will be
+fully set forth in the closing chapter. This was one of the birds that
+had escaped me in my first visit to Colorado, save as I had caught
+tantalizing glimpses of him from the car-window on the plain beyond
+Denver, and when I went south to Colorado Springs, I utterly failed to
+find him. It has been a sort of riddle to me that not one could be
+discovered in that vicinity, while two years later these birds were
+abundant on the plains both east and west of Denver. If Colorado Springs
+is a little too far south for them in the summer, Denver is obviously
+just to their liking. No less abundant were the western meadow-larks,
+which flew and sang with a kind of lyrical intoxication over the green
+alfalfa fields.</p>
+
+<p>One morning we decided to walk some distance up Clear Creek Ca&ntilde;on. At
+the opening of the ca&ntilde;on, Brewer's blackbirds were scuttling about in
+the bushes that broidered the steep banks of the tumultuous stream, and
+a short distance up in the gorge a lazuli bunting sat on a telegraph
+wire and piped his merry lay. Soon the ca&ntilde;on narrowed, grew dark and
+forbidding, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> steep walls rose high on both sides, compelling the
+railway to creep like a half-imprisoned serpent along the foot of the
+cliffs; then the birds disappeared, not caring to dwell in such dark,
+more than half-immured places. Occasionally a magpie could be seen
+sailing overhead at an immense height, crossing over from one hillside
+to the other, turning his head as he made the transit, to get a view of
+the two peripatetics in the gulch below, anxious to discover whether
+they were bent on brigandage of any kind.</p>
+
+<p>At length we reached a point where the mountain side did not look so
+steep as elsewhere, and we decided to scale it. From the railway it
+looked like a short climb, even if a little difficult, and we began it
+with only a slight idea of the magnitude of our undertaking. The fact
+is, mountain climbing is a good deal more than pastime; it amounts to
+work, downright hard work. In the present instance, no sooner had we
+gained one height than another loomed steep and challenging above us, so
+that we climbed the mountain by a series of immense steps or terraces.
+At places the acclivity was so steep that we were compelled to scramble
+over the rocks on all fours, and were glad to stop frequently and draw
+breath and rest our tired limbs. My boy comrade, having fewer things
+than I to lure him by the way, and being, perhaps, a little more agile
+as well, went far on ahead of me, often standing on a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> dizzy pinnacle of
+rock, and waving his butterfly-net or his cap in the air, and shouting
+at the top of his voice to encourage his lagging parent and announce his
+triumph as a mountaineer.</p>
+
+<p>However, the birdman can never forget his hobby. There were a few birds
+on that precipitous mountain side, and that lent it its chief
+attraction. At one place a spurred towhee flitted about in a bushy clump
+and called much like a catbird&mdash;an almost certain proof of a nest on the
+steep, rocky wall far up from the roaring torrent in the gorge below. On
+a stony ridge still farther up, a rock wren was ringing his peculiar
+score, which sounds so much like a challenge, while still farther up, in
+a cluster of stunted pines, a long-crested jay lilted about and called
+petulantly, until I came near, when he swung across the ca&ntilde;on, and I saw
+him no more.</p>
+
+<p>After a couple of hours of hard climbing, we reached the summit, from
+which we were afforded a magnificent view of the foothills, the mesas,
+and the stretching plains below us, while above us to the west hills
+rose on hills until they culminated in mighty snow-capped peaks and
+ridges. It must not be supposed, because the snow-mantled summits in the
+west loomed far above our present station, that this mountain which we
+had ascended was a comparatively insignificant affair. The fact is, it
+was of huge bulk and great height measured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> from its base in the ca&ntilde;on;
+almost as much of a mountain, in itself considered, as Gray's Peak. It
+must be borne in mind that the snowy peaks were from thirty to forty
+miles away, and that there is a gradual ascent the entire distance to
+the upper valleys and gorges which creep about the bases of the loftiest
+peaks and ridges. A mountain rising from the foothills may be almost as
+bulky and high and precipitous as one of the alpine peaks covered with
+eternal snow. Its actual altitude above sea-level may be less by many
+thousand feet, while its height from the surrounding ca&ntilde;ons and valleys
+may be almost, if not quite, as great. The alpine peaks have the
+advantage of majesty of situation, because the general level of the
+country from which they rise is very high. There we stood at a sort of
+outdoor halfway house between the plains and the towering ridges, and I
+can only say that the view was superb.</p>
+
+<p>There were certain kinds of birds which had brought their household gods
+to the mountain's crest. Lewis's woodpeckers ambled about over the
+summit and rocky ridges, catching insects on the wing, as is their wont.
+Some distance below the summit a pair of them had a nest in a dead pine
+snag, from the orifice of which one was seen to issue. A mother hawk was
+feeding a couple of youngsters on the snarly branch of a dead pine.
+Almost on the summit a western nighthawk sprang up from my feet. On the
+bare ground, without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> the faintest sign of a nest, lay her two speckled
+eggs, which she had been brooding. She swept around above the summit in
+immense zigzag spirals while I examined her roofless dwelling-place. It
+was interesting to one bird-lover, at least, to know that the nighthawk
+breeds in such places. Like their eastern congeners, the western
+nighthawks are fond of "booming." At intervals a magpie would swing
+across the ca&ntilde;on, looking from side to side, the impersonation of
+cautious shyness. A few rods below the crest a couple of rock wrens were
+flitting about some large rocks, creeping in and out among the crevices
+like gray mice, and at length one of them slyly fed a well-fledged
+youngster. This proves that these birds, like many of their congeners,
+are partial to a commanding lookout for a nesting site. These were the
+only occupants of the mountain's brow at the time of our visit, although
+in one of the hollows below us the spurred and green-tailed towhees were
+rendering a selection from Haydn's "Creation," probably "The heavens are
+telling."</p>
+
+<p>No water was to be found from the bottom of the ca&ntilde;on to the summit of
+the mountain; all was as dry as the plain itself. The feathered tenants
+of the dizzy height were doubtless compelled to fly down into the gorge
+for drinking and bathing purposes, and then wing up again to the
+summit&mdash;certainly no light task for such birds as the wrens and
+towhees.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Before daybreak one morning I made my way to a small park on the
+outskirts of the village to listen to the birds' matutinal concert. The
+earliest singers were the western robins, which began their carols at
+the first hint of the coming dawn; the next to break the silence were
+the western wood-pewees; then the summer warblers chimed in, followed by
+the western grassfinches, Bullock's orioles, meadow-larks, and lark
+sparrows, in the order named. Before daylight had fully come a family of
+mountain bluebirds were taking their breakfast at the border of the
+park, while their human relatives were still snoring in bed. The
+bluebirds are governed by old-fashioned rules even in this very "modern"
+age, among their maxims being,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"Early to bed and early to rise,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Makes bluebirds healthy and wealthy and wise."<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Just now I came across a pretty conceit of John B. Tabb, which more
+aptly sets off the mountain blue than it does his eastern relative, and
+which I cannot forbear quoting:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"When God made a host of them,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">One little flower lacked a stem<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">To hold its blossom blue;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">So into it He breathed a song,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">And suddenly, with petals strong<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">As wings, away it flew."<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And there is Eben E. Rexford, who almost loses himself in a tangle of
+metaphors in his efforts to express<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> his admiration of this bird with
+the cerulean plumes. Hark to his rhapsody:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"Winged lute that we call a bluebird, you blend in a silver strain<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">The sound of the laughing waters, the patter of spring's sweet rain,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">The voice of the winds, the sunshine, and fragrance of blossoming things;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Ah! you are an April poem that God has dowered with wings."<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>On our return to the plains from a two weeks' trip to Georgetown and
+Gray's Peak, we spent several days at Arvada, a village about halfway
+between Denver and Golden. The place was rife with birds, all of which
+are described in other chapters of this volume.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Mention need be made
+here only of the song-sparrows, which were seen in a bushy place through
+which a purling stream wound its way. Of course, they were <i>Melospiza
+fasciata montana</i>, but their clear, bell-like trills were precise copies
+of those of the merry lowland minstrels of the East. Special attention
+is called to the fact that, in my first visit to Colorado, the only
+place in which mountain song-sparrows were met with was Buena Vista,
+quite a distance up among the mountains, while in the visit now being
+described they were not found anywhere in the mountains, save in the
+vale<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> below Cassels. They were breeding at Arvada, for a female was seen
+carrying a worm in her bill, and I am sure a nest might easily have been
+found had I not been so busily occupied in the study of other and rarer
+species. However, the recollection of the merry lyrists with the
+speckled breasts and silvery voices, brings to mind Mr. Ernest Thompson
+Seton's "Myth of the Song-Sparrow," from which it will be seen that this
+attractive bird has had something of an adventurous career:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"His mother was the Brook, his sisters were the Reeds,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">And they every one applauded when he sang about his deeds.<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">His vest was white, his mantle brown, as clear as they could be,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">And his songs were fairly bubbling o'er with melody and glee.<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">But an envious Neighbor splashed with mud our Brownie's coat and vest,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">And then a final handful threw that stuck upon his breast.<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">The Brook-bird's mother did her best to wash the stains away,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">But there they stuck, and, as it seems, are very like to stay.<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">And so he wears the splashes and the mud blotch, as you see;<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">But his songs are bubbling over still with melody and glee."<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image203" name="image203"></a>
+   <a href="images/i203a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i203b.jpg"
+      alt="Song Sparrow"
+      title="Song Sparrow" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><i>Song Sparrow</i><br />
+   "<i>His songs are bubbling over still with melody and glee.</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> I find I have overlooked the western Maryland
+yellow-throat, which was seen here; also near Colorado Springs, and in
+several other bushy spots, only on the plains. It seldom ascends into
+the mountains, never far. Its song and habits are similar to those of
+its eastern congener.</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p>
+<h2>RAMBLES ABOUT GEORGETOWN</h2>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="RAMBLES_ABOUT_GEORGETOWN" id="RAMBLES_ABOUT_GEORGETOWN"></a>RAMBLES ABOUT GEORGETOWN</p>
+
+
+<p>At nine o'clock on the morning of June 22, the two ramblers boarded a
+Colorado and Southern train, and bowled up Clear Creek Ca&ntilde;on to
+Georgetown. Having been studying winged creatures on the plains and
+among the foothills, mesas, and lower mountains, we now proposed to go
+up among the mountains that were mountains in good earnest, and see what
+we could find.</p>
+
+<p>The village of Georgetown nestles in a deep pocket of the mountains. The
+valley is quite narrow, and on three sides, save where the two branches
+of Clear Creek have hewn out their ca&ntilde;ons, the ridges rise at a sharp
+angle to a towering height, while here and there a white-cap peeps out
+through the depressions. Those parts of the narrow vale that are
+irrigated by the creek and its numerous tiny tributaries are beautiful
+in their garb of green, while the areas that are not thus refreshed are
+as gray as the arid portions of the plains themselves. And that is the
+case everywhere among the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> Rockies&mdash;where no water flows over the
+surface the porous, sandy soil is dry and parched. The altitude of
+Georgetown is eight thousand four hundred and seventy-six feet. We were
+therefore three thousand feet higher than we had been in the morning,
+and had a right to expect a somewhat different avi-fauna, an expectation
+in which we were not disappointed.</p>
+
+<p>Our initial ramble took us down the valley. The first bird noted was a
+familiar one&mdash;the warbling vireo, which is very abundant in Colorado in
+its favorite localities, where all day you may be lulled by its "silvery
+converse, just begun and never ended." No description of a bird so well
+known in both the East and the West is required, but the one seen that
+day gave a new performance, which seems to be worthy of more than a
+passing notice. Have other bird students observed it? The bird was first
+seen flitting about in the trees bordering the street; then it flew to
+its little pendent nest in the twigs. I turned my glass upon it, and,
+behold, there it sat in its tiny hammock singing its mercurial tune at
+the top of its voice. It continued its solo during the few minutes I
+stopped to watch it, glancing over the rim of its nest at its auditor
+with a pert gleam in its twinkling eyes. That was the first and only
+time I have ever seen a bird indulging its lyrical whim while it sat on
+its nest. Whether the bird was a male or a female I could not determine,
+but,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> whatever its sex, its little bosom was bubbling over with
+music.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> After the foregoing was written, I chanced upon the
+following note in "Bird Lore" for September and October, 1901, written
+by a lady at Moline, Illinois, who had made an early morning visit to
+the haunt of a warbling vireo: "Seated on the ground, in a convenient
+place for watching the vireo, which was on the nest, we were soon
+attracted by a vireo's song. Search for the singer failed to find it,
+until we noted that the bird on the nest seemed to be singing. Then, as
+we watched, over and over again the bird was seen to lift up its head
+and pour out the long, rich warble&mdash;a most delicious sight and sound.
+Are such ways usual among birds, or did we chance to see and hear an
+unusual thing?"</p></div>
+
+<p>It was soon evident that the western robins were abundant about
+Georgetown, as they were on the plains and among the foothills. They
+were principally engaged just now in feeding their young, which had
+already left their nests. Presently I shall have more to say about these
+birds. Just now I was aware of some little strangers darting about in
+the air, uttering a fine, querulous note, and at length descending to
+the ground to feast daintily on the seeds of a low plant. Here I could
+see them plainly with my glass, for they gave me gracious permission to
+go quite near them. Their backs were striped, the predominant color
+being brown or dark gray, while the whitish under parts were streaked
+with dusk, and there were yellow decorations on the wings and tails,
+whether the birds were at rest or in flight. When the wings were spread
+and in motion, the golden ornamentation gave them a filmy appearance.
+On the wing, the birds, as I afterwards observed, often chirped a little
+lay that bore a close resemblance in certain parts to the
+"pe-chick-o-pe" of the American goldfinch. Indeed, a number of their
+notes suggested that bird, as did also their manner of flight, which was
+quite undulatory. The birds were the pine siskins. They are very common
+in the Rockies, ranging from an elevation of eight thousand feet to the
+timber-line. This pert and dainty little bird is the same wherever found
+in North America, having no need of the cognomen "western" prefixed to
+his name when he takes it into his wise little head to make his abode in
+the Rocky Mountains.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>CLEAR CREEK VALLEY</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>A scene near Georgetown. The copses in the valley are the home of
+white-crowned sparrows, willow thrushes, Lincoln's sparrows and Wilson's
+warblers; the steep, bushy acclivities are selected by the spurred and
+green-tailed towhees, Audubon's and Macgillivray's warblers; while the
+western robins, pine siskins, and broad-tailed humming-birds range all
+over the region. The robins and siskins make some of their most
+thrilling plunges over such cliffs as are shown in the picture.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image210" name="image210"></a>
+   <a href="images/i210a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i210b.jpg"
+      alt="CLEAR CREEK VALLEY"
+      title="CLEAR CREEK VALLEY" />
+   </a>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>The reader will perhaps recall that a flock of pine siskins were seen,
+two years prior, in a patch of pine scrub a short distance below
+Leadville, at which time I was uncertain as to their identity. Oddly
+enough, that was the only time I saw these birds in my first trip to
+Colorado, but here in the Georgetown region, only seventy-five or a
+hundred miles farther north, no species were more plentiful than they.</p>
+
+<p>The siskins try to sing&mdash;I say "try" advisedly. It is one of the oddest
+bits of bird vocalization you ever heard, a wheezy little tune in the
+ascending scale&mdash;a kind of crescendo&mdash;which sounds as if it were
+produced by inhalation rather than exhalation. It is as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> labored as the
+alto strain of the clay-colored sparrow of the Kansas and Nebraska
+prairies, although it runs somewhat higher on the staff. The siskins
+seen at Georgetown moved about in good-sized flocks, feeding awhile on
+weed-seeds on the sunny slopes, and then wheeling with a merry chirp up
+to the pine-clad sides of the mountains. As they were still in the
+gregarious frame at Georgetown, I concluded that they had not yet begun
+to mate and build their nests in that locality. Afterwards I paid not a
+little attention to them farther up in the mountains, and saw several
+feeding their young, but, as their nests are built high in the pines,
+they are very difficult to find, or, if found, to examine. Our birdlets
+have superb powers of flight, and actually seem to revel in hurling
+themselves down a precipice or across a chasm with a recklessness that
+makes the observer's blood run cold. Sometimes they will dart out in the
+air from a steep mountain side, sing a ditty much like the goldfinch's,
+then circle back to their native pines on the dizzy cliff.</p>
+
+<p>I must be getting back to my first ramble below Georgetown. Lured by the
+lyrics of the green-tailed towhee, I climbed the western acclivity a few
+hundred feet, but found that few birds choose such dry and eerie places
+for a habitat. Indeed, this was generally my experience in rambling
+among the mountains; the farther up the arid steeps, the fewer the
+birds. If you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> will follow a mountain brook up a sunny slope or open
+valley, you will be likely to find many birds; but wander away from the
+water courses, and you will look for them, oftentimes, in vain. The
+green-tailed towhees, spurred towhees, Audubon's warblers, and mountain
+hermit thrushes are all partial to acclivities, even very steep ones,
+but they do not select those that are too remote from the babbling brook
+to which they may conveniently resort for drinking and bathing.</p>
+
+<p>A green and bushy spot a half mile below the village was the home of a
+number of white-crowned sparrows. None of them were seen on the plains
+or in the foothills; they had already migrated from the lower altitudes,
+and had sought their summer residences in the upper mountain valleys,
+where they may be found in great abundance from an elevation of eight
+thousand feet to copsy haunts here and there far above the timber-line
+hard by the fields of snow.</p>
+
+<p>The white-crowns in the Georgetown valley seemed to be excessively shy,
+and their singing was a little too reserved to be thoroughly enjoyable,
+for which reason I am disposed to think that mating and nesting had not
+yet begun, or I should have found evidences of it, as their grassy cots
+on the ground and in the bushes are readily discovered. Other birds that
+were seen in this afternoon's ramble were Wilson's and Audubon's
+warblers, the spotted sandpiper, and that past-master in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> art of
+whining, the killdeer. Another warbler's trill was heard in the thicket,
+but I was unable to identify the singer that evening, for he kept
+himself conscientiously hidden in the tanglewood. A few days later it
+turned out to be one of the most beautiful feathered midgets of the
+Rockies, Macgillivray's warbler, which was seen in a number of places,
+usually on bushy slopes. He and his mate often set up a great to-do by
+chirping and flitting about, and I spent hours in trying to find their
+nests, but with no other result than to wear out my patience and rubber
+boots. I can recall no other Colorado bird, either large or small,
+except the mountain jay, that made so much ado about nothing, so far as
+I could discover. But I love them still, on account of the beauty of
+their plumage and the gentle rhythm of their trills.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, chilly as the weather was&mdash;and it was cold enough to
+make one shiver even in bed&mdash;the western robins opened the day's concert
+with a splendid voluntary, waking me out of my slumbers and forcing me
+out of doors for an early walk. No one but a systematic ornithologist
+would be able to mark the difference between the eastern and western
+types of robins, for their manners, habits, and minstrelsy are alike,
+and their markings, too, so far as ordinary observation goes. The
+carolling of the two varieties is similar, so far as I could
+discern&mdash;the same cherry ringing melody, their voices<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> having a like
+propensity to break into falsetto, becoming a veritable squeak,
+especially early in the season before their throat-harps are well tuned.
+With his powerful muscles and wide stretch of wing the robin is
+admirably adapted to the life of a mountaineer. You find him from the
+plains to the timber-line, sometimes even in the deepest ca&ntilde;ons and on
+the most precipitous mountain sides, always the same busy, noisy, cheery
+body. One day I saw a robin dart like a meteor from the top of a high
+ridge over the cliffs to the valley below, where he alighted on a
+cultivated field almost as lightly as a flake of snow. He&mdash;probably she
+(what a trouble these pronouns are, anyway!)&mdash;gathered a mouthful of
+worms for his nestlings, then dashed up to the top of the ridge again,
+which he did, not by flying out into the air, but by keeping close up to
+the steep, cliffy wall, striking a rock here and twig there with his
+agile feet to help him in rising. The swiftness of the robin's movements
+about the gorges, abysses, and precipices of the mountains often
+inspires awe in the beholder's breast, and, on reflection, stirs him
+with envy. Many nests were found in the Georgetown valley, in woodsy and
+bushy places on the route to Gray's Peak as far as the timber-line, in
+the neighborhood of Boulder, in the Platte River Ca&ntilde;on, in South Park,
+and in the Blue River region beyond the Divide. Some of the nests
+contained eggs, others young in various stages of plumage, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> still
+others were already deserted. For general ubiquity as a species, commend
+me to the American robin, whether of the eastern or western type.
+Wherever found he is a singer, and it is only to be regretted that&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"All will not hear thy sweet, out-pouring joy<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">That with morn's stillness blends the voice of song,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">For over-anxious cares their souls employ,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">That else, upon thy music borne along<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">And the light wings of heart-ascending prayer,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Had learned that Heaven is pleased thy simple joys to share."<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="floatr">
+   <a id="image216" name="image216"></a>
+   <a href="images/i216a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i216b.jpg"
+        alt="Western Robin"
+        title="Western Robin" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Western Robin</i><br />
+    "<i>Out-pouring joy</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In Georgetown, Silver Plume, and other mountain towns the lovely
+violet-green swallow is frequently seen&mdash;a distinctly western species
+and one of the most richly apparelled birds of the Rockies. It nests in
+all sorts of niches and crannies about the houses, often sits calmly on
+a telegraph wire and preens its iridescent plumes, and sometimes utters
+a weak and squeaky little trill, which, no doubt, passes for first-rate
+music in swallowdom, whatever we human critics might think of it. Before
+man came and settled in those valleys, the violet-greens found the
+crevices of rocks well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> enough adapted to their needs for nesting sites,
+but now they prefer cosey niches and crannies in human dwellings, and
+appear to appreciate the society of human beings.</p>
+
+<p>For over a week we made Georgetown our headquarters, going off every day
+to the regions round about. Among my most treasured finds here was the
+nest of Audubon's warbler&mdash;my first. It was saddled in the crotch of a
+small pine a short distance up an acclivity, and was prettily roofed
+over with a thick network of branches and twigs. Four white, daintily
+speckled eggs lay in the bottom of the cup. While I was sitting in the
+shadow of the pine, some motion of mine caused the little owner to
+spring from her nest, and this led to its discovery. As she flitted
+about in the bushes, she uttered a sharp <i>chip</i>, sometimes consisting of
+a double note. The nest was about four feet from the ground, its walls
+built of grasses and weed-stems, and its concave little floor carpeted
+with cotton and feathers. A cosey cottage it was, fit for the little
+poets that erected it. Subsequently I made many long and tiresome
+efforts to find nests of the Audubons, but all these efforts were
+futile.</p>
+
+<p>One enchanting day&mdash;the twenty-fourth of June&mdash;was spent in making a
+trip, with butterfly-net and field-glass, to Green Lake, an emerald gem
+set in the mountains at an altitude of ten thousand feet, a few miles
+from Georgetown. Before leaving the town, our first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> gray-headed junco
+for this expedition was seen. He had come to town for his breakfast, and
+was flitting about on the lawns and in the trees bordering the street,
+helping himself to such dainties as pleased his palate. It may be said
+here that the gray-headed juncos were observed at various places all
+along the way from Georgetown to Green Lake and far above that body of
+water. Not so with the broad-tailed hummers, which were not seen above
+about eight thousand five hundred feet, while the last warbling vireo of
+the day was seen and heard at an altitude of nine thousand feet,
+possibly a little more, when he decided that the air was as rare as was
+good for his health.</p>
+
+<p>A short distance up the ca&ntilde;on of the west branch of Clear Creek, a new
+kind of flycatcher was first heard, and presently seen with my glass. He
+sat on a cliff or flitted from rock to bush. He uttered a sharp call,
+"Cheep, cheep, cheep"; his under parts were bright yellow, his upper
+parts yellow-olive, growing darker on the crown, and afterwards a nearer
+view revealed dark or dusky wings, yellowish or gray wing-bars, and
+yellow eye-rings. He was the western flycatcher, and bears close
+likeness to our eastern yellow-breasted species. Subsequently he was
+quite frequently met with, but never far above the altitude of
+Georgetown.</p>
+
+<p>In the same ca&ntilde;on a beautiful Macgillivray's warbler was observed, and
+two water-ousels went dashing up the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> meandering stream, keeping close
+to the seething and roaring waters, but never stopping to sing or bid us
+the time of day. Very few ousels were observed in our rambles in this
+region, and no nests rewarded my search, whereas in the vicinity of
+Colorado Springs, as the reader will recall, these interesting birds
+were quite frequently near at hand. A mother robin holding a worm in her
+bill sped down the gulch with the swiftness of an arrow. We soon reached
+a belt of quaking asps where there were few birds. This was succeeded by
+a zone of pines. The green-tailed towhees did not accompany us farther
+in our climb than to an elevation of about nine thousand three hundred
+feet, but the siskins were chirping and cavorting about and above us all
+the way, many of them evidently having nests in the tops of the tall
+pines on the dizzy cliffs. Likewise the hermit thrushes were seen in
+suitable localities by the way, and also at the highest point we reached
+that day, an elevation of perhaps ten thousand five hundred feet.</p>
+
+<p>While some species were, so to speak, our "companions in travel" the
+entire distance from the town to the lake, and others went with us only
+a part of the way, still other species found habitats only in the higher
+regions clambering far up toward the timber-line. Among these were the
+mountain jays, none of which were found as far down the range as
+Georgetown. They began to proclaim their presence by raucous calls as
+soon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> as we arrived in the vicinity of Green Lake. A family of them were
+hurtling about in the pine woods, allowing themselves to be inspected at
+short range, and filling the hollows with their uncanny calls. What a
+voice the mountain jay has! Nature did a queer thing when she put a
+"horse-fiddle" into the larynx of this bird&mdash;but it is not ours to ask
+the reason why, simply to study her as she is. In marked contrast with
+the harsh calls of these mountain hobos were the roulades of the sweet
+and musical ruby-crowned kinglets, which had absented themselves from
+the lower altitudes, but were abundant in the timber belts about ten
+thousand feet up the range and still higher.</p>
+
+<div class="floatr">
+   <a id="image220" name="image220"></a>
+   <a href="images/i220a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i220b.jpg"
+      alt="Red-naped Sapsuckers"
+      title="Red-naped Sapsuckers" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><i>Red-naped Sapsuckers</i><br />
+   "<i>Chiselling grubs out of the bark</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>On the border of the lake, among some gnarly pines, I stumbled upon a
+woodpecker that was entirely new to my eastern eyes&mdash;one that I had not
+seen in my previous touring among the heights of the Rockies. He was
+sedulously pursuing his vocation&mdash;a divine call, no doubt&mdash;of chiselling
+grubs out of the bark of the pine trees, making the chips fly, and
+producing at intervals that musical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> snare-drumming which always sets
+the poet to dreaming of sylvan solitudes. What was the bird? The
+red-naped sapsucker, a beautifully habited Chesterfield in plumes. He
+presently ambled up the steep mountain side, and buried himself in the
+pine forest, and I saw him no more, and none of his kith.</p>
+
+<p>When I climbed up over a tangle of rocks to a woodsy ravine far above
+the lake, it seemed at first as if there were no birds in the place,
+that it was given up entirely to solitude; but the winged creatures were
+only shy and cautious for the nonce, waiting to learn something about
+the errand and disposition of their uninvited, or, rather, self-invited,
+guest, before they ventured to give him a greeting. Presently they
+discovered that he was not a collector, hunter, nest-robber, or ogre of
+any other kind, and there was the swish of wings around me, and a medley
+of chirps and songs filled the sequestered spot. Away up here the
+gray-headed juncos were trilling like warblers, and hopping about on
+their pine-needle carpet, creeping in and out among the rocks, hunting
+for tidbits. Here also was the mountain chickadee, found at this season
+in the heights hard by the alpine zone, singing his dulcet minor strain,
+"Te-te-re-e-e, te-eet," sometimes adding another "te-eet" by way of
+special emphasis and adornment. Oh, the sweet little piper piping only
+for Pan! The loneliness of the place was accentuated by the sad cadenzas
+of the mountain hermit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> thrushes. Swallows of some kind&mdash;cliff-swallows,
+no doubt&mdash;were silently weaving invisible filigree across the sky above
+the tops of the stately pines.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon we made our way, with not a little laborious effort, to
+the farther end of the lake, across which a red-shafted flicker would
+occasionally wing its galloping flight; thence through a wilderness of
+large rocks and fallen pines to a beckoning ridge, where, to our
+surprise, another beautiful aqueous sheet greeted our vision in the
+valley beyond. Descending to its shores, we had still another
+surprise&mdash;its waters were brown instead of green. Here were two mountain
+lakes not more than a quarter of a mile apart, one of which was green
+and the other brown, each with a beauty all its own. In the brown lake
+near the shore there were glints of gold as the sun shone through its
+ripples on the rocks at the bottom. Afterwards we learned that the name
+of this liquid gem was Clear Lake, and that the western branch of Clear
+Creek flows through it, tarrying a while to sport and dally with the
+sunbeams. While Green Lake was embowered in a forest of pine, its
+companion lay in the open sunlight, unflecked by the shadow of a tree.</p>
+
+<p>At the upper end of Clear Lake we found a green, bosky and bushy corner,
+which formed the summer tryst of white-crowned sparrows, Wilson's
+warblers, and broad-tailed humming-birds, none of which could find a
+suitable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> habitat on the rocky, forest-locked shores of Green Lake. A
+pigeon hawk, I regretted to note, had settled among the bushes, and was
+watching for quarry, making the only fly in the amber of the enchanted
+spot. A least flycatcher flitted about in the copse some distance up a
+shallow runway. I trudged up the valley about a mile above Clear Lake,
+and found a green, open meadow, with clumps of bushes here and there, in
+which a few white-crowned sparrows and Wilson's warblers had taken up at
+least a temporary dwelling; but the wind was blowing shiveringly from
+the snow-capped mountains not many miles away, and there was still a
+wintry aspect about the vale. The cold evidently affected the birds as
+it did myself, for they lisped only a few bars of song in a half-hearted
+way. Evening was approaching, and the two travellers&mdash;the human ones, I
+mean&mdash;started on the trail down the valleys and ca&ntilde;ons toward
+Georgetown, which they reached at dusk, tired, but thankful for the
+privilege of spending an idyllic day among their winged companions.</p>
+
+<div class="floatl">
+   <a id="image223" name="image223"></a>
+   <a href="images/i223a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i223b.jpg"
+        alt="Pigeon Hawk"
+        title="Pigeon Hawk" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Pigeon Hawk</i><br />
+    "<i>Watching for quarry</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Following a wagon road, the next day, across a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> pass some distance below
+Georgetown brought us into another valley, whose green meadows and
+cultivated fields lay a little lower, perhaps a couple hundred feet,
+than the valley from which we had come. Here we found many Brewer's
+blackbirds, of which there were very few in the vicinity of Georgetown.
+They were feeding their young, some of which had already left the nest.
+No red-winged blackbirds had been seen in the Georgetown valley, while
+here there was a large colony of them, many carrying food to the
+bantlings in grass and bush. Otherwise there was little difference
+between the avi-fauna of the two valleys.</p>
+
+<p>One morning I climbed the steep mountain just above Georgetown, the one
+that forms the divide between the two branches of Clear Creek. A western
+chipping sparrow sat trilling on the top of a small pine, as unafraid as
+the chippie that rings his silvery peals about your dooryard in the
+East; nor could I distinguish any difference between the minstrelsy of
+this westerner and his well-known cousin of Ohio. He dexterously caught
+an insect on the wing, having learned that trick, perhaps, from his
+neighbor, the little western flycatcher, which also lived on the slope.
+Hermit thrushes, Audubon's warblers, and warbling vireos dwelt on the
+lower part of the acclivity. When I climbed far up the steep wall,
+scarcely able to cling to its gravelly surface, I found very few birds;
+only a flycatcher and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> an Audubon's warbler, while below me the hermit
+thrushes were chanting a sacred oratorio in the pine woods.</p>
+
+<p>On another day the train bore us around the famous "Loop" to Silver
+Plume. In the beautiful pine grove at the terminus of the railway there
+were many birds&mdash;siskins, chipping sparrows, western robins and
+ruby-crowned kinglets; and they were making the place vocal with melody,
+until I began to inspect them with my glass, when they suddenly lapsed
+into a silence that was as trying as it was profound. By and by,
+discretion having had her perfect work, they metaphorically came out of
+their shells and permitted an inspection. Above the railway I saw one of
+the few birds of my entire Rocky Mountain outing that I was unable to
+identify. That little feathered Sphinx&mdash;what could he have been? To
+quote from my note-book, "His song, as he sits quietly on a twig in a
+pine tree, is a rich gurgling trill, slightly like that of a house-wren,
+but fuller and more melodious, with an air about it that makes me feel
+almost like writing a poem. The bird is in plain view before me, and I
+may watch him either with or without my glass; he has a short, conical
+bill; his upper parts are gray or olive-gray; cervical patch of a
+greenish tinge; under parts whitish, spotted with dusk or brown. The
+bill is white or horn-color, and is quite heavy, I should say heavier
+than that of any sparrow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> I know. The bird continued to sing for a long
+time and at frequent intervals, not even stopping when the engine near
+at hand blew off steam, although he turned his head and looked a little
+startled." I saw this species nowhere else in my Colorado rambles, and
+can find no description in the systematic manuals that helps to clear up
+the mystery, and so an <i>avis incognita</i> he must remain for the present.</p>
+
+<p>Has mention been made of a few house-finches that were seen in
+Georgetown? Only a few, however, for they prefer the towns and cities of
+the plain. Several house-wrens were also seen in the vicinity of the
+Georgetown Loop as well as elsewhere in the valley. The "Loop," although
+a monumental work of human genius and daring, has its peculiar
+attractions for the student of natural history, for in the ca&ntilde;on itself,
+which is somewhat open and not without bushy haunts, and on the
+precipitous mountain sides, a few birds set up their Lares and Penates,
+and mingle their songs of domestic felicity with the roar of the torrent
+and the passing trains. Darting like zigzag lightning about the cliffs,
+the broad-tailed humming-bird cuts the air with his sharp, defiant buzz,
+until you exclaim with the poet:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"Is it a monster bee,<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">Or is it a midget bird,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Or yet an air-born mystery<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">That now yon marigold has stirred?"<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="floatr">
+   <a id="image227" name="image227"></a>
+   <a href="images/i227a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i227b.jpg"
+        alt="Mountain Hermet Thrush"
+        title="Mountain Hermet Thrush" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption">
+    "<i>Solo singing in the thrush realm</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>Among the birds that dwell on the steep mountain sides above the "Loop"
+hollow are the melodious green-tailed towhees, lisping their chansons of
+good-will to breeze and torrent, while in the copse of asps in the
+hollow itself the warbling vireo and the western flycatcher hold sway,
+the former rehearsing his recitative all the day long, and the latter
+chirping his protest at every human intrusion. On a pine-clad shelf
+between the second fold of the "Loop" and what is known as the "Great
+Fill" I settled (at least, to my own satisfaction) a long-disputed point
+in regard to the vocalization of the mountain hermit thrush. Again and
+again I had noticed a peculiarity about the hermit's
+minstrelsy&mdash;whenever the music reached my ear, it came in two runs, the
+first quite high in the scale, the second perhaps an octave lower. For a
+long time I supposed that two thrushes were singing responsively, but
+here at the "Loop," after listening for a couple of hours, it occurred
+to me as improbable that there would invariably be a respondent when a
+thrush lifted up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> his voice in song. Surely there would sometimes, at
+least, be solo singing in the thrush realm. And so the conclusion was
+forced upon me that both strains emanated from the same throat, that
+each vocalist was its own respondent. It was worth while to clamber
+laboriously about the "Loop" to settle a point like that&mdash;at all events,
+it was worth while for one admirer of the birds.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p>
+<h2>HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK!</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image233" name="image233"></a>
+   <a href="images/i233a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i233b.jpg"
+      alt="Townsend's Solitaire"
+      title="Townsend's Solitaire" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate</span> VI<br />
+   <span class="smcap">Townsend's Solitaire</span>&mdash;<i>Myiadestes townsendii</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image234" name="image234"></a>
+   <a href="images/i234a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i234b.jpg"
+      alt="HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK!"
+      title="HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK!" />
+   </a>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="center"><a name="HO_FOR_GRAYS_PEAK" id="HO_FOR_GRAYS_PEAK"></a>HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK!</p>
+
+
+<p>By the uninitiated it may be regarded simply as fun and pastime to climb
+a mountain whose summit soars into cloudland; in reality it is serious
+business, not necessarily accompanied with great danger, but always
+accomplished by laborious effort. However, it is better for the
+clamberer to look upon his undertaking as play rather than work. Should
+he come to feel that it is actual toil, he might soon weary of a task
+engaged in so largely for its own sake, and decide to expend his time
+and energy in something that would "pay better." Moreover, if he is
+impelled by a hobby&mdash;ornithology, for instance&mdash;in addition to the mere
+love of mountaineering, he will find that something very near akin to
+wings has been annexed to the climbing gear of which he is naturally
+possessed.</p>
+
+<p>The morning of June 27 saw my youthful companion and myself mounted each
+upon a shaggy burro,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> scrambling up the steep hill above Georgetown, en
+route for Gray's Peak, the ascent of which was the chief goal of our
+ambition in coming to the Rockies on the present expedition. The
+distance from Georgetown to the summit of this peak is fourteen miles,
+and the crest itself is fourteen thousand four hundred and forty-one
+feet above sea-level, almost three hundred feet higher than Pike's Peak,
+and cannot be scaled by means of a cog-wheel railway or any other
+contrivance that uses steam or electricity as a motor. Indeed, the only
+motor available at the time of our ascent&mdash;that is, for the final
+climb&mdash;was "shank's horses," very useful and mostly safe, even if a
+little plebeian. We had been wise enough not to plunge at once among the
+heights, having spent almost a week rambling over the plains, mesas,
+foothills, and lower ranges, then had been occupied for five or six days
+more in exploring the valleys and mountain sides in the vicinity of
+Georgetown, and thus, by gradually approaching them, we had become
+inured to "roughing it" in the higher altitudes when we reached them,
+and suffered no ill effects from the rarefied atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>We passed the famous "Georgetown Loop," crept at a snail's pace&mdash;for
+that is the natural gait of the burro&mdash;through the town of Silver Plume,
+and pursued our leisurely journey toward the beckoning, snow-clad
+heights beyond. No, we did not hurry, for two reasons:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> First, our
+little four-footers would not or could not quicken their pace, urge them
+as we would; second, we desired to name all the birds along the route,
+and that "without a gun," as Emerson mercifully enjoins.</p>
+
+<p>Have you ever ridden a burro? Have you ever been astride of an old one,
+a hirsute, unkempt, snail-paced, obstinate one, which thinks he knows
+better what gait he ought to assume than you do? If you have not, I
+venture to suggest modestly that your education and moral discipline are
+not quite complete. The pair which we had hired were slow and headstrong
+enough to develop the patience of Job in a most satisfactory way, and to
+test it, too. They were as homely as the proverbial "mud fence" is
+supposed to be. Never having seen a fence of that kind, I speak with
+some degree of caution, not wanting to cast any disparagement upon
+something of which I have so little knowledge. If our long-eared
+companions had ever seen a curry-comb, it must have been in the days of
+Noah. You see, we were "tenderfoots," as far as having had any
+experience with burros was concerned, or we might have selected a more
+sprightly pair for our fellow-pilgrims. A fine picture, fit for the
+camera or the artist's brush, we presented as we crept with the speed of
+a tortoise along the steep mountain roads and trails. Our "jacks," as
+Messrs. Longears are called colloquially, were not lazy&mdash;oh, no! they
+were simply averse to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> leaving home! Their domestic ties were so strong
+they bound them with cords of steel and hooks of iron to stall and
+stable-yard! The thought of forsaking friends and kindred even for only
+a few days wrung their loving hearts with anguish! No wonder we had a
+delicate and pathetic task on hand when we attempted to start our
+caravan up the mountain road. From side to side the gentle animals
+wabbled, their load of grief weighing them down tenfold more than the
+loads on their backs, and times without count they were prompted to veer
+about and "turn again home."</p>
+
+<p>Much labor and time and patience were expended in persuading our steeds
+to crawl up the hill, but I am delighted to say that no profane history
+was quoted, as we were a strictly moral crowd. At length we arrived in
+state at the village of Silver Plume. Canter into the town like a gang
+of border ruffians we did not; we entered deliberately, as became a
+dignified company of travellers. But here a new difficulty confronted
+us, stared us blankly in the face. Our little charges could not be
+convinced that there was any occasion for going farther than the town.
+They seemed to have conscientious scruples about the matter; so they
+stopped without any invitation from their riders, sidled off, turned in
+toward the residences, stores, groceries, shoe-shops, drugstores, barns,
+and even the saloons, the while the idlers on the streets and the small
+boys were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> gawking at us, smiling in a half-suppressed way, and making
+quaint remarks in which we could see no wisdom nor humor. We had not
+come into the town, like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, merely to furnish
+the villagers amusement. Applying our canes and straps forcibly to the
+haunches and rumps of our burros only seemed to embarrass the poor
+creatures, for you can readily see how they would reason the matter out
+from their own premises: If they were to go no farther, as had been
+decided by themselves, why should their riders belabor them in that
+merciless way? For downright dialectics commend me to the Rocky Mountain
+burro.</p>
+
+<p>Finally a providence in the shape of two small boys came to our rescue,
+and in a most interesting and effective way. Seeing the predicament we
+were in, and appreciating the gravity of the situation, those
+nimble-witted lads picked up a couple of clubs from the street, and,
+getting in the rear of our champing steeds, began to pound them over the
+haunches. For small boys they delivered sturdy blows. Now, if there is
+anything that will make a burro move dexterously out of his tracks, it
+is to get behind him with a club and beat a steady tattoo on his hams
+and legs. No sooner did the boys begin to apply their clubs in good
+earnest than our burros began to print tracks in quick succession on the
+dusty road, and we went gayly through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> town, the lads making a merry
+din with their shouts and whacks, mingled with the patter of hoofs on
+the street. It was so dramatic that even the women came to their doors
+to witness the pageant. We tried not to laugh, and so did the delicately
+mannered spectators, but I suspect that a good deal of laughing was done
+on the sly, in spite of the canons of etiquette.</p>
+
+<p>At length the obliging lads became a little too accommodating. They used
+their persuasives upon the donkeys so vigorously that they&mdash;the
+donkeys&mdash;started off on a lope, a sort of awkward, lop-sided gallop.
+Now, if there is anything that is beyond the ability of Master Jack,
+especially if he is old, it is to canter and at the same time preserve
+his equilibrium. It is evident that he is not built to make a
+rocking-chair of his back bone. So a little comedy was enacted, all
+involuntary on the part of the <i>dramatis person&aelig;</i>. Suddenly
+Turpentine&mdash;that was the name of the little gray burro ridden by my boy
+companion&mdash;took a header, sending his youthful rider sprawling to the
+ground, where he did not remain a moment longer than good manners
+demanded. Fortunately he succeeded in disengaging his feet from the
+stirrups and directing his movements in such a way that the animal did
+not fall upon him. But poor Turpentine, what of him? He tumbled clean
+over his head upon his back, and I want to confess in all candor that
+one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> the most instructive and interesting "animal pictures" I have
+ever seen, including those done by Landseer, Rosa Bonheur, and Ernest
+Thompson Seton, was that little iron-gray, long-eared donkey lying on
+his back on the street and clawing the air with his hoofs. And he clawed
+fast, too&mdash;fairly sawed the air. For once in his life Turpentine, the
+snail paced, was in a hurry; for once he moved with more celerity than
+grace. It threw us into spasms of laughter to see him exert himself so
+vigorously to reverse his position&mdash;to get his feet down and his back
+up. A cat could not have done it with more celerity. You never would
+have believed him capable of putting so much vim and vigor into his
+easy-going personality. After chopping the air with his hoofs for a
+second or two, he succeeded in righting himself, and was on his feet in
+less time than it takes to tell it. There he stood, as meek as Mary's
+lamb, trying to look as if he had never turned an undignified somersault
+in all his tranquil life.</p>
+
+<p>We started on our journey again, and presently, to our intense relief,
+reached the border of the town, thanked the lads who had expedited our
+march along the street, and proceeded on our way up the valley. We soon
+settled down to taking our burros philosophically, and erelong they were
+going calmly on the even tenor of their way, and afterwards we had
+little trouble with them, and actually became quite attached to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+gentle creatures before our joint pilgrimage drew to an end.</p>
+
+<p>It is time to pass from quadrupeds to bipeds. While our feathered
+friends were not so abundant in the wilder regions as we might have
+wished, still we had almost constant avian companionship along the way.
+The warbling vireos were especially plentiful, and in full tune, making
+a silvery trail of song beside the dusty road. We had them at our elbow
+as far as Graymont, where we made a sharp detour from the open valley,
+and clambered along a steep mountain side, with a deep, wooded gorge
+below us. Here the vireos suddenly decided that they could escort us no
+farther, as they had no taste for crepuscular ca&ntilde;ons and alpine heights.
+Not a vireo was seen above Graymont, which has an altitude of nearly ten
+thousand feet. We left them singing in the valley as we turned from it,
+and did not hear them again until we came back to Graymont.</p>
+
+<p>Almost the same may be said of the broad-tailed humming-birds, whose
+insect-like buzzing we heard at frequent intervals along the route to a
+shoulder of the mountain a little above Graymont, when it suddenly
+ceased and was heard no more until we returned to the same spot a few
+days later. House-wrens, willow thrushes, Brewer's blackbirds, and
+long-crested jays were also last seen at Graymont, which seemed to be a
+kind of territorial limit for a number of species.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>However, several species&mdash;as species, of course, not as
+individuals&mdash;convoyed us all the way from Georgetown to the timber-line
+and, in some instances, beyond. Let me call the roll of these faithful
+"steadies": Mountain hermit thrushes, gray-headed juncos, red-shafted
+flickers, pine siskins, western robins, Audubon's and Wilson's warblers,
+mountain bluebirds and white-crowned sparrows. Of course, it must be
+borne in mind that these birds were not seen everywhere along the upward
+journey, simply in their favorite habitats. The deep, pine-shadowed
+gorges were avoided by the warblers and white-crowned sparrows, whilst
+every open, sunlit, and bushy spot or bosky glen was enlivened by a
+contingent of these merry minnesingers. One little bird added to our
+list in the gorge above Graymont was the mountain chickadee, which was
+found thereafter up to the timber-line.</p>
+
+<p>It was sometime in the afternoon when we reached Graymont, which we
+found to be no "mount" at all, as we had expected, but a hamlet, now
+mostly deserted, in a narrow valley in sight of several gray mountains
+looming in the distance. Straight up the valley were some snow-mantled
+peaks, but none of them was Gray's; they did not beckon to us from the
+right direction. From the upper part of the hamlet, looking to our left,
+we saw a frowning, snow-clad ridge towering like an angry giant in the
+air, and we cried simultaneously,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> "Gray's Peak!" The terrific aspect of
+that mountain sent a momentary shiver through our veins as we thought of
+scaling it without a guide. We were in error, as we afterwards found,
+for the mountain was Torrey's Peak, not Gray's, which is not visible
+from Graymont, being hidden by two intervening elevations, Mount Kelso
+and Torrey's Peak. There are several points about a mile above Graymont
+from which Gray's serene peak is visible, but of this we were not aware
+until on our return trip, when we had learned to recognize him by his
+calm and magisterial aspect.</p>
+
+<p>As evening drew on, and the westering sun fell below the ridges, and the
+shadows deepened in the gorges, making them doubly weird, we began to
+feel very lonely, and, to add to our misgivings, we were uncertain of
+our way. The prospect of having to spend a cold night out of doors in a
+solitary place like this was not very refreshing, I am free to confess,
+much as one might desire to proclaim himself a brave man. Presently our
+eyes were gladdened by the sight of a miner's shack just across the
+hollow, perhaps the one for which we were anxiously looking. A man at
+Graymont had told us about a miner up this way, saying he was a "nice
+man" and would no doubt give us accommodation for the night. I crossed
+the narrow foot-bridge that spanned the booming torrent, and found the
+miner at home. Would he give two way-worn travellers a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> place to sleep
+beneath his roof? We had brought plenty of food and some blankets with
+us, and all we required was four walls around us and a roof over our
+heads. Yes, he replied, we were welcome to such accommodation as he had,
+and he could even give us a bed, though it "wasn't very stylish." Those
+were among the sweetest and most musical words that ever fell on my ear.</p>
+
+<p>Having tethered our burros in a grassy cove on the mountain side, and
+cooked our supper in the gloaming among some rocks by the bank of the
+brawling stream, we turned into the cabin for the night, more than
+grateful for a shelter from the chill winds scurrying down from the
+snow-capped mountains. The shack nestled at the foot of Mount Kelso,
+which we had also mistaken for Gray's Peak. As we sat by the light of a
+tallow candle, beguiling the evening with conversation, the miner told
+us that the mountain jays, colloquially called "camp robbers," were
+common around his cabin, especially in winter; but familiar as they
+were, he had never been able to find a nest. The one thing about which
+they insist on the utmost privacy is their nesting places. My friend
+also told me that a couple of gray squirrels made the woods around his
+camp their home. The jays would frequently carry morsels of food up to
+the branches of the pines, and stow them in some crevice for future use,
+whereupon the squirrels, always on the lookout for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> their own interests,
+would scuttle up the tree and steal the hidden provender, eating it with
+many a chuckle of self-congratulation.</p>
+
+<p>Had not the weather turned so cold during the night, we might have slept
+quite comfortably in the miner's shack, but I must confess that, though
+it was the twenty-eighth of June and I had a small mountain of cover
+over me, I shivered a good deal toward morning. An hour or so after
+daylight four or five mountain jays came to the cabin for their
+breakfast, flitting to the ground and greedily devouring such tidbits as
+they could find. They were not in the least shy. But where were their
+nests? That was the question that most deeply interested me. During the
+next few days I made many a long and toilsome search for them in the
+woods and ravines and on the steep mountain sides, but none of the birds
+invited me to their houses. These birds know how to keep a secret.
+Anything but feathered Apollos, they have a kind of ghoulish aspect,
+making you think of the apparitional as they move in their noiseless way
+among the shadowing pines. There is a look in their dark, deep-set eyes
+and about their thick, clumpy heads which gives you a feeling that they
+might be equal to any imaginable act of cruelty. Yet I cannot say I
+dislike these mountain roustabouts, for some of their talk among
+themselves is very tender and affectionate, proving that, "whatever
+brawls disturb the street," there are love and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> concord in jay household
+circles. That surely is a virtue to be commended, and cannot be claimed
+for every family, either avian or human.</p>
+
+<p>At 4.30 that morning I crept out of bed and climbed far up one of the
+mountain sides&mdash;this was before the jays came to the cabin. The wind
+blew so icy from the snow-clad heights that I was only too glad to wear
+woollen gloves and pin a bandanna handkerchief around my neck, besides
+buttoning up my coat collar. Even then I shivered. But would you believe
+it? The mosquitoes were as lively and active as if a balmy breeze were
+blowing from Arcady, puncturing me wherever they could find a vulnerable
+spot, and even thrusting their sabres through my thick woollen gloves
+into the flesh. They must be extremely hardy insects, for I am sure such
+arctic weather would send the mosquitoes of our lower altitudes into
+their winter hiding-places. People who think there are no mosquitoes in
+the Rockies are reckoning without their hosts. In many places they
+assaulted us by the myriad until life among them became intolerable, and
+some were found even in the neighborhood of perpetual snow.</p>
+
+<p>Raw as the morning was, the hermit thrushes, mountain chickadees,
+Audubon's warblers, gray-headed juncos, and ruby-crowned kinglets were
+giving a lively rehearsal. How shy they were! They preferred being
+heard, not seen. Unexpectedly I found a hermit thrush's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> nest set in
+plain sight in a pine bush. One would have thought so shy a bird would
+make some attempt at concealment. It was a well-constructed domicile,
+composed of grass, twigs, and moss, but without mortar. The shy owner
+was nowhere to be seen, nor did she make any outcry, even though I stood
+for some minutes close to her nest. What stolidity the mountain birds
+display! You could actually rob the nests of some of them without
+wringing a chirp from them. On two later visits to the place I found
+Madame Thrush on her nest, where she sat until I came quite close, when
+she silently flitted away and ensconced herself among the pines, never
+chirping a syllable of protest or fear. In the bottom of the pretty crib
+lay four deep-blue eggs. Afterwards I found one more hermit's nest,
+which was just in process of construction. In this case, as in the
+first, no effort was made at concealment, the nest being placed in the
+crotch of a quaking asp a rod or so above the trail, from which it could
+be plainly seen. The little madame was carrying a load of timbers to her
+cottage as we went down the trail, and sat in the nest moulding and
+putting her material in place as I climbed up the steep bank to inspect
+her work. Then she flew away, making no demonstration while I examined
+the nest.</p>
+
+<p>Having eaten our breakfast at the miner's cabin, my youthful companion
+and I mounted our "gayly caparisoned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> steeds," and resumed our journey
+toward Gray's Peak. The birds just mentioned greeted us with their
+salvos as we crept along. It was not until we had almost reached the
+timber-line that Gray's Peak loomed in sight, solemn and majestic,
+photographed against the cobalt sky, with its companion-piece, Torrey's
+Peak, standing sullen beside it. The twin peaks were pointed out to us
+by another miner whom we met at his shack just a little below the
+timber-line, and who obligingly gave us permission to "bunk" in one of
+the cabins of what is known as "Stephen's mine," which is now
+abandoned&mdash;or was at the time of our visit. Near the timber-line, where
+the valley opens to the sunlight, we found a mountain bluebird flitting
+about some old, deserted buildings, but, strangely enough, this was the
+last time we saw him, although we looked for him again and again. Nor
+did we see another mountain blue in this alpine eyrie.</p>
+
+<p>Our burros were tethered for the day in a grassy hollow, our effects
+stowed away in the cabin aforesaid, which we had leased for a few days;
+then, with luncheon strapped over our shoulders and butterfly net and
+field-glass in hand, we started happily up the valley afoot toward the
+summit of our aspirations, Gray's Peak, rising fourteen thousand four
+hundred and forty-one feet above the level of the sea. In some scrubby
+pine bushes above timber-line several Audubon's warblers were flitting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>
+and singing, living hard by the white fields of snow. Still farther up
+the hollow Wilson's warblers were trilling blithely, proclaiming
+themselves yet more venturesome than their gorgeous cousins, the
+Audubons. There is reason for this difference, for Wilson's warblers
+nest in willows and other bushes which thrive on higher ground and
+nearer the snowy zone than do the pines to which Audubon's warblers are
+especially attached. At all events, <i>Sylvania pusilla</i> was one of the
+two species which accompanied us all the way from Georgetown to the foot
+of Gray's Peak, giving us a kind of "personally conducted" journey.</p>
+
+<p>Our other brave escorts were the white-crowned sparrows, which pursued
+the narrowing valleys until they were merged into the snowy gorges that
+rive the sides of the towering twin peaks. In the arctic gulches the
+scrubby copses came to an end, and therefore the white-crowns ascended
+no higher, for they are, in a pre-eminent sense, "birds of the bush."
+Subsequently I found them as far up the sides of Mount Kelso as the
+thickets extended, which was hundreds of feet higher than the snow-bound
+gorges just mentioned, for Kelso receives more sunshine than his taller
+companions, particularly on his eastern side. Brave birds are these
+handsome and musical sparrows. It was interesting to see them hopping
+about on the snow-fields, picking up dainties from the white crystals.
+How lyrical they were in this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> upper mountain valley! As has been said,
+for some unaccountable reason the white-crowns in the vicinity of
+Georgetown were quite chary of their music. Not so those that dwelt in
+the valley below Gray's and Torrey's peaks, for there they trilled their
+melodious measures with a richness and abandon that were enchanting.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the snow-belt, though still a little below the limit of
+copsy growths, we saw our first pipits, which, it will be remembered, I
+had encountered on the summit of Pike's Peak two years before. In our
+climb up Gray's Peak we found the pipit realm and that of the
+white-crowned sparrows slightly overlapping. As soon, however, as we
+began the steep climb above the matted copses, the white-crowns
+disappeared and the pipits grew more abundant. At frequent intervals
+these birds would suddenly start up from the ground, utter their
+protesting "Te-cheer! te-cheer!" and hurl themselves recklessly across a
+snowy gulch, or dart high into the air and let their semi-musical calls
+drop and dribble from the turquoise depths of the sky. Did the pipits
+accompany you to the summit of the peak? I half regret to admit that
+they did not, but ceased to appear a good while before the summit was
+attained. This is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that
+these birds were extremely abundant on the crest of Pike's Peak, where
+they behaved in a "very-much-at-home" way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>However, there was ample compensation in the ascent of Gray's Peak. As
+we clambered up the steep and rugged side of the mountain, sometimes
+wading snow up to our knees, then making a short cut straight up the
+acclivity to avoid the snow-banks, unable to follow the trail a large
+part of the way, we were suddenly made aware of the presence of another
+fearless feathered comrade. With a chirp that was the very quintessence
+of good cheer and lightness of heart, he hopped about on the snow,
+picking dainties from his immaculate tablecloth, and permitting us to
+approach him quite close before he thought it worth while to take to
+wing. We were happy indeed to meet so companionable a little friend, one
+that, amid these lonely and awe-inspiring heights, seemed to feel so
+much at ease and exhibited so confiding a disposition. Was it fancy or
+was it really true? He appeared to be giving us a hospitable welcome to
+his alpine home, telling us we might venture upward into cloudland or
+skyland without peril; then, to make good his assurance, he mounted
+upward on resilient wings to prove how little danger there was. We were
+doubly glad for our little seer, for just then we needed someone to
+"prophesy smooth things" to us. The bird was the brown-capped
+leucosticte or rosy finch. Thus far I have used the singular number, but
+the plural would have been more accurate, for there were many of these
+finches on the acclivity and summit, all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> of them in a most cheerful
+mood, their good will and cordial welcome giving us a pleasant feeling
+of comradery as we journeyed together up the mountain side.</p>
+
+<p>Our climb up Gray's Peak was a somewhat memorable event in our
+experience, and I am disposed to dwell upon it. The valley which we had
+followed terminates in a deep gorge, filled with drift snow the year
+round, no doubt, and wedging itself between Gray's and Torrey's
+shoulders and peaks. Here the melting snows form the head waters of
+Clear Creek, whose sinuous course we had followed by rail, foot, and
+burro from the city of Denver.</p>
+
+<p>The trail, leaving the ravine, meandered up a shoulder of the mountain,
+wheeled to the left and crept along a ridge, with some fine,
+blood-curdling abysses on the eastern side; then went zigzagging back
+and forth on the precipitous wall of Gray's titanic mount, until at
+last, with a long pull and a strong pull, it scaled the backbone of the
+ridge. All this, however, is much more easily told than done. Later in
+the season, when the trail is clear of snow-drifts, sure-footed horses
+and burros are ridden to the summit; but we were too early to follow the
+trail even on foot. Indeed, many persons familiar with the mountains had
+declared that we could not reach the top so early in the season, on
+account of the large snow-banks that still covered the trail. Even the
+old miner, who in the valley below pointed out the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> peak to us,
+expressed grave doubts about the success and wisdom of our undertaking.
+"See!" he said, "the trail's covered with snow in many places on the
+mountain side. I'm afraid you can't reach the top, sir." I did not see
+as clearly as he did, but said nothing aloud. In my mind I shouted,
+"Excelsior!" and then added, mentally, of course, "Faint heart never won
+fair lady or fairer mountain's crest&mdash;hurrah for the peak!" I simply
+felt that if there were birds and butterflies on that sky-aspiring
+tower, I <i>must</i> see them. The die was cast; we had come to Colorado
+expressly to climb Gray's Peak, and climb it we would, or have some good
+reason to give for not doing so.</p>
+
+<p>And now we were making the attempt. We had scarcely reached the
+mountain's shoulder before we were obliged to wade snow. For quite a
+distance we were able to creep along the edge of the trail, or skirt the
+snow-beds by making short detours, and then returning to the trail; but
+by and by we came to a wide, gleaming snow-field that stretched right
+athwart our path and brought us to a standstill with the exclamation,
+"What shall we do now?" Having already sunk a number of times into the
+snow over our boot-tops, we felt that it would not be safe to venture
+across so large an area of soft and treacherous crystals melting in the
+afternoon sun and only slightly covering we knew not what deep gorges.
+In some places we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> had been able to walk on the top of the snow, but
+elsewhere it was quite soft, and we could hear the gurgling of water
+underneath, and sometimes it sounded a little more sepulchral than we
+liked. Looking far up the acclivity, we saw still larger snow-fields
+obliterating the trail. "We can never cross those snow-fields," one of
+us declared, a good deal of doubt in his tones. A moment's reflection
+followed, and then the other exclaimed stoutly, "Let us climb straight
+up, then!" To which his companion replied, "All right, little Corporal!
+Beyond the Alps lies Italy!"</p>
+
+<p>Over rocks and stones and stretches of gravel, sometimes loose,
+sometimes solid, we clambered, half the time on all fours, skirting the
+snow-fields that lay in our unblazed pathway; on and up, each cheering
+the other at frequent intervals by crying lustily, "We can make it! We
+can make it!" ever and anon throwing ourselves on the rocks to recover
+our breath and rest our aching limbs; on and up we scrambled and crept,
+like ants on a wall, until at length, reaching the ridge at the left a
+little below the top, we again struck the trail, when we stopped a few
+minutes to catch breath, made one more mighty effort, and, behold! we
+stood on Gray's summit, looking down triumphantly at the world crouching
+at our feet. Never before had we felt so much like Jupiter on Olympus.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>GRAY'S AND TORREY'S PEAKS</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Gray's to the left, Torrey's to the right. As the lookout of the
+photographer was nearer Torrey's than Gray's, the former appears the
+higher in the picture, while the reverse is really the case. The trail
+winds through a ravine at the right of the ridge in front; then creeps
+along the farther side of the ridge above the gorge at Torrey's base;
+comes to the crest of the ridge pretty well toward the left; then crawls
+and zigzags back and forth along the titanic wall of Gray's to the
+summit. In the vale, where some of the head waters of Clear Creek will
+be seen, the white-crowned sparrows and Wilson's warblers find homes. A
+little before the ascent of the ridge begins, the first pipits are seen;
+thence the clamberer has pipit company to the point where the ridge
+joins the main bulk of the mountain. Here the pipits stop, and the first
+leucostictes are noted, which, chirping cheerily all the way, escort the
+traveller to the summit.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image256" name="image256"></a>
+   <a href="images/i256a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i256b.jpg"
+      alt="GRAY'S AND TORREY'S PEAKS"
+      title="GRAY'S AND TORREY'S PEAKS" />
+   </a>
+</div>
+
+<p>In making the ascent, some persons, even among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> those who ride, become
+sick; others suffer with bleeding at the nose, and others are so
+overcome with exhaustion and weakness that they cannot enjoy the superb
+panorama spread out before them. However you may account for it, my
+youthful comrade and I, in spite of our arduous climb, were in excellent
+physical condition when we reached our goal, suffering no pain whatever
+in eyes, head, or lungs. The bracing air, rare as it was, soon
+exhilarated us, our temporary weariness disappeared, and we were in the
+best of trim for scouring the summit, pursuing our natural history
+hobbies, and revelling in the inspiring cyclorama that Nature had reared
+for our delectation.</p>
+
+<p>My pen falters when I think of describing the scene that broke upon our
+vision. I sigh and wish the task were done. The summit itself is a
+narrow ridge on which you may stand and look down the declivities on
+both sides, scarcely having to step out of your tracks to do so. It is
+quite different from the top of Pike's Peak, which is a comparatively
+level plateau several acres in extent, carpeted, if one may so speak,
+with immense granite rocks piled upon one another or laid side by side
+in semi-systematic order; whereas Gray's, as has been said, is a narrow
+ridge, composed chiefly of comparatively small stones, with a sprinkling
+of good-sized boulders. The finer rocks give the impression of having
+been ground down by crushing and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> attrition to their present dimensions
+in the far-away, prehistoric ages.</p>
+
+<p>A short distance to the northwest frowned Torrey's Peak, Gray's
+companion-piece, the twain being connected by a ridge which dips in an
+arc perhaps a hundred feet below the summits. The ridge was covered with
+a deep drift of snow, looking as frigid and unyielding as a scene in the
+arctic regions. Torrey's is only a few feet lower than Gray's&mdash;one of my
+books says five. Mention has been made of its forbidding aspect. It is
+indeed one of the most ferocious-looking mountains in the Rockies, its
+crown pointed and grim, helmeted with snow, its sides, especially east
+and north, seamed and ridged and jagged, the gorges filled with snow,
+the beetling cliffs jutting dark and threatening, bearing huge drifts
+upon their shoulders. Torrey's Peak actually seemed to be calling over
+to us like some boastful Hercules, "Ah, ha! you have climbed my
+mild-tempered brother, but I dare you to climb me!" For reasons of our
+own we declined the challenge.</p>
+
+<p>The panorama from Gray's Peak is one to inspire awe and dwell forever in
+the memory, an alpine wonderland indeed and in truth. To the north,
+northwest, and west there stretches, as far as the eye can reach, a vast
+wilderness of snowy peaks and ranges, many of them with a rosy glow in
+the sunshine, tier upon tier, terrace above terrace, here in serried
+ranks, there in isolated grandeur, some just beyond the dividing
+ca&ntilde;ons, others fifty, sixty, a hundred miles away, cyclopean, majestic,
+infinite. Far to the north, Long's Peak lifts his seamed and hoary
+pyramid, almost as high as the crest on which we are standing; in the
+west rise that famous triad of peaks, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton,
+their fanelike towers, sketched against the sky, disputing the palm with
+old Gray himself; while a hundred miles to the south Pike's Peak stands
+solitary and smiling in the sun, seeming to say, "I am sufficient unto
+myself!" Between our viewpoint and the last-named mountain lies South
+Park, like a paradise of green immured by guardian walls of rock and
+snow, and far to the east, beyond the billowing ranges, white, gray, and
+green, stretch the limitless plains, vanishing in the hazy distance. In
+such surroundings one's breast throbs and swells with the thought of
+Nature's omnipotence.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>PANORAMA FROM GRAY'S PEAK&mdash;NORTHWEST</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The picture includes the northern spur of Gray's Peak, with the
+dismantled signal station on its crest. The main ridge of the peak
+extends out to the left of the signal station. The summit is so situated
+as to be exposed to the sun the greater part of the day; hence, although
+it is the highest point in the region, there is less snow upon it in
+summer than upon many of the surrounding elevations. Looking northwest
+from the signal station, the eye falls upon a wilderness of snow-clad
+peaks and ranges, some standing in serried ranks, others in picturesque
+disorder. It is truly an arctic scene, summer or winter. Yet it is the
+summer home of the brown-capped leucosticte and the white-tailed
+ptarmigan, which range in happy freedom over the upper story of our
+country.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image260" name="image260"></a>
+   <a href="images/i260a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i260b.jpg"
+      alt="PANORAMA FROM GRAY'S PEAK&mdash;NORTHWEST"
+      title="PANORAMA FROM GRAY'S PEAK&mdash;NORTHWEST" />
+   </a>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>The summit of Gray's Peak is a favorable viewpoint from which to study
+the complexion, the idiosyncrasies, if you please, of individual
+mountains, each of which seems to have a personality of its own. Here is
+Gray's Peak itself, calm, smiling, good-natured as a summer morning;
+yonder is Torrey's, next-door neighbor, cruel, relentless, defiant,
+always threatening with cyclone or tornado, or forging the thunder-bolts
+of Vulcan. Some mountains appear grand and dignified, others look like
+spitfires. On one side some bear smooth and green<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> slopes almost to the
+top, while the other is scarred, craggy, and precipitous.</p>
+
+<p>The day was serene and beautiful, the sky a deep indigo, unflecked with
+clouds, save a few filmy wracks here and there, and the breeze as balmy
+as that of a May morning in my native State. So quiet was the alpine
+solitude that on all sides we could hear the solemn roar of the streams
+in the ravines hundreds of feet below, some of them in one key and some
+in another, making almost a symphony. For several hours we tarried, held
+by a spell. "But you have forgotten your ornithology!" some one reminds
+me. No one could blame me if I had. Such, however, is not the case, for
+ornithology, like the poor, is never far from some of us. The genial
+little optimists that had been hopping about on the snow on the
+declivities had acted as our cicerones clear to the summit, and some of
+them remained there while we tarried. Indeed the leucostictes were quite
+plentiful on the mountain's brow. Several perched on the dismantled
+walls of the abandoned government building on the summit, called
+cheerily, then wheeled about over the crest, darted out and went
+careering over the gulches with perfect aplomb, while we watched them
+with envious eyes, wishing we too had wings like a leucosticte, not that
+we "might fly away," as the Psalmist longed to do, but that we might
+scale the mountains at our own sweet will. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> favorite occupation of
+our little comrades, besides flying, was hopping about on the snow and
+picking up dainties that were evidently palatable. Afterwards we
+examined the snow, and found several kinds of small beetles and other
+insects creeping up through it or about on its surface. Without doubt
+these were leucosticte's choice morsels. Thus Nature spreads her table
+everywhere with loving care for her feathered children. The general
+habits of the rosy finches are elsewhere depicted in this volume. It
+only remains to be said that they were much more abundant and familiar
+on Gray's Peak than on Pike's Peak,&mdash;that is, at the time of my
+respective visits to those summits.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image263a" name="image263a"></a>
+   <a href="images/i263aa.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i263ab.jpg"
+      alt="Thistle Butterfly"
+      title="Thistle Butterfly" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><i>Thistle Butterfly</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="floatl">
+   <a id="image263b" name="image263b"></a>
+   <a href="images/i263ba.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i263bb.jpg"
+        alt="Western White"
+        title="Western White" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Western White</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>To omit all mention of the butterflies seen on this trip would be proof
+of avian monomania with a vengeance. The lad who was with me found a
+number of individuals of two species zigzagging over the summit, and
+occasionally settling upon the rocks right by the fields of snow. What
+kind of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> nectar they sipped I know not, for there were no flowers or
+verdure on the heights. They were the Painted Lady or Thistle Butterfly
+(<i>Pyrameis cardui</i>) and the Western White (<i>Pieris occidentalis</i>). He
+captured an individual of the latter species with his net, and to-day it
+graces his collection, a memento of a hard but glorious climb. The
+descent of the mountain was laborious and protracted, including some
+floundering in the snow, but was accomplished without accident. A warm
+supper in the miner's shack which we had leased prepared us for the
+restful slumbers of the night.</p>
+
+<p>Although the weather was so cold that a thin coating of ice was formed
+on still water out of doors, the next morning the white-crowned sparrows
+were singing their sonatas long before dawn, and when at peep of day I
+stepped outside, they were flitting about the cabins as if in search of
+their breakfast. The evening before, I left the stable-door open while I
+went to bring the burros up from their grazing plat. When I returned
+with the animals, a white-crown flew out of the building just as I
+stepped into the entrance, almost fluttering against my feet, and
+chirping sharply at what he seemed to think a narrow escape. He had
+doubtless gone into the stable on a foraging expedition.</p>
+
+<p>The day was spent in exploring the valley and steep mountain sides. A
+robin's nest was found a little below the timber-line on the slope of
+Mount Kelso. In the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> woods a short distance farther down, a gray-headed
+junco's nest was discovered after a good deal of patient waiting. A
+female was preening her feathers on a small pine-tree, a sure sign that
+she had recently come from brooding her eggs. Presently she began to
+flit about from the tree to the ground and back again, making many
+feints and starts, which proved that she was embarrassed by my
+espionage; but at last she disappeared and did not return. With
+quickened pulse I approached the place where I had last seen her. It was
+not long before she flew up with a nervous chirp, revealing a pretty
+domicile under a roof of green grass, with four daintily speckled eggs
+on the concave floor. I noticed especially that the doorway of the tiny
+cottage was open toward the morning sun.</p>
+
+<p>At the timber-line there were ruby-crowned kinglets, mountain
+chickadees, and gray-headed juncos, while far above this wavering
+boundary a pair of red-shafted flickers were observed ambling about
+among the bushes and watching me as intently as I was watching them. I
+climbed far up the side of Mount Kelso, then around its rocky shoulder,
+following an old trail that led to several abandoned silver mines, but
+no new birds rewarded my toilsome quest, although I was pleased to learn
+that the pipits and leucostictes did not give the "go-by" to this grand
+old mountain, but performed their thrilling calisthenics in the air
+about its slopes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> and ravines with as much grace as they did on the
+loftier mountain peaks the day before. A beautiful fox and three cubs
+were seen among the large stones, and many mountain rats and a sly mink
+went scuttling about over the rocks.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image266" name="image266"></a>
+   <a href="images/i266a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i266b.jpg"
+      alt="Junco"
+      title="Junco" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><i>Junco</i><br />
+   "<i>Under a roof of green grass</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>On the morning of June 30 the white-crowns, as usual, were chanting
+their litanies long before day broke. We left the enchanting valley that
+morning, the trills of the white-crowns ringing in the alpenglow like a
+sad farewell, as if they felt that we should never meet again. On our
+way down the winding road we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> frequently turned to gaze with longing
+eyes upon the snowy summits of the twin peaks, Gray's all asmile in the
+sunshine, and Torrey's&mdash;or did we only imagine it?&mdash;relenting a little
+now that he was looking upon us for the last time. Did the mountains and
+the white-crowns call after us, "Auf wiedersehen!" or was that only
+imagination too?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p>
+<h2>PLEASANT OUTINGS</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image271" name="image271"></a>
+   <a href="images/i271a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i271b.jpg"
+      alt="Ruddy Duck"
+      title="Ruddy Duck" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate</span> VII<br />
+   <span class="smcap">Ruddy Duck</span>&mdash;<i>Erismatura rubida</i><br />
+   (Lower figure, male; upper, female)</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="PLEASANT_OUTINGS" id="PLEASANT_OUTINGS"></a>PLEASANT OUTINGS</p>
+
+
+<p>One of our pleasantest trips was taken up South Platte Ca&ntilde;on, across
+South Park, and over the range to Breckenridge. The town lies in the
+valley of the Blue River, the famous Ten Mile Range, with its numerous
+peaks and bold and rugged contour, standing sentinel on the west. Here
+we found many birds, but as few of them were new, I need not stop to
+enter into special detail.</p>
+
+<p>At the border of the town I found my first green-tailed towhee's nest,
+which will be described in the last chapter. A pair of mountain
+bluebirds had snuggled their nest in a cranny of one of the cottages,
+and an entire family of blues were found on the pine-clad slope beyond
+the stream; white-crowned sparrows were plentiful in the copses and far
+up the bushy ravines and mountain sides; western chippies rang their
+silvery peals; violet-green swallows wove their invisible fabrics
+overhead; juncos and Audubon's warblers proclaimed their presence in
+many a remote ingle by their little trills; and Brewer's blackbirds
+"chacked" their remonstrance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> at every intrusion into their demesnes;
+while in many a woodsy or bushy spot the long-crested jays rent the air
+with their raucous outcries; nor were the broad-tailed hummers wanting
+on this side of the range, and of course their saucy buzzing was heard
+wherever they darted through the air.</p>
+
+<p>An entire day was spent in ascending and descending Peak Number Eight,
+one of the boldest of the jutting crags of the Ten Mile Range; otherwise
+it is called Tillie Ann, in honor of the first white woman known to
+scale its steep and rugged wall to the summit. She must have been a
+brave and hardy woman, and certainly deserves a monument of some kind in
+memory of her achievement, although it falls to the lot of few persons
+to have their deeds celebrated by a towering mountain for a memorial.
+While not as high by at least a thousand feet as Gray's Peak, it was
+fully as difficult of access. A high ridge of snow, which we surmounted
+with not a little pride and exhilaration, lay on its eastern acclivity
+within a few feet of the crest, a white crystalline bank gleaming in the
+sun. The winds hurtling over the summit were as cold and fierce as old
+Boreas himself, so that I was glad to wear woollen gloves and button my
+coat-collar close around my neck; yet it was the Fourth of July, when
+the people of the East were sweltering in the intense heat of their low
+altitudes. It was a surprise to us to find the wind so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> much colder here
+than it had been on the twenty-eighth of June on the summit of Gray's
+Peak, which is considerably farther north. However, there may be times
+when the meteorological conditions of the two peaks are reversed,
+blowing a gale on Gray's and whispering a zephyr on Tillie Ann.</p>
+
+<p>The usual succession of birds was seen as we toiled up the slopes and
+steep inclines, some stopping at the timber-line and others extending
+their range far up toward the alpine zone. In the pine belt below the
+timber-line a pair of solitaires were observed flitting about on the
+ground and the lower branches of the trees, but vouchsafing no song. In
+the same woodland the mountain jays held carnival&mdash;a bacchanalian revel,
+judging from the noise they made; the ruby-crowned kinglets piped their
+galloping roundels; a number of wood-pewees&mdash;western species&mdash;were
+screeching, thinking themselves musical; siskins were flitting about,
+though not as numerous as they had been in the piny regions below Gray's
+Peak; and here for the first time I saw olive-sided flycatchers among
+the mountains. I find by consulting Professor Cooke that their breeding
+range is from seven thousand to twelve thousand feet. A few juncos and
+ruby-crowned kinglets were seen above the timber-line, while many
+white-crowned sparrows, some of them singing blithely, climbed as far up
+the mountain side as the stunted copses extended.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Oddly enough, no leucostictes were seen on this peak. Why they should
+make their homes on Pike's and Gray's Peaks and neglect Tillie Ann is
+another of those puzzles in featherdom that cannot be solved. Must a
+peak be over fourteen thousand feet above sea-level to meet their
+physiological wants in the summery season? Who can tell? There were
+pipits on this range, but, for some reason that was doubtless
+satisfactory to themselves, they were much shyer than their brothers and
+sisters had been on Gray's Peak and Mount Kelso; more than that, they
+were seen only on the slopes of the range, none of them being observed
+on the crest itself, perhaps on account of the cold, strong gale that
+was blowing across the snowy heights. A nighthawk was sailing in its
+erratic course over the peaks&mdash;a bit of information worth noting, none
+of these birds having been seen on any of the summits fourteen thousand
+feet high. These matters are perhaps not of supreme interest, yet they
+have their value as studies in comparative ornithology and are helpful
+in determining the <i>locale</i> of the several species named. In the same
+interest I desire to add that mountain chickadees, hermit thrushes,
+warbling vireos, and red-shafted flickers belong to my Breckenridge
+list. Besides, what I think must have been a Mexican crossbill was seen
+one morning among the pines, and also a large hawk and two kinds of
+woodpeckers, none of which tarried long enough to permit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> me to make
+sure of their identity. The crossbill&mdash;if the individual seen was a bird
+of that species&mdash;wore a reddish jacket, explored the pine cones, and
+sang a very respectable song somewhat on the grosbeak order, quite
+blithe, loud, and cheerful.</p>
+
+<p>On our return trip to Denver we stopped for a couple of days at the
+quiet village of Jefferson in South Park, and we shall never cease to be
+thankful that our good fairies led us to do so. What birds, think you,
+find residence in a green, well-watered park over nine thousand feet
+above sea-level, hemmed in by towering, snow-clad mountains? Spread out
+around you like a cyclorama lies the plateau as you descend the mountain
+side from Kenosha Pass; or wheel around a lofty spur of Mount Boreas,
+and you almost feel as if you must be entering Paradise. It was the
+fifth of July, and the park had donned its holiday attire, the meadows
+wearing robes of emerald, dappled here and there with garden spots of
+variegated flowers that brought more than one exclamation of delight
+from our lips.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>SOUTH PARK FROM KENOSHA HILL</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>A paradise of green engirdled by snow-mantled mountains, making a
+summer home for western meadow-larks, Brewer's blackbirds, desert horned
+larks, and western Savanna sparrows.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image278" name="image278"></a>
+   <a href="images/i278a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i278b.jpg"
+      alt="SOUTH PARK FROM KENOSHA HILL"
+      title="SOUTH PARK FROM KENOSHA HILL" />
+   </a>
+</div>
+
+<p>Before leaving the village, our attention was called to a colony of
+cliff-swallows, the first we had seen in our touring among the
+mountains. Against the bare wall beneath the eaves of a barn they had
+plastered their adobe, bottle-shaped domiciles, hundreds of them, some
+in orderly rows, others in promiscuous clusters. At dusk, when we
+returned to the village, the birds were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> going to bed, and it was
+interesting to watch their method of retiring. The young were already
+grown, and the entire colony were converting their nests into sleeping
+berths, every one of them occupied, some of the partly demolished ones
+by two and three birds. But there were not enough couches to go round,
+and several of the birds were crowded out, and were clinging to the side
+of the wall on some of the protuberances left from their broken-down
+clay huts. It was a query in my mind whether they could sleep
+comfortably in that strained position, but I left them to settle that
+matter for themselves and in their own way.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the town, we soon found that the irrigated meadows and
+bush-fringed banks of the stream made habitats precisely to the taste of
+Brewer's blackbirds, which were quite plentiful in the park. My
+companion was "in clover," for numerous butterflies went undulating over
+the meadows, leading him many a headlong chase, but frequently getting
+themselves captured in his net. Thus occupied, he left me to attend to
+the birds. At the border of the village a little bird that was new to me
+flitted into view and permitted me to identify it with my glass. The
+little stranger was the western savanna sparrow. South Park was the only
+place in my Colorado rambles where I found this species, and even his
+eastern representative is known to me very imperfectly and only as a
+migrant. The park was fairly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> alive with savannas, especially in the
+irrigated portions. I wonder how many millions of them dwelt in this
+vast Eden of green almost twice as large as the State of Connecticut!
+The little cocks were incessant singers, their favorite perches being
+the wire fences, or weeds and grass tufts in the pastures. Their voices
+are weak, but very sweet, and almost as fine as the sibilant buzz of
+certain kinds of insects. The pretty song opens with two or three
+somewhat prolonged syllables, running quite high, followed by a trill
+much lower in the scale, and closes with a very fine, double-toned
+strain, delivered with the rising inflection and a kind of twist or
+jerk&mdash;"as if," say my notes, "the little lyrist were trying to tie a
+knot in his aria before letting it go." More will be said about these
+charming birds before the end of this chapter.</p>
+
+<p>The western meadow-larks were abundant in the park, delivering with
+great gusto their queer, percussive chants, which, according to my
+notes, "so often sound as if the birds were trying to crack the whip."
+The park was the only place above the plains and mesas where I found
+these gifted fluters, with the exception of the park about Buena Vista.
+It would appear that the narrow mountain valleys, green and grassy
+though they are, do not appeal to the larks for summer homes; no, they
+seem to crave "ampler realms and spaces" in which to spread their wings
+and chant their dithyrambs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Where the natural streams and irrigating ditches do not reach the soil
+of the park it is as dry and parched as the plains and mesas. In fact,
+the park is only a smaller and higher edition of the plains, the
+character of the soil and the topography of the land in both regions
+being identical. Never in the wet, fresh meadows, whether of plain or
+park, only on the arid slopes and hillocks, will you find the desert
+horned larks, which are certainly true to their literary cognomen, if
+ever birds were. How they revel in the desert! How scrupulously they
+draw the line on the moist and emerald areas! Surely there are "many
+birds of many kinds," and one might appropriately add, "of many minds,"
+as well; for, while the blackbirds and savanna sparrows eschew the
+desert, the horned larks show the same dislike for the meadow. In
+shallow pits dug by themselves amid the sparse buffalo grass, the larks
+set their nests. The young had already left their nurseries at the time
+of my visit to the park, but were still receiving their rations from the
+beaks of their elders. On a level spot an adult male with an uncommonly
+strong voice for this species was hopping about on the ground and
+reciting his canticles. Seeing I was a stranger and evidently interested
+in all sorts of avian exploits, he decided to give an exhibition of what
+might be called sky-soloing, as well as dirigible ballooning. Starting
+up obliquely from the ground, he continued to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> ascend in a series of
+upward leaps, making a kind of aerial stairway, up, up, on and up, until
+he was about the size of a humming-bird framed against the blue dome of
+the sky. So far did he plunge into the cerulean depths that I could just
+discern the movement of his wings. While scaling the air he did not
+sing, but having reached the proper altitude, he opened his mandibles
+and let his ditty filtrate through the ether like a shower of spray. It
+could be heard quite plainly, although at best the lark's song is a
+weak, indefinite twitter, its peculiar characteristic being its carrying
+quality, which is indeed remarkable.</p>
+
+<p>The soloist circled around and around in the upper air so long that I
+grew dizzy watching him, and my eyes became blinded by the sun and the
+glittering sky. How long he kept up his aerial evolutions, singing all
+the while, I am unprepared to announce, for I was too much engrossed in
+watching him to consult my timepiece; but the performance lasted so long
+that I was finally obliged to throw myself on my back on the ground to
+relieve the strain upon me, so that I might continue to follow his
+movements. I venture the conjecture that the show lasted from fifteen to
+twenty minutes; at least, it seemed that long to me in my tense state of
+body and mind. Finally he shot down like an arrow, making my head fairly
+whirl, and landed lightly on the ground, where he skipped about and
+resumed his roundelay as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> if he had not performed an extraordinary feat.
+This was certainly skylarking in a most literal sense. With the
+exception of a similar exhibition by Townsend's solitaire&mdash;to be
+described in the closing chapter&mdash;up in the neighborhood of Gray's Peak,
+it was the most wonderful avian aeronautic exploit, accompanied with
+song, of which I have ever been witness. It is odd, too, that a bird
+which is so much of a groundling&mdash;I use the term in a good sense, of
+course&mdash;should also be so expert a sky-scraper. I had listened to the
+sky song of the desert horned lark out on the plain, but there he did
+not hover long in the air.</p>
+
+<p>The killdeer plovers are as noisy in the park as they are in an eastern
+pasture-field, and almost as plentiful. In the evening near the village
+a pair of western robins and a thieving magpie had a hard tussle along
+the fence of the road. The freebooter was carrying something in his beak
+which looked sadly like a callow nestling. He tried to hide in the
+fence-corners, to give himself a chance to eat his morsel, but they were
+hot on his trail, and at length he flew off toward the distant ridge.
+Where did the robins build their nests? I saw no trees in the
+neighborhood, but no doubt they built their adobe huts on a fence-rail
+or in a nook about an old building. Not a Say's ph&oelig;be had we thus far
+seen on this jaunt to the mountains, but here was a family near the
+village, and, sure enough, they were whistling their likely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> tunes, the
+first time I had ever heard them. While I had met with these birds at
+Glenwood and in the valley below Leadville, they had not vouchsafed a
+song. What is the tune they whistle? Why, to be sure, it is, "Phe-be-e!
+phe-be-e! phe-e-e-bie!" Their voices are stronger and more mellifluent
+than the eastern ph&oelig;be's, but the manner of delivery is not so
+sprightly and gladsome. Indeed, if I mistake not, there is a pensive
+strain in the lay of the western bird.</p>
+
+<p>A few cowbirds, red-winged blackbirds, and spotted sandpipers were seen
+in the park, but they are too familiar to merit more than casual
+mention. However, let us return to Brewer's blackbirds. Closely as they
+resemble the bronzed grackles of the East, there are some marked
+differences between the eastern and western birds; the westerners are
+not so large, and their manners and nesting habits are more like those
+of the red-wings than the grackles. Brewer's blackbirds hover overhead
+as you come into the neighborhood of their nests or young, and the males
+utter their caveats in short squeals or screeches and the females in
+harsh "chacks."</p>
+
+<div class="floatr">
+   <a id="image284" name="image284"></a>
+   <a href="images/i284a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i284b.jpg"
+        alt="Magpie and Western Robins"
+        title="Magpie and Western Robins" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Magpie and Western Robins</i><br />
+    "<i>They were hot on his trail</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The nests are set in low bushes and even on the ground, while those of
+the grackles are built in trees and sometimes in cavities. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> be exact
+and scientific, Brewer's blackbirds belong to the genus <i>Icolecophagus</i>,
+and the grackles to the genus <i>Quiscalus</i>. In the breeding season the
+western birds remain in the park. That critical period over, in August
+and September large flocks of them, including young and old, ascend to
+favorite feeding haunts far above the timber-line, ranging over the
+slopes of the snowy mountains engirdling their summer home. Then they
+are in the heyday of blackbird life. Silverspot himself, made famous by
+Ernest Thompson Seton, did not lead a more romantic and adventurous
+life, and I hope some day Brewer's blackbird will be honored by a no
+less effective biography.</p>
+
+<p>What a to-do they make when you approach their outdoor hatchery! Yet
+they are sly and diplomatic. One day I tried my best to find a nest with
+eggs or bantlings in it, but failed, although, as a slight compensation,
+I succeeded in discovering three nests from which the young had flown.
+The old birds of both sexes circled overhead, called and pleaded and
+scolded, and sometimes swooped down quite close to my scalp, always
+veering off in time to avoid actual collision. A pair of them held
+choice morsels&mdash;choice for Brewer's blackbirds&mdash;in their bills, and I
+sat down on a tuft of sod and watched them for a couple of hours, hoping
+they would feed their young in plain sight and divulge their secret to
+me; but the sable strategists flitted here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> and there, hovered in the
+air, dropped to the ground, visiting every bush and grass-tuft but the
+right one, and finally the worms held in their bills disappeared,
+whether into their own gullets or those of their fledgelings, I could
+not tell. If the latter, the rascals were unconscionably wary, for my
+eyes were bent on them every moment&mdash;at least, I thought so. Again and
+again they flew off some distance, never more than a stone's throw,
+strutted about for a few minutes among the tufts of grass and sod, then
+came back with loud objurgations to the place where I sat. They seemed
+to be aware of my inspection the moment my field-glass was turned upon
+them, for they would at once cease their pretended search for insects in
+the grass and fly toward me with a clamorous berating giving me a big
+piece of their mind. At length my patience was worn out; I began to hunt
+for nests, and found the three empty abodes to which allusion has been
+made.</p>
+
+<p>For the most part the female cried, "Chack! chack!" but occasionally she
+tried to screech like her ebon consort, her voice breaking ludicrously
+in the unfeminine effort. The evening before, I had flushed a youngster
+about which a great hubbub was being made, but on the day of my long
+vigil in the meadow, I could not, by the most careful search, find a
+single bantling, either in or out of a nest. It is odd how effectually
+the young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> are able to conceal themselves in the short grass and
+straggling bushes.</p>
+
+<p>Not a little attention was given to the western savanna sparrows, whose
+songs have already been described. Abundant proof was furnished that the
+breeding season for these little birds was at its height, and I
+determined to find a nest, if within the range of possibility. An entire
+forenoon was spent in discovering three nests. As you approach their
+domiciles, the cocks, which are always on the alert, evidently give the
+alarm to their sitting mates, which thereupon slip surreptitiously from
+the nest; and in that case how are you going to ferret out their
+domestic secrets?</p>
+
+<p>A female&mdash;I could distinguish her from her consort by her conduct&mdash;was
+sitting on the post of a wire fence, preening her feathers, which was
+sufficient evidence that she had just come from brooding her eggs. To
+watch her until she went back to her nest, then make a bee-line for
+it&mdash;that was the plan I resolved to pursue. It is an expedient that
+succeeds with many birds, if the observer is very quiet and tactful. For
+a long time I stood in the blazing sun with my eyes bent on the little
+impostor. Back and forth, hither and yon, she flew, now descending to
+the ground and creeping slyly about in the grass, manifestly to induce
+me to examine the spot; then back to the fence again, chirping
+excitedly; then down at another place, employing every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> artifice to make
+me think the nest was where it was not; but I steadfastly refused to
+budge from my tracks as long as she came up in a few moments after
+descending, for in that case I knew that she was simply resorting to a
+ruse to lead me astray. Finally she went down at a point which she had
+previously avoided, and, as it was evident she was becoming exceedingly
+anxious to go back upon her eggs, I watched her like a tiger intent on
+his prey. Slyly she crept about in the grass, presently her chirping
+ceased, and she disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Several minutes passed, and she did not come up, so I felt sure she had
+gone down for good this time, and was sitting on her nest. Her husband
+exerted himself to his utmost to beguile my attention with his choicest
+arias, but no amount of finesse would now turn me from my purpose. I
+made a bee-line for the spot where I had last seen the madame, stopping
+not, nor veering aside for water, mud, bushes, or any other obstacle. A
+search of a couple of minutes brought no find, for she had employed all
+the strategy of which she was mistress in going to the nest, having
+moused along in the grass for some distance after I had last seen her. I
+made my search in an ever-widening circle, and at length espied some dry
+grass spears in a tuft right at my feet; then the little prospective
+mother flitted from her nest and went trailing on the ground, feigning
+to be fatally wounded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Acquainted with such tactics, I did not follow her, not even with my
+eye, but looked down at my feet. Ah! the water sprites had been kind,
+for there was the dainty crib, set on a high tuft of sod raised by the
+winter's frosts, a little island castle in the wet marsh, cosey and dry.
+It was my first savanna sparrow's nest, whether eastern or western. The
+miniature cottage was placed under a fragment of dried cattle excrement,
+which made a slant roof over it, protecting it from the hot rays of the
+sun. Sunken slightly into the ground, the nest's rim was flush with the
+short grass, while the longer stems rose about it in a green, filmy wall
+or stockade. The holdings of the pretty cup were four pearls of eggs,
+the ground color white, the smaller end and middle peppered finely with
+brown, the larger almost solidly washed with pigment of the same tint.</p>
+
+<p>Two more savannas' nests were found not long afterwards, one of them by
+watching the female until she settled, the other by accidentally
+flushing her as I walked across the marshy pasture; but neither of them
+was placed under a roof as the first one had been, the blue dome being
+their only shelter. These birdlets seem to be especially fond of soggy
+places in pastures, setting their nests on the little sod towers that
+rise above the surrounding water.</p>
+
+<p>All the birds seen in the park have now been mentioned. It was an
+idyllic spot, and I have often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> regretted that I did not spend a week in
+rambling over it and making excursions to the engirdling ridges and
+peaks. A few suggestive questions arise relative to the migratory habits
+of the feathered tenants of a mountain park like this, for most of those
+that have been named are only summer residents. How do they reach this
+immured Eden at the time of the spring migration? One may conjecture and
+speculate, but one cannot be absolutely sure of the precise course of
+their annual pilgrimage to their summer Mecca. Of course, they come up
+from the plains, where the spring arrives much earlier than it does in
+the higher altitudes. Our nomads may ascend by easy stages along the few
+ca&ntilde;ons and valleys leading up from the plains to this mountain-girt
+plateau; or else, rising high in air at eventide&mdash;for most birds perform
+their migrations at night&mdash;they may fly over the passes and mountain
+tops, and at dawn descend to the park.</p>
+
+<p>Neither of these hypotheses is free from objection, for, on the one
+hand, it is not likely that birds, which cannot see in the dark, would
+take the risk of dashing their brains out against the cliffs and crags
+of the ca&ntilde;ons by following them at night; yet they may depart from their
+usual habit of nocturnal migration, and make the journey up the gorges
+and vales by day. On the other hand, the nights are so cold in the
+elevated regions that the little travellers' lives might be jeopardized
+by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> nocturnal flight over the passes and peaks. There is one thing
+certain about the whole question, perplexing as it may be&mdash;the feathered
+pilgrims reach their summer quarters in some way, and seem to be very
+happy while they remain.</p>
+
+<p>We stopped at a number of places in our run down South Platte Ca&ntilde;on,
+adding no new birds to our list, but making some interesting
+observations. At Cassel's a house-wren had built a nest on the veranda
+of the hotel where people were sitting or passing most of the time, and
+was feeding her tiny brood. In the copse of the hollow below the resort,
+the mountain song-sparrows were trilling sweetly&mdash;the only ones we had
+encountered in our wanderings since leaving Arvada on the plains. These
+musicians seem to be rather finical in their choice of summer resorts.
+Chaseville is about a mile below Cassel's, and was made memorable to us
+by the discovery of our second green-tailed towhee's nest, a description
+of which I have decided to reserve for the last chapter of this volume.
+Lincoln's sparrows descanted in rich tones at various places in the
+bushy vales, but were always as wild as deer, scuttling into the
+thickets before a fair view of them could be obtained.</p>
+
+<p>The veranda of a boarding-house at Shawnee was the site of another
+house-wren's nest. While I stood quite close watching the little mother,
+she fed her bantlings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> twice without a quaver of fear, the youngsters
+chirping loudly for more of "that good dinner." At this place barn
+swallows were describing graceful circles and loops in the air, and a
+sheeny violet-green swallow squatted on the dusty road and took a
+sun-bath, which she did by fluffing up all her plumes and spreading out
+her wings and tail, so that the rays could reach every feather with
+their grateful warmth and light. It was a pretty performance.</p>
+
+<div class="floatr">
+   <a id="image292" name="image292"></a>
+   <a href="images/i292a.jpg" >
+    <img src="images/i292b.jpg"
+        alt="Violet-green Swallow"
+        title="Violet-green Swallow" />
+    </a>
+    <p class="caption"><i>Violet-green Swallow</i><br />
+    "<i>Squatted on the<br />dusty road and<br />took a sun-bath</i>"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A stop-over at Bailey's proved satisfactory for several reasons, among
+which was the finding of the Louisiana tanagers, which were the first we
+had seen on this trip, although many of them had been observed in the
+latitude of Colorado Springs. Afterwards we found them abundant in the
+neighborhood of Boulder. The only pigmy nuthatches of this visit were
+seen in a ravine above Bailey's. In the same wooded hollow I took
+occasion to make some special notes on the quaint calls of the
+long-crested jays, a task that I had thus far deferred from time to
+time. There was an entire family of jays in the ravine, the elders
+feeding their strapping youngsters in the customary manner. These birds
+frequently give voice to a strident call that is hard to distinguish
+from the cries of their kinsmen, the mountain jays. When I pursued<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> the
+couple that were attending to the gastronomical wants of their children,
+one of the adults played a yodel on his trombone sounding like this:
+"Ka-ka-ka, k-wilt, k-wilt, k-wilt", the first three short syllables
+enunciated rapidly, and the "k-wilts" in a more measured way, with a
+peculiar guttural intonation, giving the full sound to the <i>k</i> and <i>w</i>.
+The birds became very shy when they thought themselves shadowed, not
+understanding what my pursuit might imply, and they gave utterance to
+harsh cries of warning that were different from any that had preceded.
+It was presently followed by a soft and friendly chatter, as if the
+birds were having an interview that was exclusively <i>inter se</i>. Then one
+of them startled me by breaking out in a loud, high key, crying, "Quick!
+quick! quick!" as fast as he could fling the syllables from his tongue.
+This, being translated into our human vernacular, obviously meant,
+"Hurry off! danger! danger!" A few minutes of silence followed the
+outburst, while the birds ambled farther away, and then the echoes were
+roused by a most raucous call, "Go-ware! go-ware! go-ware!" in a voice
+that would have been enough to strike terror to the heart of one who was
+not used to uncanny sounds in solitary places. After that outburst the
+family flew off, and I could hear them talking the matter over among
+themselves far up the mountain side, no doubt congratulating one another
+on their hair-breadth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> escape. The youngsters looked quite stylish with
+their quaint little blue caps and neatly fitting knickerbockers.</p>
+
+<p>At Bailey's I found my first and only white-crowned sparrow's nest for
+this trip, although two years before I was fortunate enough to discover
+several nests in the valleys creeping from the foot of Pike's Peak. At
+dusk one evening I was walking along the railway below the village,
+listening to the sweetly pensive trills of the white-crowns in the
+bushes bordering the creek, when there was a sharp chirp in the willows,
+and a female white-crown darted over to my side of the stream and
+slipped quietly into a thick bush on the bank. I stepped down to the
+spot, and the pretty madame leaped away, uncovering a well-woven nest
+containing four white eggs speckled with dark brown. All the while her
+spouse was trilling with might and main on the other side of the creek,
+to make believe that there was nothing serious happening, no nest that
+any one cared anything about. His mate could not disguise her agitation
+by assuming nonchalance, but flitted about in the willows and chirped
+pitifully. I hurried away to relieve her distress. The cottages on the
+slopes were gay with tourists enjoying their summer outing, and
+beautiful Kiowa Lodge, perched on a shoulder of the mountain among
+embowering pines, glowed with incandescent lights, while its
+blithe-hearted guests pursued their chosen kinds of pastime; but none of
+them, I venture<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> to assert, were happier than the little white-crown in
+her grassy lodge on the bank of the murmuring stream.</p>
+
+<p>On the way down the ca&ntilde;on, as we were going to Denver, I was able to add
+three belted kingfishers to my bird-roll of Colorado species, the only
+ones I saw in the Rockies.</p>
+
+<p>Our jaunt of 1901 included a trip to Boulder and a thrilling swing
+around the far-famed "Switzerland Trail" to Ward, perched on the
+mountain sides among the clouds hard by the timber-line. Almost
+everywhere we met with feathered comrades; in some places, especially
+about Boulder, many of them; but no new species were seen, and no habits
+observed that have not been sufficiently delineated in other parts of
+this book. If one could only observe all the birds all the time in all
+places, what a happy life the bird-lover would live! It is with feelings
+of mingled joy and sadness that one cons Longfellow's melodious lines:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"Think every morning when the sun peeps through<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">How jubilant the happy birds renew<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">Their old, melodious madrigals of love!<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">And when you think of this, remember too<br /></div>
+<div class="i2">'Tis always morning somewhere, and above<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">The awakened continents, from shore to shore,<br /></div>
+<div class="i0">Somewhere the birds are singing evermore."<br /></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p>
+<h2>A NOTABLE QUARTETTE</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="A_NOTABLE_QUARTETTE12" id="A_NOTABLE_QUARTETTE12"></a>A NOTABLE QUARTETTE<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+
+<p>On the plains of Colorado there dwells a feathered choralist that
+deserves a place in American bird literature, and the day will perhaps
+come when his merits will have due recognition, and then he shall have
+not only a monograph, but also an ode all to himself.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> The author is under special obligation to Mr. John P.
+Haines, editor of "Our Animal Friends," and president of the American
+Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for publishing the
+contents of this chapter in his magazine in time to be included in this
+volume. Also for copyright privileges in connection with this and other
+chapters.</p></div>
+
+<p>The bird to which I refer is called the lark bunting in plain English,
+or, in scientific terms, <i>Calamospiza melanocorys</i>. The male is a trig
+and handsome fellow, giving you the impression of a well-dressed
+gentleman in his Sunday suit of black, "with more or less of a slaty
+cast," as Ridgway puts it, the middle and greater wing-coverts bearing a
+conspicuous white patch which is both a diagnostic marking and a real
+ornament. In flight this patch imparts to the wing a filmy, almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>
+semi-transparent, aspect. The bunting is about the size of the eastern
+bobolink, and bears some resemblance to that bird; but bobolink he is
+not, although sometimes mistaken for one, and even called by that name
+in Colorado. The fact is, those wise men, the systematists, have decided
+that the bobolink belongs to the family <i>Icterid&aelig;</i>, which includes,
+among others, the blackbirds and orioles, while the lark bunting
+occupies a genus all by himself in the family <i>Fringillid&aelig;</i>&mdash;that is,
+the family of finches, sparrows, grosbeaks, and towhees. Therefore, the
+two birds can scarcely be called second cousins. The bunting has no
+white or buff on his upper parts.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting on a sunny slope one June evening, I surrendered myself to the
+spell of the bunting, and endeavored to make an analysis of his
+minstrelsy. First, it must be said that he is as fond as the bobolink of
+rehearsing his arias on the wing, and that is, perhaps, the chief reason
+for his having been mistaken for that bird by careless observers.
+Probably the major part of his solos are recited in flight, although he
+can sit quietly on a weed-stalk or a fence-post and sing as sweetly, if
+not as ecstatically, as if he were curveting in the air. During this
+aerial performance he hovers gracefully, bending his wings downward,
+after the bobolink's manner, as if he were caressing the earth beneath
+him. However, a striking difference between his intermittent
+song-flights<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> and those of the bobolink is to be noted. The latter
+usually rises in the air, soars around in a curve, and returns to the
+perch from which he started, or to one near by, describing something of
+an ellipse. The lark bunting generally rises obliquely to a certain
+point, then descends at about the same angle to another perch opposite
+the starting-point, describing what might be called the upper sides of
+an isosceles triangle, the base being a line near the ground, connecting
+the perch from which he rose and the one on which he alighted. I do not
+mean to say that our bunting never circles, but simply that such is not
+his ordinary habit, while sweeping in a circle or ellipse is the
+favorite pastime of the eastern bobolink. The ascent of neither bird is
+very high. They are far from deserving the name of skylarks.</p>
+
+<p>We must give a detailed account of the bunting's song. Whatever others
+may think of him, I have come under the spell of his lyrical genius.
+True, his voice has not the loud, metallic ring, nor his chanson the
+medley-like, happy-go-lucky execution, that marks the musical
+performances of the bobolink; but his song is more mellow, rhythmic,
+theme-like; for he has a distinct tune to sing, and sing it he will. In
+fine, his song is of a different order from that of the bobolink, and,
+therefore, the comparison need be carried no further.</p>
+
+<p>As one of these minstrels sat on a flowering weed and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> gave himself up
+to a lyrical transport, I made careful notes, and now give the substance
+of my elaborate entries. The song, which is intermittent, opens with
+three prolonged notes running high in the scale, and is succeeded by a
+quaint, rattling trill of an indescribable character, not without
+musical effect, which is followed by three double-toned long notes quite
+different from the opening phrases; then the whole performance is closed
+by an exceedingly high and fine run like an insect's hum&mdash;so fine,
+indeed, that the auditor must be near at hand to notice it at all.
+Sometimes the latter half of the score, including the second triad of
+long notes, is repeated before the soloist stops to take breath. It will
+be seen that the regular song consists of four distinct phrases, two
+triads and two trills. About one-third of the songs are opened in a
+little lower key than the rest, the remainder being correspondingly
+mellowed. The opening syllables, and, indeed, some other parts of the
+melody as well, are very like certain strains of the song-sparrow, both
+in execution and in quality of tone; and thus even the experienced
+ornithologist may sometimes be led astray. When the bunting sails into
+the air, he rehearses the song just described, only he is very likely to
+prolong it by repeating the various parts, though I think he seldom, if
+ever, throws them together in a hodge-podge. He seems to follow a system
+in his recitals, varied as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> many of them are. As to his voice, it is of
+superb timbre.</p>
+
+<p>Another characteristic noted was that the buntings do not throw back
+their heads while singing, after the manner of the sparrows, but stretch
+their necks forward, and at no time do they open their mouths widely. As
+a rule, or at least very often, when flying, they do not begin their
+songs until they have almost reached the apex of their triangle; then
+the song begins, and it continues over the angle and down the incline
+until another perch is settled upon. What Lowell says of "bobolinkum" is
+just as true of bunting&mdash;"He runs down, a brook o' laughter, thru the
+air." As the sun went down behind the snow-clad mountains, a half dozen
+or more of the buntings rolled up the full tide of song, and I left them
+to their vespers and trudged back to the village, satisfied with the
+acquirements of this red-letter day in my ornithological journey.</p>
+
+<p>However, one afternoon's study of such charming birds was not enough to
+satisfy my curiosity, for no females had been seen and no nests
+discovered. About ten days later, more attention was given them. In a
+meadow not far from the hamlet of Arvada, between Denver and the
+mountains, I found a colony of buntings one morning, swinging in the air
+and furnishing their full quota of the matutinal concert, in which many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>
+other birds had a leading part, among them being western meadow-larks,
+western robins, Bullock's orioles, American and Arkansas goldfinches,
+mountain song-sparrows, lazuli finches, spurred towhees, black-headed
+grosbeaks, summer warblers, western Maryland yellow-throats, and
+Townsend's solitaires. It has seldom been my fortune to listen to a
+finer <i>pot-pourri</i> of avian music.</p>
+
+<p>At first only male buntings were seen. Surely, I thought, there must be
+females in the neighborhood, for when male birds are singing so lustily
+about a place, their spouses are usually sitting quietly on nests
+somewhere in bush or tree or grass. I hunted long for a nest, trudging
+about over the meadow, examining many a grass-tuft and weed-clump,
+hoping to flush a female and discover her secret; but my quest was vain.
+It is strange how difficult it is to find nests in Colorado, either on
+the plains or in the mountains. The birds seem to be adepts in the fine
+arts of concealment and secret-keeping. Presently several females were
+seen flying off over the fields and returning, obviously to feed their
+young. There was now some colorable prospect of finding a nest. A mother
+bird appeared with a worm in her bill, and you may rely upon it I did
+not permit her to slip from my sight until I saw her drop to the ground,
+hop about stealthily for a few moments, then disappear, and presently
+fly up minus the worm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> Scarcely daring to breathe, I followed a direct
+course to the weed-clump from which she had risen. And there was a nest,
+sure enough&mdash;my first lark bunting's&mdash;set in a shallow pit of the
+ground, prettily concealed and partly roofed over by the flat and
+spreading weed-stalk. Four half-fledged youngsters lay panting in the
+little cradle, the day being very warm. I lifted one of them from the
+nest, and held it in my hand for a minute or two, and even touched it
+with my lips, my first view of lark-bunting babies being something of an
+event&mdash;I had almost said an epoch&mdash;in my experience. Replacing the
+youngster in its crib, I stepped back a short distance and watched the
+mother bird returning with another mouthful of "goodies," and feeding
+her bantlings four. She was not very shy, and simply uttered a fine
+chirp when I went too close to her nestlings, while her gallant consort
+did not even chirp, but tried to divert my attention by repeatedly
+curveting in the air and singing his choicest measures. This was the
+only bunting's nest I found, although I made long and diligent search
+for others, as you may well believe when I state that a half day was
+spent in gathering the facts recorded in the last two paragraphs.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon I watched a female in another field for a long time,
+but she was too wary to betray her secret. In this case the male,
+instead of beguiling me with song, flitted about and mingled his fine
+chirps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> with those of his anxious mate. On my way across the plains,
+some two weeks later, I discovered that the lark buntings do not dwell
+only in well-watered meadows, but also in the most arid localities.
+Still, I am inclined to think they do not build their nests far from
+refreshing streams. When the breeding season is over, they range far and
+wide over the plains in search of insects that are to their taste. From
+the car window many of them were observed all along the way to a
+distance of over sixty miles east of Denver. At that time the males,
+females, and young were moving from place to place, mostly in scattering
+flocks, the breeding season being past. A problem that puzzled me a
+little was where they obtain water for drinking and bathing purposes,
+but no doubt such blithe and active birds are able to "look out for
+number one."</p>
+
+<p>The second member of our lyrical quartette is the elegant green-tailed
+towhee, known scientifically as <i>Pipilo chlorurus</i>. The pretty
+green-tails are quite wary about divulging their domestic secrets, and
+for a time I was almost in despair of finding even one of their nests.
+In vain I explored with exhausting toil many a steep mountain side,
+examining every bush and beating every copse within a radius of many
+rods.</p>
+
+<p>My purpose was to flush the female from her nest, a plan that succeeds
+with many birds; but in this instance I was disappointed. It is possible
+that, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> an intruder appears in their nesting haunts, the males,
+which are ever on the lookout, call their spouses from the nests, and
+then "snap their fingers," so to speak, at the puzzled searcher.</p>
+
+<p>However, by watching the mother birds carrying worms in their bills I
+succeeded in finding two nests. The first was at Breckenridge, and,
+curiously enough, in a vacant lot at the border of the town, not on a
+steep slope, but on a level spot near the bank of Blue River. The mother
+bird had slyly crept to her nest while I watched, and remained firmly
+seated until I bent directly over her, when she fluttered away, trailing
+a few feet to draw my attention to herself. It was a cosey nest site&mdash;in
+a low, thick bush, beneath a rusty but well-preserved piece of
+sheet-iron which made a slant roof over the cradle. It contained three
+callow bantlings, which innocently opened their carmine-lined mouths
+when I stirred the leaves above them. It seemed to be an odd location
+for the nest of a bird that had always appeared so wild and shy. The
+altitude of the place is nine thousand five hundred and twenty feet.</p>
+
+<p>My second green-tail's nest was in South Platte Ca&ntilde;on, near a station
+called Chaseville, its elevation being about eight thousand five hundred
+feet. I was walking along the dusty wagon road winding about the base of
+the mountain, when a little bird with a worm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> in her bill flitted up the
+steep bank a short distance and disappeared among the bushes. The tidbit
+in her bill gave me a clew to the situation; so I scrambled up the steep
+place, and presently espied a nest in a bush, about a foot and a half
+from the ground. As had been anticipated, it turned out to be a
+green-tailed towhee's domicile, as was proved by the presence and uneasy
+chirping of a pair of those birds. While the nest at Breckenridge was
+set on the ground, this one was placed on the twigs of thick bushes,
+showing that these birds, like their eastern relatives, are fond of
+diversity in selecting nesting places.</p>
+
+<p>This nest contained four bantlings, already well fledged. My notes say
+that their mouths were yellow-lined, and that the fleshy growths at the
+corners of their bills were yellow. Does the lining of the juvenile
+green-tail's mouth change from red to yellow as he advances in age? My
+notes certainly declare that the nestlings at Breckenridge had
+carmine-lined mouths. For the present I cannot settle the question
+either affirmatively or negatively.</p>
+
+<p>Here I perpetrated a trick which I have ever since regretted. The
+temptation to hold a baby green-tail in my hand and examine it closely
+was so strong that, as carefully as I could, I drew one from its grassy
+crib and held it in my palm, noting the green tinting already beginning
+to show on its wings and back. Its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> tail was still too stubby to display
+the ornamentation that gives the species its popular name. So much was
+learned, but at the expense of the little family's peace of mind. As I
+held the bantling in my hand, the frightened mamma uttered a series of
+pitiful calls that were new to my ears, consisting of two notes in a
+low, complaining tone; it was more of an entreaty than a protest.
+Afterwards I heard the green-tails also give voice to a fine chirp
+almost like that of a chipping sparrow.</p>
+
+<p>The mother's call seemed to strike terror to the hearts of her infant
+brood, for, as I attempted to put the baby back into its crib, all four
+youngsters set up a loud to-do, and sprang, panic stricken, over the
+rim, tumbling, fluttering, and falling through the network of twigs to
+the ground, a couple of them rolling a few feet down the dusty bank.
+Again and again I caught them and put them back into the nest, but they
+would not remain there, so I was compelled to leave them scrambling
+about among the bushes and rocks. I felt like a buccaneer, a veritable
+Captain Kidd. My sincere hope is that none of the birdkins came to grief
+on account of their premature flight from the nest. The next morning old
+and young were chirping about the place as I passed, and I hurried away,
+feeling sad that science and sentiment must sometimes come into
+conflict.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>One day in the latter part of June, as I was climbing the steep side of
+a mesa in the neighborhood of Golden, my ear was greeted by a new style
+of bird music, which came lilting sweetly down to me from the height. It
+had a kind of wild, challenging ring about it, as if the singer were
+daring me to venture upon his demesne at my peril. A hard climb brought
+me at length within range of the little performer, who was blowing his
+Huon's horn from the pointed top of a large stone on the mesa's side. My
+field-glass was soon fixed upon him, revealing a little bird with a long
+beak, decurved at the end, a grayish-brown coat quite thickly barred and
+mottled on the wings and tail, and a vest of warm white finely sprinkled
+with a dusky gray. A queer, shy, timid little thing he was. Afterwards I
+met him often, but never succeeded in gaining his confidence or winning
+a single concession from him. He was the rock wren (<i>Salpinctes
+obsoletus</i>)&mdash;a species that is unknown east of the Great Plains, one
+well deserving a place in literature.</p>
+
+<p>I was especially impressed with his peculiar style of minstrelsy, so
+different from anything I had ever heard in the bird realm. While the
+song was characterized by much variety, it usually opened with two or
+three loud, clear syllables, somewhat prolonged, sounding, as has been
+said, like a challenge, followed by a peculiar bubbling trill that
+seemed fairly to roll from the piper's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> tongue. Early one morning a few
+days later I heard a brilliant vocalist descanting from the top of a
+pump in a wide field among the foothills. How wildly his tones rang out
+on the crisp morning air! I seemed to be suddenly transported to another
+part of the world, his style of music was so new, so foreign to my ear.
+My pencilled notes say of this particular minstrel: "Very musical&mdash;great
+variety of notes&mdash;clear, loud, ringing&mdash;several runs slightly like
+Carolina's&mdash;others suggest Bewick's&mdash;but most of them <i>sui generis</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Let us return to the first rock wren I saw. He was exceedingly shy,
+scurrying off to a more distant perch&mdash;another stone&mdash;as I approached.
+Sometimes he would run down among the bushes and rocks like a mouse,
+then glide to the top of another stone, and fling his pert little aria
+at the intruder. It was interesting to note that he most frequently
+selected for a singing perch the top of a high, pointed rock where he
+could command a view of his surroundings and pipe a note of warning to
+his mate at the approach of a supposed enemy. Almost every conspicuous
+rock on the acclivity bore evidence of having been used as a lookout by
+the little sentinel.</p>
+
+<p>This wren is well named, for his home is among the rocks, in the
+crannies and niches of which his mate hides her nest so effectually that
+you must look long for it, and even after the most painstaking search
+you may not be able to find it. The little husband helps to lead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> you
+astray. He will leap upon a rock and send forth his bell-like peal, as
+if he were saying, "Right here, right here, here is our nest!" but when
+you go to the spot, he flits off to another rock and sounds the same
+challenge. And so you can form no idea of the nest site. My nearest
+approach to finding a nest was among the rocks and cliffs on the summit
+of a mountain a few miles from Golden, where an adult bird was seen to
+feed a youngster that had already flown from the nursery. It was
+interesting to know that the rock wrens breed at so high an altitude.
+However, they are not an alpine species, none having been seen by the
+writer over eight thousand feet above sea-level, although they have been
+known to ascend to an altitude of twelve thousand feet.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth member of our feathered quartette was the oddest of all. On
+the thirtieth of June my companion and I were riding slowly down the
+mountain side a few miles below Gray's Peak, which we had scaled two
+days before. My ear was struck by a flicker's call above us, so I
+dismounted from my burro, and began to clamber up the hillside.
+Presently I heard a song that seemed one moment to be near at hand, the
+next far away, now to the right, now to the left, and anon directly
+above me. To my ear it was a new kind of bird minstrelsy. I climbed
+higher and higher, and yet the song seemed to be no nearer. It had a
+grosbeak-like quality, I fancied, and I hoped to find either the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> pine
+or the evening grosbeak, for both of which I had been making anxious
+search. The shifting of the song from point to point struck me as odd,
+and it was very mystifying.</p>
+
+<p>Higher and higher I climbed, the mountain side being so steep that my
+breath came in gasps, and I was often compelled to throw myself on the
+ground to recover strength. At length a bird darted out from the pines
+several hundred feet above me, rose high into the air, circled and swung
+this way and that for a long time, breaking at intervals into a song
+which sifted down to me faintly through the blue distance. How long it
+remained on the wing I do not know, but it was too long for my eyes to
+endure the strain of watching it. Through my glass a large part of the
+wings showed white or yellowish-white, and seemed to be almost
+translucent in the blaze of the sunlight. What could this wonderful
+haunter of the sky be? It was scarcely possible that so roly-poly a bird
+as a grosbeak could perform so marvellous an exploit on the wing.</p>
+
+<p>I never worked harder to earn my salary than I did to climb that steep
+and rugged mountain side; but at last I reached and penetrated the zone
+of pines, and finally, in an area covered with dead timber, standing and
+fallen, two feathered strangers sprang in sight, now flitting among the
+lower branches and now sweeping to the ground. They were not grosbeaks,
+that was sure;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> their bills were quite slender, their bodies lithe and
+graceful, and their tails of well-proportioned length. Save in color,
+they presented a decidedly thrush-like appearance, and their manners
+were also thrush-like.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the colors and markings puzzled me not a little. The upper parts
+were brownish-gray of various shades, the wings and tail for the most
+part dusky, the wing-coverts, tertials, and some of the quills bordered
+and tipped with white, also the tail. The white of both wings and tail
+became quite conspicuous when they were spread. This was the feathered
+conundrum that flitted about before me. The birds were about the size of
+the hermit thrushes, but lither and suppler. They ambled about
+gracefully, and did not seem to be very shy, and presently one of them
+broke into a song&mdash;the song that I had previously heard, only it was
+loud and ringing and well articulated, now that I was near the singer.
+Again and again they lifted their rich voices in song. When they
+wandered a little distance from each other, they called in affectionate
+tones, giving their "All's well."</p>
+
+<p>Then one of them, no doubt the male, darted from a pine branch obliquely
+into the air, and mounted up and up and up, in a series of graceful
+leaps, until he was a mere speck against the blue dome, gyrating to and
+fro in zigzag lines, or wheeling in graceful circles, his song dribbling
+faintly down to me at frequent intervals. A thing of buoyancy and grace,
+more angel than bird,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> that wonderful winged creature floated about in
+the cerulean sky; how long I do not know, whether five minutes, or ten,
+or twenty, but so long that at last I flung myself upon my back and
+watched him until my eyes ached. He kept his wings in constant motion,
+the white portions making them appear filmy as the sun shone upon them.
+Suddenly he bent his head, partly folded his wings, and swept down
+almost vertically like an arrow, alighting safe somewhere among the
+pines. I have seen other birds performing aerial evolutions accompanied
+with song, but have never known one to continue so long on the wing.</p>
+
+<p>What was this wonderful bird? It was Townsend's solitaire (<i>Myadestes
+townsendii</i>)&mdash;a bird which is peculiar to the West, especially to the
+Rocky Mountains, and which belongs to the same family as the thrushes
+and bluebirds. No literature in my possession contains any reference to
+this bird's astonishing aerial flight and song, and I cannot help
+wondering whether other bird-students have witnessed the interesting
+exploit.</p>
+
+<p>Subsequently I found a pair of solitaires on the plains near Arvada. The
+male was a powerful singer. Many of his outbursts were worthy of the
+mocking-bird, to some of whose runs they bore a close resemblance. He
+sang almost incessantly during the half day I spent in the neighborhood,
+my presence seeming to inspire him to the most prodigious lyrical
+efforts of which he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> was master. Sometimes he would sit on the top of a
+bush or a fence-post, but his favorite perches were several ridges of
+sand and gravel. His flight was the picture of grace, and he had a habit
+of lifting his wings, now one, now the other, and often both, after the
+manner of the mocking-bird on a chimney-top. He and his mate did not
+utter a chirp, but made a great to-do by singing, and finally I
+discovered that all the fuss was not about a nest, but about a hulking
+youngster that had outgrown his kilts and looked very like a brown
+thrasher. Neither of this second pair of solitaires performed any
+evolutions in the upper air; nor did another pair that I found far up a
+snow-clad mountain near Breckenridge, on the other side of the
+Continental Divide.</p>
+
+<p>The scientific status of this unique bird is interesting. He is a
+species of the genus <i>Myadestes</i>, which belongs to the family <i>Turdid&aelig;</i>,
+including the thrushes, stone-chats, and bluebirds, as well as the
+solitaires. He is therefore not a thrush, but is closely related to the
+genus <i>Turdus</i>, occupying the same relative position in the avi-faunal
+system. According to Doctor Coues the genus includes about twenty
+species, only one of which&mdash;the one just described&mdash;is native to the
+United States, the rest being found in the West Indies and Central and
+South America. Formerly the solitaires comprised a subfamily among the
+chatterers, but a later<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> and more scientific classification places
+them in a genus under the head of <i>Turdid&aelig;</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+   <a id="image317" name="image317"></a>
+   <a href="images/i317a.jpg" >
+   <img src="images/i317b.jpg"
+      alt="Brown-capped Leucosticte"
+      title="Brown-capped Leucosticte" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Brown-capped Leucosticte</span>&mdash;<i>Leucosticte australis</i><br />
+   (Lower figure, male; upper, female)</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The range of Townsend's solitaire is from the plains of Colorado to the
+Pacific coast and north to British Columbia. According to Robert
+Ridgway, he has even been met with "casually" in Illinois. In Colorado
+many of the solitaires are permanent residents in the mountains,
+remaining there throughout the winter. Some of them, however, visit the
+plains during the fall, winter, and spring. In the winter they may be
+found from the lower valleys to an elevation of ten thousand feet, while
+they are known to breed as high as twelve thousand feet. The nests are
+placed on the ground among rocks, fallen branches and logs, and are
+loosely constructed of sticks and grass. From three to six eggs compose
+a set, the ground color being white, speckled with reddish brown. Doctor
+Coues says the birds feed on insects and berries, and are "capable of
+musical expression in an exalted degree." With this verdict the writer
+is in full accord.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHECK-LIST OF COLORADO BIRDS</h2>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="CHECK-LIST_OF_COLORADO_BIRDS" id="CHECK-LIST_OF_COLORADO_BIRDS"></a>CHECK-LIST OF COLORADO BIRDS</p>
+
+
+<p>The following list includes all the species and varieties, so far as
+known to naturalists, occurring in the State of Colorado. Of course,
+these birds as families are not restricted to that State, and therefore
+the catalogue comprehends many of the species to be found in adjacent
+and even more remote parts of the country. Aside from the author's own
+observations, he is indebted for a large part of the matter comprised in
+this list to Professor Wells W. Cooke's pamphlet, entitled, "The Birds
+of Colorado," with the several appendixes, and to the invaluable manuals
+of Mr. Ridgway and Dr. Coues.</p>
+
+<p>According to the latest information accessible to the writer, 389
+species and varieties occur in Colorado, of which 243 are known to
+breed. This is a superb record, and is excelled by only two other States
+in the Union, namely, Texas and California. Colorado's splendid list is
+to be explained on the ground of its wonderful variety of climate,
+altitude, soil, and topographical features, such as its plains,
+foothills, lower mountains, and towering peaks and ranges, bringing
+within its boundaries many eastern, boreal, middle western, and far
+western forms.</p>
+
+<p>The author's preference would have been to begin the roll with the most
+interesting birds, those to which he gave the largest share of his
+attention, namely, the oscines,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> but he has decided to follow the order
+and nomenclature of the Check-List of North American birds as arranged
+by the American Ornithologists' Union. In deference to the general
+reader, however, he has placed the English name of each bird first, then
+the scientific designation. The numbers correspond to the American
+Check-List. By noting those omitted, the reader will readily discover
+what species have not been found in Colorado.</p>
+
+<p>1. <b>Western grebe.</b> <span class="smcap">&AElig;chmophorus occidentalis.</span> Rare migrant; western
+species, chiefly interior regions of North America.</p>
+
+<p>2. <b>Holboell's grebe.</b> <span class="smcap">Colymbus holboellii.</span> Rare migrant; breeds far
+north; range, all of North America.</p>
+
+<p>3. <b>Horned grebe.</b> <span class="smcap">Colymbus auritus.</span> Rare migrant; range, almost the same
+as the last.</p>
+
+<p>4. <b>American eared grebe.</b> <span class="smcap">Colymbus nigricollis californicus.</span> Summer
+resident; rare in eastern, common in western Colorado; breeds from
+plains to 8,000 feet; partial to alkali lakes; western species.</p>
+
+<p>6. <b>Pied-billed grebe.</b> <span class="smcap">Podilymbus podiceps.</span> Summer resident, rare; common
+in migration; breeds in northern part of State; sometimes winters in
+southern part.</p>
+
+<p>7. <b>Loon.</b> <span class="smcap">Gavia imber.</span> Migrant; occasionally winter resident; not known
+to breed in State.</p>
+
+<p>8. <b>Yellow-billed loon.</b> <span class="smcap">Gavia adamsii.</span> Migrant; rare or accidental.</p>
+
+<p>9. <b>Black-throated loon.</b> <span class="smcap">Gavia arctica.</span> Rare fall and winter visitant.</p>
+
+<p>37. <b>Parasitic jaeger.</b> <span class="smcap">Stercorarius parasiticus.</span> Fall and winter
+resident; rare.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>40. <b>Kittiwake.</b> <span class="smcap">Rissa tridactyla.</span> Rare or accidental in winter.</p>
+
+<p>49. <b>Western gull.</b> <span class="smcap">Larus occidentalis.</span> Pacific Coast bird; accidental in
+Colorado; only one record.</p>
+
+<p>51a. <b>American herring gull.</b> <span class="smcap">Larus argentatus smithsonianus.</span> Rare
+migrant; range, the whole of North America.</p>
+
+<p>53. <b>California gull.</b> <span class="smcap">Larus californicus.</span> Western species; breeds
+abundantly in Utah; only three records for Colorado.</p>
+
+<p>54. <b>Ring-billed gull.</b> <span class="smcap">Larus delawarensis.</span> Not uncommon summer resident;
+common in migration; breeds as high as 7,500 feet; range, whole of North
+America.</p>
+
+<p>58. <b>Laughing gull.</b> <span class="smcap">Larus atricilla.</span> Bird of South Atlantic and Gulf
+States; once accidental in Colorado.</p>
+
+<p>59. <b>Franklin's gull.</b> <span class="smcap">Larus franklinii.</span> Rare migrant; range, interior of
+North America.</p>
+
+<p>60. <b>Bonaparte's gull.</b> <span class="smcap">Larus philadelphia.</span> Rare migrant; not uncommon in
+a few localities; range, whole of North America.</p>
+
+<p>62. <b>Sabine's gull.</b> <span class="smcap">Xema sabinii.</span> Rare winter visitant; breeds in the
+arctic regions.</p>
+
+<p>69. <b>Forster's tern.</b> <span class="smcap">Sterna forsteri.</span> Rare summer resident; common
+migrant; habitat, temperate North America.</p>
+
+<p>71. <b>Arctic tern.</b> <span class="smcap">Sterna paradis&aelig;a.</span> Very rare migrant; but two records;
+breeding habitat, circumpolar regions.</p>
+
+<p>77. <b>Black tern.</b> <span class="smcap">Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis.</span> Common summer
+resident; both sides of range; habitat, temperate North America; in
+winter south as far as Brazil and Chili.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>120. <b>Double-crested cormorant.</b> <span class="smcap">Phalacrocorax dilophus.</span> Perhaps breeds in
+Colorado, as it breeds abundantly in Utah; all present records from
+eastern foothills.</p>
+
+<p>125. <b>American white pelican.</b> <span class="smcap">Pelecanus erythrorhynchos.</span> Once a common
+migrant; a few remained to breed; now rare; still noted on both sides of
+the range.</p>
+
+<p>129. <b>American merganser.</b> <span class="smcap">Merganser americanus.</span> Resident; common migrant
+and winter sojourner; a few breed in mountains and parks; generally
+distributed in North America.</p>
+
+<p>130. <b>Red-breasted merganser.</b> <span class="smcap">Merganser serrator.</span> Rare winter sojourner;
+common migrant; breeds far north.</p>
+
+<p>131. <b>Hooded merganser.</b> <span class="smcap">Lophodytes cucullatus.</span> Rare resident both summer
+and winter; breeds in eastern part and in the mountains; general range,
+North America.</p>
+
+<p>132. <b>Mallard.</b> <span class="smcap">Anas boschas.</span> Very common in migration; common in winter;
+breeds below 9,000 feet, on plains as well as in mountains; general
+range, whole northern hemisphere.</p>
+
+<p>134a. <b>Mottled duck.</b> <span class="smcap">Anas fulvigula maculosa.</span> Rare migrant; an eastern
+species, sometimes wandering west to plains.</p>
+
+<p>135. <b>Gadwall.</b> <span class="smcap">Chaulelasmus streperus.</span> Summer resident; common in
+migration; breeds on plains; also in sloughs and small lakes at an
+elevation of 11,000 feet in southern part of State; breeds abundantly at
+San Luis Lakes.</p>
+
+<p>137. <b>Baldpate.</b> <span class="smcap">Mareca americana.</span> Summer resident; breeds from plains to
+8,000 feet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>139. <b>Green-winged teal.</b> <span class="smcap">Nettion carolinensis.</span> Common summer resident;
+abundant in migration; a few breed on the plains; more in mountains and
+upper parks.</p>
+
+<p>140. <b>Blue-winged teal.</b> <span class="smcap">Querquedula discors.</span> Same records as preceding.</p>
+
+<p>141. <b>Cinnamon teal.</b> <span class="smcap">Querquedula cyanoptera.</span> Common summer resident;
+breeds both east and west of the range; a western species; in winter
+south to Chili, Argentina, and Falkland Islands; sometimes strays east
+as far as Illinois and Louisiana.</p>
+
+<p>142. <b>Shoveller.</b> <span class="smcap">Spatula clypeata.</span> Summer resident; abundant in
+migration; breeds in suitable localities, but prefers mountain parks
+8,000 feet in altitude; breeds throughout its range, which is the whole
+of North America.</p>
+
+<p>143. <b>Pintail</b>. <span class="smcap">Dafila acuta.</span> Rare summer and winter resident; common
+migrant; mostly breeds in the North.</p>
+
+<p>144. <b>Wood duck.</b> <span class="smcap">Aix sponsa.</span> Rare summer resident.</p>
+
+<p>146. <b>Redhead.</b> <span class="smcap">Aythya americana.</span> Common migrant; breeds far north;
+migrates early in spring.</p>
+
+<p>147. <b>Canvas-back.</b> <span class="smcap">Aythya vallisneria.</span> Migrant; not common; breeds far
+north.</p>
+
+<p>148. <b>Scaup duck.</b> <span class="smcap">Aythya marila.</span> Rare migrant; both sides of the range;
+breeds far north.</p>
+
+<p>149. <b>Lesser scaup duck.</b> <span class="smcap">Aythya affinis.</span> Migrant; not common; a little
+more common than preceding.</p>
+
+<p>150. <b>Ring-necked duck.</b> <span class="smcap">Aythya collaris.</span> Rare migrant, though common in
+Kansas; breeds in far North.</p>
+
+<p>151. <b>American golden-eye.</b> <span class="smcap">Clangula clangula americana.</span> Rare migrant;
+breeds far north.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>152. <b>Barrow's golden-eye.</b> <span class="smcap">Clangula islandica.</span> Summer and winter
+resident; a northern species, but breeds in mountains of Colorado,
+sometimes as high as 10,000 feet; rare on plains.</p>
+
+<p>153. <b>Buffle-head.</b> <span class="smcap">Charitonetta albeola.</span> Common migrant throughout State;
+breeds in the North.</p>
+
+<p>154. <b>Old squaw.</b> <span class="smcap">Harelda hyemalis.</span> Rare winter visitor; a northern
+species.</p>
+
+<p>155. <b>Harlequin duck.</b> <span class="smcap">Histrionicus histrionicus.</span> Resident; not common; a
+northern species, but a few breed in mountains at an altitude of 7,000
+to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>160. <b>American eider.</b> <span class="smcap">Somateria dresseri.</span> Very rare; only two
+records&mdash;one somewhat uncertain.</p>
+
+<p>163. <b>American scoter.</b> <span class="smcap">Oidemia americana.</span> Rare winter visitor; northern
+bird, in winter principally along the sea-coast, but a few visit the
+larger inland lakes.</p>
+
+<p>165. <b>White-winged scoter.</b> <span class="smcap">Oidemia deglandi.</span> Same habits as preceding;
+perhaps rarer.</p>
+
+<p>166. <b>Surf scoter.</b> <span class="smcap">Oidemia perspicillata.</span> Same as preceding.</p>
+
+<p>167. <b>Ruddy duck.</b> <span class="smcap">Erismatura jamaicensis.</span> Common summer resident; both
+sides of the range; breeds from plains to 10,000 feet; a beautiful bird;
+author's observations given in Chapter VII.</p>
+
+<p>169. <b>Lesser snow goose.</b> <span class="smcap">Chen hyperborea.</span> Migrant and winter resident;
+not common; breeds far north.</p>
+
+<p>169a. <b>Greater snow goose.</b> <span class="smcap">Chen hyperborea nivalis.</span> Rare migrant; only
+two records; the eastern form, which does not come regularly as far west
+as Colorado.</p>
+
+<p>171a. <b>American white-fronted goose.</b> <span class="smcap">Anser albifrons gambeli.</span> Rare
+migrant; breeds far northward.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>172. <b>Canada goose.</b> <span class="smcap">Branta canadensis.</span> Summer and winter resident; rare,
+except locally; common in migration; breeds about secluded lakes at
+10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>172a. <b>Hutchins's goose.</b> <span class="smcap">Branta canadensis hutchinsii.</span> Common migrant;
+breeds in the North; a few may winter in the State.</p>
+
+<p>172c. <b>Cackling goose.</b> <span class="smcap">Branta canadensis minima.</span> One record; Pacific
+coast bird; breeds in Alaska.</p>
+
+<p>173. <b>Brant.</b> <span class="smcap">Branta bernicla.</span> Rare or accidental migrant; an eastern
+species seldom coming west; breeds only within the Arctic Circle.</p>
+
+<p>180. <b>Whistling swan.</b> <span class="smcap">Olor columbianus.</span> Migrant; not common; formerly
+fairly plentiful; breeds far northward.</p>
+
+<p>181. <b>Trumpeter swan.</b> <span class="smcap">Olor buccinator.</span> Rare migrant; not so common as
+preceding; breeds from Iowa and Dakota northward.</p>
+
+<p>183. <b>Roseate spoonbill.</b> <span class="smcap">Ajaja ajaja.</span> Accidental; two instances; habitat,
+tropical and subtropical America.</p>
+
+<p>184. <b>White ibis.</b> <span class="smcap">Guara alba.</span> Rare migrant; one taken on plains; habitat,
+tropical and subtropical America, coming north as far as Great Salt Lake
+and South Dakota.</p>
+
+<p>[185.] <b>Scarlet ibis.</b> <span class="smcap">Guara rubra.</span> Accidental; one specimen taken; a
+wonderful record for this tropical species.</p>
+
+<p>186. <b>Glossy ibis.</b> <span class="smcap">Plegadis autumnalis.</span> Accidental; two fine specimens
+taken in the State; this is far out of its ordinary tropical range.</p>
+
+<p>187. <b>White-faced glossy ibis.</b> <span class="smcap">Plegadis guarauna.</span> Summer visitor; rare;
+fairly common in New Mexico and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> Arizona; sometimes wanders into
+Colorado; Aiken found it breeding at San Luis Lakes.</p>
+
+<p>188. <b>Wood ibis.</b> <span class="smcap">Tantalus loculator.</span> Rare summer visitor; southern range.</p>
+
+<p>190. <b>American bittern.</b> <span class="smcap">Botaurus lentiginosus.</span> Common summer resident;
+breeds throughout the State, from plains to about 7,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>191. <b>Least bittern.</b> <span class="smcap">Ardetta exilis.</span> Rare summer visitor; a few records
+east of mountains; one specimen seen west of the divide.</p>
+
+<p>194. <b>Great blue heron.</b> <span class="smcap">Ardea herodias.</span> Summer resident; common in
+migration; seldom goes far up in the mountains, though Mr. Aiken found
+one at an altitude of 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>196. <b>American egret.</b> <span class="smcap">Ardea egretta.</span> Rare or accidental; one seen;
+general range, the whole of the United States; in winter south to Chili
+and Patagonia.</p>
+
+<p>197. <b>Snowy heron.</b> <span class="smcap">Ardea candidissima.</span> Summer visitor; not known to
+breed; the highest altitude is the one taken near Leadville, 10,000
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>198. <b>Reddish egret.</b> <span class="smcap">Ardea rufescens.</span> Rare or accidental; only two
+specimens secured; southern range.</p>
+
+<p>202. <b>Black-crowned night heron.</b> <span class="smcap">Nycticorax nycticorax n&aelig;vius.</span> Summer
+resident; not common; local; more plentiful in migration.</p>
+
+<p>203. <b>Yellow-crowned night heron.</b> <span class="smcap">Nycticorax violaceus.</span> Rare summer
+visitor; southern species; not known to breed in State.</p>
+
+<p>204. <b>Whooping crane.</b> <span class="smcap">Grus americana.</span> Rare migrant; more common east of
+Colorado.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>205. <b>Little brown crane.</b> <span class="smcap">Grus canadensis.</span> Migrant; few taken; northern
+breeder.</p>
+
+<p>206. <b>Sandhill crane.</b> <span class="smcap">Grus mexicana.</span> Summer resident; not uncommon
+locally; in migration common; breeds as high as 8,000 feet; has been
+seen in autumn passing over the highest peaks.</p>
+
+<p>212. <b>Virginia rail.</b> <span class="smcap">Rallus virginianus.</span> Summer resident; not uncommon;
+breeds on plains and in mountains to at least 7,500 feet.</p>
+
+<p>214. <b>Sora.</b> <span class="smcap">Porzana carolina.</span> Common summer resident; breeds from plains
+to 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>216. <b>Black rail.</b> <span class="smcap">Porzana jamaicensis.</span> Rare migrant; one specimen
+secured.</p>
+
+<p>219. <b>Florida gallinule.</b> <span class="smcap">Gallinula galeata.</span> Summer visitor, not known to
+breed.</p>
+
+<p>221. <b>American coot.</b> <span class="smcap">Fulica americana.</span> Common summer resident; breeds on
+plains and in mountain parks.</p>
+
+<p>222. <b>Red phalarope.</b> <span class="smcap">Crymophilus fulicarius.</span> Migrant; rare; once taken at
+Loveland by Edw. A. Preble, July 25, 1895. Breeds far north.</p>
+
+<p>223. <b>Northern phalarope.</b> <span class="smcap">Phalaropus lobatus.</span> Migrant; not uncommon;
+breeds far northward.</p>
+
+<p>224. <b>Wilson's phalarope.</b> <span class="smcap">Steganopus tricolor.</span> Common summer resident;
+more common in migration; breeds below 6,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>225. <b>American avocet.</b> <span class="smcap">Recurvirostra americana.</span> Common summer resident;
+occurs frequently on the plains; less frequent in mountains.</p>
+
+<p>226. <b>Black-necked stilt.</b> <span class="smcap">Himantopus mexicanus.</span> Summer resident; most
+common in the mountains, going as high as 8,000 feet; more common west
+of range than east.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>228. <b>American woodcock.</b> <span class="smcap">Philohela minor.</span> Rare summer resident; Colorado
+the extreme western limit of its range, going only to foothills.</p>
+
+<p>230. <b>Wilson's snipe.</b> <span class="smcap">Gallinago delicata.</span> Rare summer resident; common
+migrant; winter resident, rare; found as high as 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>232. <b>Long-billed dowitcher.</b> <span class="smcap">Macrorhamphus scolopaceus.</span> Somewhat common
+migrant; all records restricted to plains; breeds far northward.</p>
+
+<p>233. <b>Stilt sandpiper.</b> <span class="smcap">Micropalama himantopus.</span> Rare migrant; breeds north
+of United States.</p>
+
+<p>239. <b>Pectoral sandpiper.</b> <span class="smcap">Tringa maculta.</span> Common migrant; occurs from the
+plains to the great height of 13,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>240. <b>White-rumped sandpiper.</b> <span class="smcap">Tringa fuscicollis.</span> Not uncommon migrant; a
+bird of the plains, its western limit being the base of the Rockies;
+breeds in the far North.</p>
+
+<p>241. <b>Baird's sandpiper.</b> <span class="smcap">Tringa bairdii.</span> Abundant migrant; breeds far
+north; returns in August and ranges over mountains sometimes at height
+of 13,000 to 14,000 feet, feeding on grasshoppers.</p>
+
+<p>242. <b>Least sandpiper.</b> <span class="smcap">Tringa minutilla.</span> Common migrant; found from
+plains to 7,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>243a. <b>Red-backed sandpiper.</b> <span class="smcap">Tringa alpina pacifica.</span> Rare migrant; only
+three records; range, throughout North America.</p>
+
+<p>246. <b>Semipalmated sandpiper.</b> <span class="smcap">Ereunetes pusillus.</span> Common migrant; from
+the plains to 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>247. <b>Western sandpiper.</b> <span class="smcap">Ereunetes occidentalis.</span> Rare migrant; breeds in
+the remote North; western<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> species, but in migration occurs regularly
+along the Atlantic coast.</p>
+
+<p>248. <b>Sanderling.</b> <span class="smcap">Calidris arenaria.</span> Rare migrant, on plains; range
+nearly cosmopolitan; breeds only in northern part of northern
+hemisphere.</p>
+
+<p>249. <b>Marbled godwit.</b> <span class="smcap">Limosa fedoa.</span> Migrant; not common; a bird of the
+plains, but seldom seen; occasionally found in the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>254. <b>Greater yellow-legs.</b> <span class="smcap">Totanus melanoleucus.</span> Common migrant; in
+favorable localities below 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>255. <b>Yellow-legs.</b> <span class="smcap">Totanus flavipes.</span> Common migrant; distribution same as
+preceding.</p>
+
+<p>256. <b>Solitary sandpiper.</b> <span class="smcap">Helodromas solitarius.</span> Summer resident; not
+common; in migration, common; breeds from plains to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>258a. <b>Western willet.</b> <span class="smcap">Symphemia semipalmata inornata.</span> Summer resident;
+not common; common migrant, especially in the fall; breeds from plains
+to 7,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>261. <b>Bartramian sandpiper.</b> <span class="smcap">Bartramia longicauda.</span> Common summer resident;
+abundant in migration; a bird of the plains; rare west of mountains.</p>
+
+<p>263. <b>Spotted sandpiper.</b> <span class="smcap">Actitis macularia.</span> Abundant summer resident;
+breeds on the plains and at all intermediate altitudes to 12,000 feet,
+even on top of mountains of that height, if a lake or pond can be found;
+in fall, ranges above timber-line to 14,000 feet; some may remain
+throughout winter.</p>
+
+<p>264. <b>Long-billed curlew.</b> <span class="smcap">Numenius longirostris.</span> Common summer resident;
+breeds on the plains; also in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> Middle and South Parks; found on both
+sides of the range.</p>
+
+<p>265. <b>Hudsonian curlew.</b> <span class="smcap">Numenius hudsonicus.</span> Rare migrant; all records
+thus far from the plains; general range, North America.</p>
+
+<p>270. <b>Black-bellied plover.</b> <span class="smcap">Squatarola squatarola.</span> Migrant, not common;
+bird of plains below 5,000 feet; breeds far north.</p>
+
+<p>272. <b>American golden plover.</b> <span class="smcap">Charadrius dominicus.</span> Migrant, not common;
+same record as preceding.</p>
+
+<p>273. <b>Killdeer.</b> <span class="smcap">&AElig;gialitis vocifera.</span> Abundant summer resident; arrives
+early in spring; breeds most abundantly on plains and at base of
+foothills, but is far from rare at an altitude of 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>274. <b>Semipalmated plover.</b> <span class="smcap">&AElig;gialitis semipalmata.</span> Migrant, not common;
+breeds near the Arctic Circle.</p>
+
+<p>281. <b>Mountain plover.</b> <span class="smcap">&AElig;gialitis montana.</span> Common summer resident; in
+spite of its name, a bird of the plains rather than the mountains; yet
+sometimes found in parks at an altitude of 8,000 and even 9,000 feet.
+Its numbers may be estimated from the fact that in one day of August a
+sportsman shot one hundred and twenty-six birds, though why he should
+indulge in such wholesale slaughter the author does not understand.</p>
+
+<p>283. <b>Turnstone.</b> <span class="smcap">Arenaria interpres.</span> Rare migrant; breeding grounds in
+the north; cosmopolitan in range, but chiefly along sea-coasts.</p>
+
+<p>289. <b>Bob-white.</b> <span class="smcap">Colinus virginianus.</span> Resident; somewhat common locally;
+good reason to believe that all the quails of the foothills are
+descendants of introduced birds, while those of the eastern border of
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> plains are native. A few were introduced some years ago into Estes
+Park, and are still occasionally noticed.</p>
+
+<p>293. <b>Scaled partridge.</b> <span class="smcap">Callipepla squamata.</span> Resident; common locally;
+southern species, but more common than the bob-white at Rocky Ford, Col.</p>
+
+<p>294. <b>California partridge.</b> <span class="smcap">Lophortyx californicus.</span> Resident, local;
+introduced at Grand Junction, Col., and have flourished so abundantly as
+to become troublesome to gardeners.</p>
+
+<p>295. <b>Gambel's partridge.</b> <span class="smcap">Lophortyx gambelii.</span> Resident, rare; known only
+in southwestern part of the State; a western species.</p>
+
+<p>297. <b>Dusky grouse.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendragapus obscurus.</span> Resident; mountain dwellers;
+breed from 7,000 feet to timber-line; in September wander above
+timber-line to 12,500 feet, feeding on grasshoppers; remain in thick
+woods in winter.</p>
+
+<p>300b. <b>Gray ruffed grouse.</b> <span class="smcap">Bonasa umbellus umbelloides.</span> Rare resident; a
+more northern species, but a few breed in Colorado just below
+timber-line; winters in higher foothills.</p>
+
+<p>304. <b>White-tailed ptarmigan.</b> <span class="smcap">Lagopus leucurus.</span> Common resident; one of
+the most strictly alpine species; breeds entirely above timber-line from
+11,500 to 13,500 feet; thence ranging to the summits of the highest
+peaks. Only in severest winter weather do they come down to timber-line;
+rarely to 8,000 feet. In winter they are white; in summer fulvous or
+dull grayish-buff, barred and spotted with black. This bird is
+colloquially called the "mountain quail." The brown-capped leucosticte
+is the only other Colorado species that has so high a range.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>305. <b>Prairie hen.</b> <span class="smcap">Tympanuchus americanus.</span> Resident; uncommon and local.</p>
+
+<p>308b. <b>Prairie sharp-tailed grouse.</b> <span class="smcap">Pedi&oelig;cetes phasianellus
+campestris.</span> Resident, not common; once common, but killed and driven out
+by pothunters; some breed in Middle Park; noted in winter at 9,500 feet.</p>
+
+<p>309. <b>Sage grouse.</b> <span class="smcap">Centrocercus urophasianus.</span> Common resident. "As its
+name implies, it is an inhabitant of the artemisia or sage-brush plains,
+and is scarcely found elsewhere." Ranges from plains to 9,500 feet.</p>
+
+<p>310. <b>Mexican turkey.</b> <span class="smcap">Meleagris gallopavo.</span> Rare local resident; southern
+part of the State.</p>
+
+<p>310a. <b>Wild turkey.</b> <span class="smcap">Meleagris gallopavo fera.</span> Resident; rare; once
+abundant, but will probably soon be exterminated; not certain whether
+Colorado birds are eastern or western forms.</p>
+
+<p>312. <b>Band-tailed pigeon.</b> <span class="smcap">Columba fasciata.</span> Summer resident; local;
+breeds from 5,000 to 7,000 feet and occasionally higher.</p>
+
+<p>316. <b>Mourning dove.</b> <span class="smcap">Zenaidura macroura.</span> Summer resident; very abundant;
+breeds everywhere below the pine region up to 10,000 feet, though
+usually a little lower; in fall ranges up to 12,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>319. <b>White-winged dove.</b> <span class="smcap">Melopelia leucoptera.</span> Four records of this
+straggler in Colorado; its usual range is subtropical, though not
+uncommon as far north as the southern border of the United States.</p>
+
+<p>325. <b>Turkey vulture.</b> <span class="smcap">Cathartes aura.</span> Common summer resident; breeds from
+plains to 10,000 and even 12,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>327. <b>Swallow-tailed kite.</b> <span class="smcap">Elanoides forficatus.</span> Summer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> visitor; rare or
+accidental; bird of the plains, not regularly west of central Kansas.</p>
+
+<p>329. <b>Mississippi kite.</b> <span class="smcap">Ictinia mississippiensis.</span> Accidental; two
+records; a bird of eastern and southern United States, and southward.</p>
+
+<p>331. <b>Marsh hawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Circus hudsonius.</span> Common resident; most common in
+migration; a few remain throughout winter; breeds on plains, and in
+mountains to 10,000 feet; in fall may be seen at 14,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>332. <b>Sharp-shinned hawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Accipiter velox.</span> Common resident; much more
+common in mountains than on plains; breeds up to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>333. <span class="smcap">Cooper's hawk.</span> <span class="smcap">Accipiter cooperi.</span> Common resident; breeds from
+plains to 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>334. <b>American goshawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Accipiter atricapillus.</span> Resident; not uncommon;
+breeds from 9,000 to 10,000 feet; more common in winter than summer.</p>
+
+<p>334a. <b>Western goshawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Accipiter atricapillus striatulus.</span> Winter
+visitor; rare, if not accidental; Pacific Coast form; comes regularly as
+far east as Idaho.</p>
+
+<p>337a. <b>Krider's hawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Buteo borealis kriderii.</span> Resident; not uncommon;
+nests on the plains; no certain record for the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>337b. <b>Western red-tail.</b> <span class="smcap">Buteo borealis calurus.</span> Abundant resident; this
+is the Rocky Mountain form, of which Krider's hawk is the eastern
+analogue; the ranges of the two forms overlap on the Colorado plains;
+<i>calurus</i> breeds from plains to 12,000 feet; not a few winter in the
+State.</p>
+
+<p>337d. <b>Harlan's hawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Buteo borealis harlani.</span> Rare<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> winter visitor; one
+specimen; natural habitat, Gulf States and lower Mississippi Valley.</p>
+
+<p>339b. <b>Red-bellied hawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Buteo lineatus elegans.</span> Rare migrant; Pacific
+coast species.</p>
+
+<p>342. <b>Swainson's hawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Buteo swainsoni.</span> Common resident; breeds
+everywhere below 11,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>347a. <b>American rough-legged hawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis.</span>
+Somewhat common winter resident; arrives from the north in November and
+remains till March.</p>
+
+<p>348. <b>Ferruginous rough-leg.</b> <span class="smcap">Archibuteo ferrugineus.</span> Rather common
+resident; breeds on plains and in mountains; winters mostly on plains
+and along lower streams.</p>
+
+<p>349. <b>Golden eagle.</b> <span class="smcap">Aquila chrysaetos.</span> Resident; common in favorable
+localities; breeds from foothills to 12,500 feet; in winter on plains
+and also in mountains, often at 11,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>352. <b>Bald eagle.</b> <span class="smcap">Hall&aelig;etus leucocephalus.</span> Fairly common resident; mostly
+in mountains in summer; on plains in winter.</p>
+
+<p>355. <b>Prairie falcon.</b> <span class="smcap">Falco mexicanus.</span> Not uncommon resident; breeds from
+plains to 10,000 feet; quite numerous in more open portions of western
+Colorado.</p>
+
+<p>356. <b>Duck hawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Falco peregrinus anatum.</span> Resident; not uncommon locally;
+breeds up to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>357. <b>Pigeon hawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Falco columbarius.</span> Summer resident; not common; usual
+breeding grounds 8,000 to 9,000 feet; some breed on the plains.</p>
+
+<p>358. <b>Richardson's merlin.</b> <span class="smcap">Falco richardsonii.</span> Rare summer resident; not
+uncommon in migration; naturalists<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> not quite sure that it breeds in the
+State; has been taken in summer at an altitude of 11,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>360. <b>American sparrow hawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Falco sparverius.</span> Abundant resident; the
+most common hawk from the plains to 11,000 feet; some winter in State;
+breeds throughout its range.</p>
+
+<p>360a. <b>Desert sparrow hawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Falco sparverius deserticolus.</span> Resident,
+though rare; taken in Middle and South Parks.</p>
+
+<p>364. <b>American osprey.</b> <span class="smcap">Pandion halia&euml;tus carolinensis.</span> Summer resident;
+not uncommon locally; breeds as high as 9,000 feet; has been taken in
+fall at an altitude of 10,500 feet.</p>
+
+<p>365. <b>American barn owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Strix pratincola.</span> Resident; quite rare; a
+southern species rarely coming so far north as Colorado.</p>
+
+<p>366. <b>American long-eared owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Asio wilsonianus.</span> Common resident; winters
+from plains to 10,000 feet; breeds from plains to 11,000 feet; eggs laid
+early in April.</p>
+
+<p>367. <b>Short-eared owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Asio accipitrinus.</span> Resident, but not common;
+highest record 9,500 feet.</p>
+
+<p>368. <b>Barred owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Syrnium nebulosum.</span> Resident; few records; one breeding
+pair found in the northeastern part of the State.</p>
+
+<p>369. <b>Spotted owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Syrnium occidentale.</span> Resident; not common; a little
+doubt as to its identity; but Mr. Aiken vouches for its presence in the
+State.</p>
+
+<p>371. <b>Richardson's owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Nyctala tengmalmi richardsoni.</span> Rare winter
+visitor; a northern species.</p>
+
+<p>372. <b>Saw-whet owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Nyctala acadica.</span> Resident; not uncommon; occurs
+throughout the State below 8,000 feet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>373. <b>Screech owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Magascops asio.</span> Rare resident; the eastern analogue of
+the next.</p>
+
+<p>373e. <b>Rocky Mountain screech owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Magascops asio maxwelli&aelig;.</span> Common
+resident; found from plains and foothills to about 6,000 feet; rare
+visitant at nearly 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>373g. <b>Aiken's screech owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Megascops asio aikeni.</span> Resident; limited to
+from 5,000 to 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>374. <b>Flammulated screech owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Megascops flammeola.</span> Rare resident; rarest
+owl in Colorado, if not in the United States; ten instances of breeding,
+all in Colorado; twenty-three records in all for the State.</p>
+
+<p>375a. <b>Western horned owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Bubo virginianus pallescens.</span> Common resident;
+breeds on the plains and in the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>375b. <b>Arctic horned owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Bubo virginianus arcticus.</span> Winter visitor; not
+uncommon; breeds in arctic America.</p>
+
+<p>376. <b>Snowy owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Nyctea nyctea.</span> Rare winter visitor; occurs on the plains
+and in the lower foothills; range in summer, extreme northern portions
+of northern hemisphere.</p>
+
+<p>378. <b>Burrowing owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Speotyto cunicularia hypog&aelig;a.</span> Resident; abundant
+locally; breeds on plains and up to 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>379. <b>Pygmy owl.</b> <span class="smcap">Glaucidium gnoma.</span> Resident; rare; favorite home in the
+mountains; breeds as high as 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>382. <b>Carolina paroquet.</b> <span class="smcap">Conurus carolinensis.</span> Formerly resident; few
+records; general range, east and south; now almost exterminated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>385. <b>Road-runner.</b> <span class="smcap">Geococcyx californianus.</span> Resident; not common;
+restricted to southern portion of the State; breeds throughout its
+range; rare above 5,000 feet, though one was found in the Wet Mountains
+at an altitude of 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>387. <b>Yellow-billed cuckoo.</b> <span class="smcap">Coccyzus americanus.</span> Rare summer visitor, on
+the authority of Major Bendire.</p>
+
+<p>387a. <b>California cuckoo.</b> <span class="smcap">Coccyzus americanus occidentalis.</span> Summer
+resident; not uncommon locally; mostly found on the edge of the plains,
+but occasionally up to 8,000 feet in mountains.</p>
+
+<p>388. <b>Black-billed cuckoo.</b> <span class="smcap">Coccyzus erythrophthalmus.</span> Rare migrant; only
+two records.</p>
+
+<p>390. <b>Belted kingfisher.</b> <span class="smcap">Ceryle alcyon.</span> Common resident; breeds from
+plains to 10,000 feet; a few remain in winter.</p>
+
+<p>393e. <b>Rocky Mountain hairy woodpecker.</b> <span class="smcap">Dryobates villosus monticola.</span>
+Common resident; breeds from plains to 11,000 feet; winter range almost
+the same.</p>
+
+<p>394c. <b>Downy woodpecker.</b> <span class="smcap">Dryobates pubescens medianus.</span> Visitor; rare, if
+not accidental.</p>
+
+<p>394b. <b>Batchelder's woodpecker.</b> <span class="smcap">Dryobates pubescens homorus.</span> Common
+resident; breeding range from plains to 11,500 feet; winter range from
+plains to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>396. <b>Texan woodpecker.</b> <span class="smcap">Dryobates scalaris bairdi.</span> Resident; rare and
+local; southern range generally.</p>
+
+<p>401b. <b>Alpine three-toed woodpecker.</b> <span class="smcap">Picoides americanus dorsalis.</span>
+Resident; not common; a mountain bird; range, 8,000 to 12,000 feet; even
+in winter remains in the pine belt at about 10,000 feet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>402. <b>Yellow-bellied sapsucker.</b> <span class="smcap">Sphyrapicus varius.</span> Rare migrant; eastern
+form, scarcely reaching the base of the Rockies.</p>
+
+<p>402a. <b>Red-naped sapsucker.</b> <span class="smcap">Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis.</span> Common summer
+resident; breeds from plains to 12,000 feet, but partial to the
+mountains. Author saw one at Green Lake.</p>
+
+<p>404. <b>Williamson's sapsucker.</b> <span class="smcap">Sphyrapicus thyroideus.</span> Common summer
+resident; breeds from 5,000 feet to upper limits of the pines; range
+higher in the southern part of the State than in the northern.</p>
+
+<p>405a. <b>Northern pileated woodpecker.</b> <span class="smcap">Ceophl&oelig;us pileatus abieticola.</span>
+Resident; very rare; only probably identified.</p>
+
+<p>406. <b>Red-headed woodpecker.</b> <span class="smcap">Melanerpes erythrocephalus.</span> Common summer
+resident; breeds from plains to 10,000 feet; late spring arrival; same
+form in the East and West.</p>
+
+<p>408. <b>Lewis's woodpecker.</b> <span class="smcap">Melanerpes torquatus.</span> Common resident;
+characteristic bird of the foothills; sometimes seen as high as 10,000
+feet in southern Colorado; probably does not breed above 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>409. <b>Red-bellied woodpecker.</b> <span class="smcap">Melanerpes carolinus.</span> Summer visitor; rare,
+if not accidental; eastern and southern species, not occurring regularly
+west of central Kansas.</p>
+
+<p>412a. <b>Northern flicker.</b> <span class="smcap">Colaptes auratus luteus.</span> Rare migrant; range
+extends only to foothills; no record of its breeding.</p>
+
+<p>413. <b>Red-shafted flicker.</b> <span class="smcap">Colaptes cafer.</span> Abundant summer resident;
+breeds from plains to 12,000 feet;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> almost as plentiful at its highest
+range as on the plains; early spring arrival; a few winter in the State.</p>
+
+<p>418. <b>Poor-will.</b> <span class="smcap">Phal&aelig;noptilus nuttallii.</span> Common summer resident; breeds
+from plains to 8,000 feet; has been noted up to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>418a. <b>Frosted poor-will.</b> <span class="smcap">Phal&aelig;noptilus nuttallii nitidus.</span> Rare summer
+resident; few typical <i>nitidus</i> taken; a more southern variety.</p>
+
+<p>420a. <b>Western nighthawk.</b> <span class="smcap">Chordeiles virginianus henryi.</span> Abundant summer
+resident; breeds on the plains and up to about 11,000 feet; in fall
+ranges up to 12,000 feet; most common on plains and in foothills.</p>
+
+<p>422. <b>Black swift.</b> <span class="smcap">Cypseloides niger borealis.</span> Summer resident; abundant
+locally; southwestern part of the State; breeds from 10,000 to 12,000
+feet, and ranges up to 13,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>425. <b>White-throated swift.</b> <span class="smcap">Aeronautes melanoleucus.</span> Summer resident; not
+uncommon locally; breeds in inaccessible rocks from 6,000 to 12,000
+feet, if not higher; most common in southern part of the State.</p>
+
+<p>429. <b>Black-chinned humming-bird.</b> <span class="smcap">Trochilus alexandri.</span> Summer resident;
+local; only in southwestern part of the State, and below 6,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>432. <b>Broad-tailed humming-bird.</b> <span class="smcap">Selasphorus platycercus.</span> Common summer
+resident; Colorado's most common hummer; breeds from foothills to 11,000
+feet; ranges 2,000 feet above timber-line in summer.</p>
+
+<p>433. <b>Rufous humming-bird.</b> <span class="smcap">Selasphorus rufus.</span> Summer resident; local; a
+western species, coming into southwestern Colorado, where it breeds from
+7,000 to 10,000 feet, and ranges in summer several thousand feet higher;
+a few records east of the range.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>436. <b>Calliope humming-bird.</b> <span class="smcap">Stellula calliope.</span> Summer visitor; rare or
+accidental; but two records, one near Breckenridge at an altitude of
+9,500 feet; western species.</p>
+
+<p>443. <b>Scissor-tailed flycatcher.</b> <span class="smcap">Milvulus forficatus.</span> Summer visitor;
+rare or accidental; but one record; southern range, and more eastern.</p>
+
+<p>444. <b>Kingbird.</b> <span class="smcap">Tyrannus tyrannus.</span> Common summer resident; occurs only on
+plains and in foothills up to 6,000 feet; same form as the eastern
+kingbird.</p>
+
+<p>447. <b>Arkansas kingbird.</b> <span class="smcap">Tyrannus verticalis.</span> Common summer resident;
+more common in eastern than western part of the State; fond of the
+plains and foothills, yet breeds as high as 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>448. <b>Cassin's kingbird.</b> <span class="smcap">Tyrannus vociferans.</span> Common summer resident;
+breeds on plains and up to 9,000 feet in mountains; occurs throughout
+the State.</p>
+
+<p>454. <b>Ash-throated flycatcher.</b> <span class="smcap">Myiarchus cinerascens.</span> Rare summer
+resident; western species, coming east to western edge of plains.</p>
+
+<p>455a. <b>Olivaceous flycatcher.</b> <span class="smcap">Myiarchus lawrencei olivascens.</span> Summer
+visitor, rare, if not accidental; a southern species; taken once in
+Colorado.</p>
+
+<p>456. <b>Ph&oelig;be.</b> <span class="smcap">Sayornis ph&oelig;be.</span> Rare summer visitor; comes west to
+eastern border of the State.</p>
+
+<p>457. <b>Say's ph&oelig;be.</b> <span class="smcap">Sayornis saya.</span> Common summer resident; most common
+on the plains; occurs on both sides of the range; the author found it a
+little above Malta, at Glenwood, and in South Park.</p>
+
+<p>459. <b>Olive-sided flycatcher.</b> <span class="smcap">Contopus borealis.</span> Common summer resident;
+breeds only in the mountains, from 7,000 to 12,000 feet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>462. <b>Western wood pewee.</b> <span class="smcap">Contopus richardsonii.</span> Common summer resident;
+most common in breeding season from 7,000 to 11,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>464. <b>Western flycatcher.</b> <span class="smcap">Empidonax difficilis.</span> Common summer resident;
+breeds from plains to 10,000 feet, but most common in upper part of its
+range.</p>
+
+<p>466. <b>Traill's flycatcher.</b> <span class="smcap">Empidonax traillii.</span> Fairly common summer
+resident; most common on the plains, but occurs in mountains up to 8,000
+feet; breeds throughout its Colorado range.</p>
+
+<p>467. <b>Least flycatcher.</b> <span class="smcap">Empidonax minimus.</span> Rare migrant; west to eastern
+foothills; probably breeds, but no nests have been found.</p>
+
+<p>468. <b>Hammond's flycatcher.</b> <span class="smcap">Empidonax hammondi.</span> Common summer resident;
+comes east only to the western edge of the plains; breeds as high as
+9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>469. <b>Wright's flycatcher.</b> <span class="smcap">Empidonax wrightii.</span> Abundant summer resident;
+breeds from 7,500 feet to 10,000.</p>
+
+<p>474a. <b>Pallid horned lark.</b> <span class="smcap">Otocoris alpestris leucol&aelig;ma.</span> Abundant winter
+resident; literature on this bird somewhat confused on account, no
+doubt, of its close resemblance to the next; winters on the plains
+abundantly, and sparsely in the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>474c. <b>Desert horned lark.</b> <span class="smcap">Otocoris alpestris arenicola.</span> Abundant
+resident; winters on plains and in mountains up to 9,000 feet; breeds
+from plains to 13,000 feet; raises two broods.</p>
+
+<p>475. <b>American magpie.</b> <span class="smcap">Pica pica hudsonica.</span> Common resident; breeds
+commonly on the plains and in the foothills and lower mountains; a few
+breed as high as 11,000 feet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>478b. <b>Long-crested jay.</b> <span class="smcap">Cyanocitta stelleri diademata.</span> Common resident;
+seldom strays far east of the foothills; breeds from base of foothills
+to timber-line; winter range from edge of plains almost to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>480. <b>Woodhouse's jay.</b> <span class="smcap">Aphelocoma woodhousei.</span> Common resident; most
+common along the base of foothills and lower wooded mountains; sometimes
+breeds as high as 8,000 feet; in fall roams up to 9,500 in special
+instances.</p>
+
+<p>484a. <b>Rocky Mountain jay.</b> <span class="smcap">Perisoreus canadensis capitalis.</span> Common
+resident; remains near timber-line throughout the year.</p>
+
+<p>486. <b>American raven.</b> <span class="smcap">Corvus corax sinuatus.</span> Resident; common locally;
+breeds; rather of western Colorado, but visitant among eastern
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>487. <b>White-necked raven.</b> <span class="smcap">Corvus cryptoleucus.</span> Rare resident now;
+formerly abundant along eastern base of the front range and a hundred
+miles out on the plains; now driven out by advent of white man.</p>
+
+<p>488. <b>American crow.</b> <span class="smcap">Corvus americanus.</span> Resident; common in northeastern
+Colorado; rare in the rest of the State.</p>
+
+<p>491. <b>Clark's nutcracker.</b> <span class="smcap">Nucifraga columbiana.</span> Abundant resident; a
+mountain bird; breeds from 7,000 to 12,000 feet; sometimes in fall
+gathers in "enormous flocks"; at that season wanders up to at least
+13,000 feet; most remain in the mountains through the winter, though a
+few descend to the plains.</p>
+
+<p>492. <b>Pinon jay.</b> <span class="smcap">Cyanocephalus cyanocephalus.</span> Resident; abundant locally;
+breeds almost exclusively among the pinon pines; keeps in small parties
+during breeding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> season; then gathers in large flocks; wandering up to
+10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>494. <b>Bobolink.</b> <span class="smcap">Dolichonyx oryzivorus.</span> Rare summer visitor.</p>
+
+<p>495. <b>Cowbird.</b> <span class="smcap">Molothrus ater.</span> Common summer resident; breeds from plains
+to about 8,000 feet; author saw several in South Park.</p>
+
+<p>497. <b>Yellow-headed blackbird.</b> <span class="smcap">Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus.</span> Common
+summer resident; breeds in suitable places on the plains and in mountain
+parks.</p>
+
+<p>498. <b>Red-winged blackbird.</b> <span class="smcap">Agelaius ph&oelig;niceus.</span> Common summer
+resident; breeds mostly below 7,500 feet, though occasionally ascends to
+9,000.</p>
+
+<p>501b. <b>Western meadow-lark.</b> <span class="smcap">Sturnella magna neglecta.</span> Abundant summer
+resident.</p>
+
+<p>506. <b>Orchard oriole.</b> <span class="smcap">Icterus spurius.</span> Summer visitor; rare, if not
+accidental.</p>
+
+<p>507. <b>Baltimore oriole.</b> <span class="smcap">Icterus galbula.</span> Marked as a rare summer
+resident, though no record of nesting.</p>
+
+<p>508. <b>Bullock's oriole.</b> <span class="smcap">Icterus bullocki.</span> Abundant summer resident;
+breeds on plains and in mountain regions below 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>509. <b>Rusty blackbird.</b> <span class="smcap">Scolecophagus carolinus.</span> Migrant; rare, if not
+accidental; two records.</p>
+
+<p>510. <b>Brewer's blackbird.</b> <span class="smcap">Scolecophagus cyanocephalus.</span> Abundant summer
+resident.</p>
+
+<p>511b. <b>Bronzed grackle.</b> <span class="smcap">Quiscalus quiscula &aelig;neus.</span> Summer resident; not
+uncommon locally; comes only to eastern base of mountains.</p>
+
+<p>514a. <b>Western evening grosbeak.</b> <span class="smcap">Coccothraustes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></span> <span class="smcap">vespertinus montanus.</span>
+Resident; found every month of the year; no nests found, but evidently
+breeds.</p>
+
+<p>515a. <b>Rocky Mountain pine grosbeak.</b> <span class="smcap">Pinicola enucleator montana.</span>
+Resident; not uncommon; most common in late summer and fall when most of
+them are just below timber-line; stragglers descend to foothills and
+plains.</p>
+
+<p>517. <b>Purple finch.</b> <span class="smcap">Carpodacus purpureus.</span> Migrant; rare, if not
+accidental; only one specimen, and that a female.</p>
+
+<p>518. <b>Cassin's purple finch.</b> <span class="smcap">Carpodacus cassini.</span> Common resident; winters
+from plains to 7,000 feet; breeds from that altitude to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>519. <b>House finch.</b> <span class="smcap">Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis.</span> Abundant resident.</p>
+
+<p>521a. <b>Mexican crossbill.</b> <span class="smcap">Loxia curvirostra stricklandi.</span> Resident; not
+uncommon; has been seen in summer at 11,000 feet; breeds in mountains,
+perhaps in winter like its eastern antitype.</p>
+
+<p>522. <b>White-winged crossbill.</b> <span class="smcap">Loxia leucoptera.</span> Rare winter visitor; one
+record.</p>
+
+<p>524. <b>Gray-crowned leucosticte.</b> <span class="smcap">Leucosticte tephrocotis.</span> Rare winter
+visitor; western species.</p>
+
+<p>524a. <b>Hepburn's leucosticte.</b> <span class="smcap">Leucosticte tephrocotis littoralis.</span> Rare
+winter visitor; summers in the North.</p>
+
+<p>525. <b>Black leucosticte.</b> <span class="smcap">Leucosticte atrata.</span> Rare winter visitor; summer
+range unknown; winters in the Rockies.</p>
+
+<p>526. <b>Brown-capped leucosticte.</b> <span class="smcap">Leucosticte australis.</span> This little bird
+and the white-tailed ptarmigan have the highest summer range of any
+Colorado birds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>528. <b>Redpoll.</b> <span class="smcap">Acanthis linaria.</span> Common winter resident; lives from
+plains to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>528b. <b>Greater redpoll.</b> <span class="smcap">Acanthis linaria rostrata.</span> Rare or accidental
+winter visitor; one record.</p>
+
+<p>529. <b>American goldfinch.</b> <span class="smcap">Astragalinus tristis.</span> Resident; quite common in
+summer; sometimes reaches 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>529a. <b>Western goldfinch.</b> <span class="smcap">Astragalinus tristis pallidus.</span> Migrant;
+probably common; added by Mr. Aiken.</p>
+
+<p>530. <b>Arkansas goldfinch.</b> <span class="smcap">Astragalinus psaltria.</span> Common summer resident;
+breeds from plains to over 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>530a. <b>Arizona goldfinch.</b> <span class="smcap">Astragalinus psaltria arizon&aelig;.</span> Summer resident;
+not common.</p>
+
+<p>530b. <b>Mexican goldfinch.</b> <span class="smcap">Astragalinus psaltria mexicanus.</span> Rare, but
+believed to be a summer resident at Trinidad.</p>
+
+<p>533. <b>Pine siskin.</b> <span class="smcap">Spinus pinus.</span> Common resident; breeding range from
+plains to timber-line.</p>
+
+<p>000. <b>English sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Passer domesticus.</span> Rapidly increasing in numbers;
+has settled at points west of the range.</p>
+
+<p>534. <b>Snowflake.</b> <span class="smcap">Passerina nivalis.</span> Rare winter visitor; one record west
+of the range; several east.</p>
+
+<p>536a. <b>Alaskan longspur.</b> <span class="smcap">Calcarius lapponicus alascensis.</span> Common winter
+resident; breeds far north.</p>
+
+<p>538. <b>Chestnut-collared longspur.</b> <span class="smcap">Calcarius ornatus.</span> Rare summer
+resident; winter resident, not common; common in migration.</p>
+
+<p>539. <b>McCown's longspur.</b> <span class="smcap">Rhyncophanes mccownii.</span> Common winter resident,
+dwelling on the plains.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>540a. <b>Western vesper sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Pooc&aelig;tes gramineus confinis.</span> Abundant
+summer resident; breeds from plains to 12,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>542b. <b>Western savanna sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Ammodramus sandwichensis alaudinus.</span>
+Common summer resident; breeds from base of foothills to almost 12,000
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>545. <b>Baird's sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Ammodramus bairdii.</span> Migrant; not common; a number
+taken east of the range, and one west.</p>
+
+<p>546a. <b>Western grasshopper sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Ammodramus savannarum perpallidus.</span>
+Not uncommon summer resident; breeds on plains and in lower foothills.</p>
+
+<p>552a. <b>Western lark sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Chondestes grammacus strigatus.</span> Common
+summer resident; breeds on plains and in mountain parks to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>553. <b>Harris's sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Zonotrichia querula.</span> Rare migrant; abundant
+migrant in Kansas.</p>
+
+<p>554. <b>White-crowned sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Zonotrichia leucophrys.</span> Abundant summer
+resident.</p>
+
+<p>554a. <b>Intermediate sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii.</span> Common
+migrant, both east and west of the range; breeds north of the United
+States.</p>
+
+<p>557. <b>Golden-crowned sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Zonotrichia coronata.</span> Accidental winter
+visitor; Pacific Coast species; breeds in Alaska.</p>
+
+<p>558. <b>White-throated sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Zonotrichia albicollis.</span> Rare migrant; but
+three records.</p>
+
+<p>559a. <b>Western tree sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Spizella monticola ochracea.</span> Common winter
+resident; mostly on plains and in lower mountains.</p>
+
+<p>560. <b>Chipping sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Spizella socialis.</span> Rare summer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> resident; common
+in migration; goes as far west as base of the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>560a. <b>Western chipping sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Spizella socialis arizon&aelig;.</span> Abundant
+summer resident; breeds from base of foothills to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>561. <b>Clay-colored sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Spizella pallida.</span> Summer resident; not
+uncommon; scattered over State east of mountains.</p>
+
+<p>562. <b>Brewer's sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Spizella breweri.</span> Summer resident; not uncommon;
+breeds from plains to 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>566. <b>White-winged junco.</b> <span class="smcap">Junco aikeni.</span> Common winter resident; on plains
+and 8,000 feet up in the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>567. <b>Slate-colored junco.</b> <span class="smcap">Junco hyemalis.</span> Winter resident; not common;
+not found above 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>567b. <b>Shufeldt's junco.</b> <span class="smcap">Junco hyemalis connectens.</span> Abundant winter
+resident; most common in southern part of the State; not uncommon
+elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>567.1. <b>Montana junco.</b> <span class="smcap">Junco montanus.</span> Winter visitor; not uncommon.</p>
+
+<p>568. <b>Pink-sided junco.</b> <span class="smcap">Junco mearnsi.</span> Common winter resident; plentiful
+at base of foothills in winter; in spring ascend to 10,000 feet; then
+leaves the State for the North.</p>
+
+<p>568.1. <b>Ridgway's junco.</b> <span class="smcap">Junco annectens.</span> Rare winter visitor; one
+record.</p>
+
+<p>569. <b>Gray-headed junco.</b> <span class="smcap">Junco caniceps.</span> Abundant resident; breeds from
+7,500 to 12,000 feet; sometimes rears three broods.</p>
+
+<p>570a. <b>Red-backed junco.</b> <span class="smcap">Junco ph&aelig;onotus dorsalis.</span> Rare migrant; abundant
+just south of State.</p>
+
+<p>573a. <b>Desert sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Amphispiza bilineata deserticola.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></span> Summer
+resident; not uncommon locally; found only in southwestern part of the
+State.</p>
+
+<p>574a. <b>Sage sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Amphispiza belli nevadensis.</span> Abundant summer
+resident; common on sage-brush plains of western and southwestern
+Colorado; ranges as far east as San Luis Park and north to Cheyenne,
+Wyoming.</p>
+
+<p>581. <b>Song-sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Melospiza fasciata.</span> Rare migrant; found only at
+eastern border of State.</p>
+
+<p>581b. <b>Mountain song-sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Melospiza fasciata montana.</span> Common summer
+resident; a few remain on plains in mild winters; breeds from plains to
+8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>583. <b>Lincoln's sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Melospiza lincolni.</span> Common summer resident;
+abundant in migration; breeds from base of foothills to timber-line.</p>
+
+<p>584. <b>Swamp sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Melospiza georgiana.</span> Accidental summer visitor; one
+record.</p>
+
+<p>585c. <b>Slate-colored sparrow.</b> <span class="smcap">Passerella iliaca schistacea.</span> Rare summer
+resident; only three records.</p>
+
+<p>588. <b>Arctic towhee.</b> <span class="smcap">Pipilo maculatus arcticus.</span> Winter resident; not
+uncommon; comes to base of Rocky Mountains in winter; breeds in the
+North, as far as the Saskatchewan River.</p>
+
+<p>588a. <b>Spurred towhee.</b> <span class="smcap">Pipilo maculatus megalonyx.</span> Common summer
+resident; upper limit, 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>591. <b>Ca&ntilde;on towhee.</b> <span class="smcap">Pipilo fuscus mesoleucus.</span> Resident; common locally;
+all records from Arkansas Valley; rare at an altitude of 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>592. <b>Abert's towhee.</b> <span class="smcap">Pipilo aberti.</span> Rare summer resident; species
+abundant in New Mexico and Arizona.</p>
+
+<p>592.1. <b>Green-tailed towhee.</b> <span class="smcap">Oreospiza chlorura.</span> Common summer resident;
+melodious songster.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>593. <b>Cardinal.</b> <span class="smcap">Cardinalis cardinalis</span>. Winter visitor; rare, if not
+accidental; two records.</p>
+
+<p>595. <b>Rose-breasted grosbeak.</b> <span class="smcap">Zamelodia ludoviciana</span>. Accidental summer
+resident; one record.</p>
+
+<p>596. <b>Black-headed grosbeak.</b> <span class="smcap">Zamelodia melanocephala</span>. Common summer
+resident; breeds from plains to 8,500 feet; has been seen at 10,000
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>597a. <b>Western blue grosbeak.</b> <span class="smcap">Guiraca c&aelig;rulea lazula</span>. Summer resident;
+not uncommon locally; southern part of State; author saw one pair at
+Colorado Springs.</p>
+
+<p>598. <b>Indigo bunting.</b> <span class="smcap">Cyanospiza cyanea</span>. Rare summer visitor; range,
+farther east.</p>
+
+<p>599. <b>Lazuli bunting.</b> <span class="smcap">Cyanospiza am&oelig;na</span>. Abundant summer resident; does
+not breed far up in the mountains, but has been taken at 9,100 feet.</p>
+
+<p>604. <b>Dickcissel.</b> <span class="smcap">Spiza americana</span>. Rare summer resident; only on plains
+and in foothills.</p>
+
+<p>605. <b>Lark bunting.</b> <span class="smcap">Calamospiza melanocorys</span>. Abundant summer resident;
+very plentiful on the plains; sometimes breeds as far up in mountains as
+9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>607. <b>Louisiana tanager.</b> <span class="smcap">Piranga ludoviciana</span>. Common summer resident; in
+migration common on the plains, but breeds from 6,000 to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>608. <b>Scarlet tanager.</b> <span class="smcap">Piranga erythromelas</span>. Rare migrant.</p>
+
+<p>610a. <b>Cooper's tanager.</b> <span class="smcap">Piranga rubra cooperi</span>. Rare or accidental summer
+visitor; abundant in New Mexico and Arizona; only one record for
+Colorado.</p>
+
+<p>611. <b>Purple martin.</b> <span class="smcap">Progne subis</span>. Summer resident; local; rare in
+eastern, quite common in western part of the State.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>612. <b>Cliff-swallow.</b> <span class="smcap">Petrochelidon lunifrons</span>. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds everywhere from plains to 10,000 feet; nests on cliffs and
+beneath eaves.</p>
+
+<p>613. <b>Barn swallow.</b> <span class="smcap">Hirundo erythrogaster</span>. Common summer resident; breeds
+from plains to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>614. <b>Tree swallow.</b> <span class="smcap">Tachycineta bicolor</span>. Summer resident; not uncommon;
+breeds occasionally on the plains; more frequently in mountains up to
+10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>615. <b>Violet-green swallow.</b> <span class="smcap">Tachycineta thalassina</span>. Summer resident;
+abundant locally; a few breed on plains; more commonly from 6,000 to
+10,500 feet.</p>
+
+<p>616. <b>Bank swallow.</b> <span class="smcap">Clivicola riparia</span>. Rare summer resident; rarest
+Colorado swallow; from plains to foothills.</p>
+
+<p>617. <b>Rough-winged swallow.</b> <span class="smcap">Stelgidopteryx serripennis</span>. Summer resident;
+not uncommon; breeds below 7,500 feet.</p>
+
+<p>618. <b>Bohemian waxwing.</b> <span class="smcap">Ampelis garrulus</span>. Winter resident; not uncommon;
+breeds north of the United States.</p>
+
+<p>619. <b>Cedar waxwing.</b> <span class="smcap">Ampelis cedrorum</span>. Resident; not common; breeds from
+plains to about 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>621. <b>Northern shrike.</b> <span class="smcap">Lanius borealis</span>. Common winter resident; on its
+return from the North in October it first appears above timber-line,
+then descends to the plains.</p>
+
+<p>622a. <b>White-rumped shrike.</b> <span class="smcap">Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides</span>. Common
+summer resident; breeds mostly on the plains; sometimes in mountains up
+to 9,500 feet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>624. <b>Red-eyed vireo.</b> <span class="smcap">Vireo olivaceus</span>. Rare summer resident; an eastern
+species, coming only to base of foothills; still, one was taken at
+11,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>627. <b>Warbling vireo.</b> <span class="smcap">Vireo gilvus</span>. Common summer resident; breeds
+sparingly on the plains; commonly in mountains up to 10,000.</p>
+
+<p>629a. <b>Cassin's vireo.</b> <span class="smcap">Vireo solitarius cassinii</span>. Rare or accidental
+summer visitor; not known to breed; a southwestern species.</p>
+
+<p>629b. <b>Plumbeous vireo.</b> <span class="smcap">Vireo solitarius plumbeus</span>. Summer resident;
+common; breeds in foothills and mountains up to over 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>636. <b>Black and white warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Mniotilta varia</span>. Rare summer visitor; two
+records.</p>
+
+<p>644. <b>Virginia's warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Helminthophila virgini&aelig;</span>. Common summer
+resident; western bird, but breeds along eastern base of foothills.</p>
+
+<p>646. <b>Orange-crowned warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Helminthophila celata</span>. Summer resident; not
+uncommon; common migrant; breeds from 6,000 to 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>646a. <b>Lutescent warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Helminthophila celata lutescens</span>. Summer
+resident; not uncommon: western form of the orange-crowned warbler;
+ranges to eastern base of mountains.</p>
+
+<p>647. <b>Tennessee warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Helminthophila peregrina</span>. Rare migrant; eastern
+Colorado to base of mountains.</p>
+
+<p>648. <b>Parula warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Compsothlypis americana</span>. Rare summer resident;
+comes to base of foothills.</p>
+
+<p>652. <b>Yellow warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica &aelig;stiva</span>. Abundant summer resident; breeds
+up to 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>652a. <b>Sonora yellow warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica &aelig;stiva sonorana</span>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> Summer
+resident; probably common; to the southwest <i>&aelig;stiva</i> shades into
+<i>sonorana</i>.</p>
+
+<p>654. <b>Black-throated blue warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica c&aelig;rulescens</span>. Rare migrant;
+one record.</p>
+
+<p>655. <b>Myrtle warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica coronata</span>. Common migrant; scarcely known
+west of the range.</p>
+
+<p>656. <b>Audubon's warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica auduboni</span>. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds from 7,000 to 11,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>657. <b>Magnolia warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica maculosa</span>. Rare migrant; breeds
+northward.</p>
+
+<p>658. <b>Cerulean warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica rara</span>. Rare migrant; one record.</p>
+
+<p>661. <b>Black-poll warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica striata</span>. Rare summer resident;
+sometimes common in migration; one breeding record for the State&mdash;at
+Seven Lakes; altitude, 11,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>664. <b>Grace's warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica graci&aelig;</span>. Summer resident; common in
+extreme southwestern part of the State.</p>
+
+<p>665. <b>Black-throated gray warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica nigrescens</span>. Summer resident;
+not infrequent; breeds in pinon hills near Ca&ntilde;on City.</p>
+
+<p>668. <b>Townsend's warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica townsendi</span>. Summer resident; not
+uncommon; western species, coming east to base of foothills and a few
+miles out on plains; breeds from 5,500 to 8,000 feet in western
+Colorado; in fall it is found as high as 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>672. <b>Palm warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Dendroica palmarum</span>. Rare or accidental migrant; one
+specimen seen.</p>
+
+<p>674. <b>Oven-bird.</b> <span class="smcap">Seiurus aurocapillus</span>. Rare breeder, on Mr. Aiken's
+authority.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>675a. <b>Grinnell's water thrush.</b> <span class="smcap">Seiurus noveboracensis notabilis</span>. Rare
+migrant; appearing from plains to 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>678. <b>Connecticut warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Geothlypis agilis</span>. Rare or accidental migrant;
+one record by Mr. Aiken.</p>
+
+<p>680. <b>Macgillivray's warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Geothlypis tolmiei</span>. Common summer resident;
+breeds from base of foothills to 9,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>681. <b>Maryland yellow-throat.</b> <span class="smcap">Geothlypis trichas</span>. One taken at Colorado
+Springs by Mr. Aiken.</p>
+
+<p>681a. <b>Western yellow-throat.</b> <span class="smcap">Geothlypis trichas occidentalis</span>. Common
+summer resident, almost restricted to the plains; both sides of the
+range.</p>
+
+<p>683. <b>Yellow-breasted chat.</b> <span class="smcap">Icteria virens</span>. Accidental summer visitor.</p>
+
+<p>683a. <b>Long-tailed chat.</b> <span class="smcap">Icteria virens longicauda</span>. Common summer
+resident; scarcely found in the mountains, but frequent in the lower
+foothills and on the plains; never seen above 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>685. <b>Wilson's warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Wilsonia pusilla</span>. Abundant summer resident;
+centre of abundance in breeding season, 11,000 feet; known to breed at
+12,000 feet; also as low as 6,000.</p>
+
+<p>685a. <b>Pileolated warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Wilsonia pusilla pileolata</span>. Summer resident;
+not uncommon; Mr. Aiken thinks it as plentiful as preceding.</p>
+
+<p>686. <b>Canadian warbler.</b> <span class="smcap">Wilsonia canadensis</span>. Rare or accidental migrant;
+one record by Mr. Aiken.</p>
+
+<p>687. <b>American redstart.</b> <span class="smcap">Setophaga ruticilla</span>. Summer resident; not
+uncommon in eastern, rare in western, Colorado; breeds below 8,000
+feet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>697. <b>American pipit.</b> <span class="smcap">Anthus pensilvanicus</span>. Common summer resident;
+breeds only on summits of the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>701. <b>American dipper.</b> <span class="smcap">Cinclus mexicanus</span>. Resident; common in favorite
+localities; one seen above timber-line in October.</p>
+
+<p>702. <b>Sage thrasher.</b> <span class="smcap">Oroscoptes montanus</span>. Summer resident; breeds from
+plains to nearly 10,000 feet; western species, coming east to mountain
+slopes.</p>
+
+<p>703. <b>Mocking-bird.</b> <span class="smcap">Mimus polyglottos</span>. Summer resident; common locally;
+mostly on plains, but sometimes reaches 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>704. <b>Catbird.</b> <span class="smcap">Galeoscoptes carolinensis</span>. Common summer resident; from
+plains to 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>705. <b>Brown thrasher.</b> <span class="smcap">Harporhynchus rufus</span>. Not uncommon as summer
+resident; almost restricted to the plains.</p>
+
+<p>708. <b>Bendire's thrasher.</b> <span class="smcap">Harporhynchus bendirei</span>. Summer resident; rare
+and local; south central part of State.</p>
+
+<p>715. <b>Rock wren.</b> <span class="smcap">Salpinctes obsoletus</span>. Common summer resident; breeds
+from plains to 12,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>717a. <b>Ca&ntilde;on wren.</b> <span class="smcap">Catherpes mexicanus conspersus</span>. Rare resident; one
+nest recorded.</p>
+
+<p>719b. <b>Baird's wren.</b> <span class="smcap">Thryomanes bewickii leucogaster</span>. Rare summer
+resident.</p>
+
+<p>721b. <b>Western house wren.</b> <span class="smcap">Troglodytes a&euml;don aztecus</span>. Common summer
+resident; from plains to 10,000 feet; raises two broods, sometimes
+three.</p>
+
+<p>722. <b>Winter wren.</b> <span class="smcap">Anorthura hiemalis</span>. Rare resident; no nest found.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>725a. <b>Tul&eacute; wren.</b> <span class="smcap">Cistothorus paludicola</span>. Summer resident; not uncommon;
+breeds from plains to 8,000 feet; some remain all winter in hot-water
+swamps.</p>
+
+<p>725c. <b>Western marsh wren.</b> <span class="smcap">Cistothorus palustris plesius</span>. Summer
+resident; not uncommon locally.</p>
+
+<p>726b. <b>Rocky Mountain creeper.</b> <span class="smcap">Certhia familiaris montana</span>. Common
+resident; in breeding season confined to the immediate vicinity of
+timber-line, where some remain the year round.</p>
+
+<p>727. <b>White-breasted nuthatch.</b> <span class="smcap">Sitta carolinensis</span>. Resident; not common.</p>
+
+<p>727a. <b>Slender-billed nuthatch.</b> <span class="smcap">Sitta carolinensis aculeata</span>. Common
+resident; western form; commonly breeds from 7,500 feet to timber-line.</p>
+
+<p>728. <b>Red-breasted nuthatch.</b> <span class="smcap">Sitta canadensis</span>. Not uncommon resident;
+migrant on the plains; resident in the mountains to about 8,000 feet,
+sometimes 10,000.</p>
+
+<p>730. <b>Pigmy nuthatch.</b> <span class="smcap">Sitta pygm&aelig;a</span>. Abundant resident; mountain bird;
+makes scarcely any migration; most common from 7,000 to 10,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>733a. <b>Gray titmouse.</b> <span class="smcap">Parus inornatus griseus</span>. Resident; not common;
+southern species, coming to eastern foothills.</p>
+
+<p>735a. <b>Long-tailed chickadee.</b> <span class="smcap">Parus atricapillus septentrionalis</span>. Not
+uncommon resident; winters on plains and in foothills; breeds from 7,000
+to 10,000 feet; sometimes on plains.</p>
+
+<p>738. <b>Mountain chickadee.</b> <span class="smcap">Parus gambeli</span>. Abundant resident; nests from
+8,000 feet to timber-line; ranges in the fall to the tops of the
+loftiest peaks.</p>
+
+<p>744. <b>Lead-colored bush-tit.</b> <span class="smcap">Psaltriparus plumbeus</span>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> Resident; not
+common; western species, coming to eastern foothills.</p>
+
+<p>748. <b>Golden-crowned kinglet.</b> <span class="smcap">Regulus satrapa</span>. Rare summer resident;
+rather common in migration; breeds only near timber-line at about
+11,000.</p>
+
+<p>749. <b>Ruby-crowned kinglet.</b> <span class="smcap">Regulus calendula</span>. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds from 9,000 feet to timber-line.</p>
+
+<p>751. <b>Blue-gray gnatcatcher.</b> <span class="smcap">Polioptila c&aelig;rulea</span>. Rare summer resident;
+breeds on the plains and in the foothills.</p>
+
+<p>754. <b>Townsend's solitaire.</b> <span class="smcap">Myadestes townsendii</span>. Common resident; breeds
+from 8,000 to 12,000 feet; winters in mountains, though stragglers are
+sometimes seen on the plains. The author saw a pair on plains near
+Arvada, in company with a young, well-fledged bird.</p>
+
+<p>756a. <b>Willow thrush.</b> <span class="smcap">Hylocichla fuscescens salicicola</span>. Summer resident;
+rather common; breeds in foothills and parks up to about 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>758a. <b>Olive-backed thrush.</b> <span class="smcap">Hylocichla ustulata swainsonii</span>. Rare migrant.</p>
+
+<p>758c. <b>Alma's thrush.</b> <span class="smcap">Hylocichla ustulata alam&aelig;</span>. Rare summer resident; in
+migration common.</p>
+
+<p>759. <b>Dwarf hermit thrush.</b> <span class="smcap">Hylocichla aonalaschk&aelig;</span>. Rare migrant.</p>
+
+<p>759a. <b>Audubon's hermit thrush.</b> <span class="smcap">Hylocichla aonalaschk&aelig; auduboni</span>. Common
+summer resident; breeds from 8,000 feet to timber-line.</p>
+
+<p>759b. <b>Hermit thrush.</b> <span class="smcap">Hylocichla aonalaschk&aelig; pallasii</span>. Rare migrant;
+comes to the eastern edge of Colorado, just touching range of
+<i>auduboni</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>761. <b>American robin.</b> <span class="smcap">Merula migratoria</span>. Summer resident, but not common;
+some interesting questions arise in connection with intermediate forms.</p>
+
+<p>761a. <b>Western robin.</b> <span class="smcap">Merula migratoria propinqua</span>. Abundant summer
+resident; breeds from plains to timber-line.</p>
+
+<p>765a. <b>Greenland wheatear.</b> <span class="smcap">Saxicola &oelig;nanthe leucorhoa</span>. European
+species; a straggler taken at Boulder by Minot.</p>
+
+<p>766. <b>Bluebird.</b> <span class="smcap">Sialia sialis</span>. Rare summer resident; west to base of
+Rockies.</p>
+
+<p>767a. <b>Chestnut-backed bluebird.</b> <span class="smcap">Sialia mexicana bairdi</span>. Summer resident;
+not common; western form, coming east as far as Pueblo.</p>
+
+<p>768. <b>Mountain bluebird.</b> <span class="smcap">Sialia arctica</span>. Abundant summer resident; breeds
+from plains to timber-line; in autumn roams up to at least 13,000
+feet.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span></p>
+<h2>INDEX</h2>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</p>
+
+<div class="index">
+<ul class="ix">
+  <li>Aerial song, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>-270, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>-301.</li>
+
+  <li>Aiken, Charles E., xiii, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Arvada, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.</li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Blackbird, Brewer's, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>-274.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>red-winged, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.</li>
+      <li>yellow-headed, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Bluebird, mountain, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Bobolink, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Boulder, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Breckenridge, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Buena Vista, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-136, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Bunting, lark, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>-292.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>lazuli (also called finch), <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>-159, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Burro ride, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>-256.</li>
+
+  <li>Butterflies, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.</li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Canary, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Ca&ntilde;on, Arkansas River, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>Cheyenne, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li>
+      <li>Clear Creek, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.</li>
+      <li>Eagle River, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li>
+      <li>Engleman's, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li>
+      <li>Grand River, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li>
+      <li>South Platte, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>-282, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Catbird, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Chat, yellow-breasted, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>long-tailed, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Chatterers, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span></li>
+
+  <li>Cheyenne Mountain, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Chewink, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Chickadee, black-capped, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>mountain, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Colorado Springs, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Cooke, Wells W., <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Coot, American, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Cottonwood Lake, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Coues, Dr. Elliott, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Cowbird, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Coyote, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Crane, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Crossbill, Mexican, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Crow, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Denver, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Dickcissel, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Dipper (<i>see</i> water-ousel), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-174, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Dove, turtle, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Ducks, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>ruddy, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-145.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>East and West, birds of, compared, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-27, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>-40, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-95, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-131, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>-136, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>-159, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>-193, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Flicker, red-shafted, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>yellow-shafted, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Flycatchers, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>Arkansas, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>-97, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>
+      <li>crested, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+      <li>least, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>
+      <li>olive-sided, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li>
+      <li>western, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Georgetown, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>-219, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Glenwood, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-125, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span></li>
+
+  <li>Golden, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Goldfinch, American, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>Arkansas, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Grackle, bronzed, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>purple, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Grassfinch, eastern, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>western, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Graymont, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Gray's Peak, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>-256, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>ascent of, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>-243.</li>
+      <li>summit, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-251.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Green Lake, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>-214.</li>
+
+  <li>Grosbeak, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>black-headed, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+      <li>cardinal, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+      <li>rose-breasted, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
+      <li>western blue, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Halfway House, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Harrier, marsh, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Herbert, George, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Hawk, pigeon, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>House-finch, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>-183, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Humming-bird, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>broad-tailed, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>-109, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>-114, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.</li>
+      <li>ruby-throated, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+      <li>rufous, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Indigo-bird, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Jack-rabbit, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Jay, blue, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>long-crested, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>-151, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>-281.</li>
+      <li>mountain, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>-154, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li>
+      <li>Woodhouse's, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Junco, slate-colored, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>gray-headed, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></li>
+    </ul></li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Kelso, Mount, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Killdeer, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Kingbird, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Kingfisher, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Kinglet, ruby-crowned, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>-66, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Lark, desert horned, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-89, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>-270.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>horned, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li>
+      <li>pallid horned, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>
+      <li>prairie horned, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Leadville, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Leucosticte, brown-capped, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Lowell, James Russell, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Magpie, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-43, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Manitou, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Martin, purple, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Meadow-lark, eastern, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-95.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>western, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-95, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Merriam, Dr. C. Hart, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Migration, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>-23, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Mocking-bird, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Moraine Lake, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>-73, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Muir, John, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Nighthawk, eastern, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>western, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Nutcracker (also crow) Clark's, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Nuthatch, pygmy, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>white-breasted, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Ohio, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Oriole, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>Baltimore, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>-35.</li>
+      <li>Bullock's 33-35, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+      <li>orchard, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Owl, burrowing, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>-180.</li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+  <li>Ph&oelig;be, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>Say's, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Pike's Peak, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>ascent of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>-58.</li>
+      <li>descent of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-56, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>-79.</li>
+      <li>summit, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>-49, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Pipit, American, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-52, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Ptarmigan, white-tailed, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Pueblo, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Raven, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Red Cliff, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Redstart, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Rexford, Eben E., <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Ridgway, Robert, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Roberts, Charles G. D., <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Robin, eastern, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>western, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-207, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Royal Gorge, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Sandpiper, spotted, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Sapsucker, red-naped, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>Williamson's, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>-79, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Seton, Ernest Thompson, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Seven Lakes, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Shrike, white-rumped, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Silver Plume, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Siskin, pine, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Skylark, European, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Solitaire, Townsend's, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>-303.</li>
+
+  <li>South Park, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>-278.</li>
+
+  <li>Sparrow, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>Brewer's, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
+      <li>chipping, western, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li>
+      <li>clay-colored, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li>
+      <li>English, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>-183.</li>
+      <li>lark, western, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+      <li>Lincoln's, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>.</li>
+      <li>mountain song, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>-135, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></li>
+      <li>savanna, western, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>-276.</li>
+      <li>song, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>-135, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</li>
+      <li>white-crowned, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>-55, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-74, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Swallows, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>barn, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</li>
+      <li>cliff, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.</li>
+      <li>violet-green, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Tabb, John B., <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Tanager, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>Louisiana, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</li>
+      <li>scarlet, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li>
+      <li>summer, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Thompson, Maurice, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Thrasher, brown, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Thrush, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>hermit, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+      <li>mountain hermit, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>-70, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</li>
+      <li>veery, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+      <li>willow, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</li>
+      <li>wood, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Tillie Ann, Mount, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>-262.</li>
+
+  <li>Torrey's Peak, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Towhee, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>green-tailed, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-39, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>-295.</li>
+      <li>spurred, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Vireo, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>warbling, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Warbler, Audubon's, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-64, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>Macgillivray's, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>
+      <li>mountain, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li>
+      <li>myrtle, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span></li>
+      <li>pileolated, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
+      <li>summer, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+      <li>Wilson's, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Water-ousel (<i>see</i> dipper), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-174, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Woodpeckers, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>Batchelder's, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
+      <li>downy, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li>
+      <li>Lewis's, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>-162, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li>
+      <li>red-headed, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Wood-pewee, eastern, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>western, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>Wren, Bewick's, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.
+    <ul class="ix">
+      <li>Carolina, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</li>
+      <li>rock, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>-298.</li>
+      <li>western house, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+</ul><ul class="ix">
+
+
+  <li>Yellow-throat, western, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+</div><!-- index -->
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p>
+<hr /><p class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>
+PRINTED FOR A. C. McCLURG &amp; CO. BY<br />
+THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, JOHN WILSON<br />
+&amp; SON (INC.) CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+<h2>Transcriber's Notes:</h2>
+<hr />
+
+<p><a href="#Page_140">Page 140</a><br />
+The illustration entitled "Brewer's Blackbirds" appears to be one of
+Yellow-headed Blackbirds.
+Unchanged.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#Page_333">Page 333</a><br />
+000. <b>English sparrow.</b> PASSER DOMESTICUS.<br />
+This item falls between item 533 and 534. Unchanged from original.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Birds of the Rockies, by Leander Sylvester
+Keyser, Illustrated by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Bruce Horsfall
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Birds of the Rockies
+
+
+Author: Leander Sylvester Keyser
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 5, 2008  [eBook #25973]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Leonard Johnson, and the
+Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 25973-h.htm or 25973-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/9/7/25973/25973-h/25973-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/9/7/25973/25973-h.zip)
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed between equal signs was in bold face in
+      the original (=bold face=).
+
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES
+
+by
+
+LEANDER S. KEYSER
+
+Author of "In Bird Land," Etc.
+
+With Eight Full-page Plates (four in color)
+by LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES; Many Illustrations
+in the Text by BRUCE HORSFALL, and
+Eight Views of Localities from Photographs
+
+
+With a Complete Check-List
+of Colorado Birds
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE I
+
+WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER _Sphyrapicus thyroideus_
+(Figure on left, male; on right, female)]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Chicago . A. C. McClurg and Co.
+Nineteen Hundred and Two
+
+Copyright
+A. C. McClurg & Co.
+1902
+
+Published September 27, 1902
+
+
+
+
+TO
+KATHERINE
+AND
+THE BOYS
+
+IN MEMORY OF MANY HAPPY DAYS
+BOTH INDOORS AND OUT
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+ UP AND DOWN THE HEIGHTS                                              19
+
+ INTRODUCTION TO SOME SPECIES                                         31
+
+ BALD PEAKS AND GREEN VALES                                           47
+
+ BIRDS OF THE ARID PLAIN                                              83
+
+ A PRETTY HUMMER                                                     103
+
+ OVER THE DIVIDE AND BACK                                            117
+
+ A ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAKE                                               139
+
+ A BIRD MISCELLANY                                                   149
+
+ PLAINS AND FOOTHILLS                                                177
+
+ RAMBLES ABOUT GEORGETOWN                                            197
+
+ HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK!                                                223
+
+ PLEASANT OUTINGS                                                    259
+
+ A NOTABLE QUARTETTE                                                 285
+
+ CHECK-LIST OF COLORADO BIRDS                                        307
+
+ INDEX                                                               349
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+FULL-PAGE PLATES
+
+
+ PLATE                                                       FACING PAGE
+
+    I. WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER--_Sphyrapicus
+       thyroideus_                                        _Frontispiece_
+
+   II. GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE--_Pipilo chlorurus_;
+         SPURRED TOWHEE--_Pipilo megalonyx_                           47
+
+  III. LAZULI BUNTING--_Cyanospiza amoena_                            83
+
+   IV. LARK BUNTING--_Calamospiza melanocorys_                       139
+
+    V. LOUISIANA TANAGER--_Pyranga ludoviciana_                      177
+
+   VI. TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE--_Myiadestes townsendii_                 223
+
+  VII. RUDDY DUCK--_Erismatura rubida_                               259
+
+ VIII. BROWN-CAPPED LEUCOSTICTE--_Leucosticte australis_             303
+
+
+SCENIC AND TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+ WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS ("Their grass-lined nests
+ by the babbling mountain brook")                                     21
+
+ TURTLE DOVES ("Darting across the turbulent stream")                 44
+
+ PIPITS ("Te-cheer! te-cheer!")                                       50
+
+ PIPITS ("Up over the Bottomless Pit")                                51
+
+ WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW ("Dear Whittier")                              55
+
+ RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET ("The singer elevated his crest
+ feathers")                                                           65
+
+ DESERT HORNED LARKS ("They were plentiful in this parched
+ region")                                                             84
+
+ HORNED LARK ("It was a dear little thing")                           88
+
+ COYOTE ("Looking back to see whether he were being pursued")        100
+
+ ONE OF THE SEVEN LAKES                                              105
+
+ SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK                                               111
+
+ "PIKE'S PEAK IN CLOUDLAND"                                          114
+
+ CLIFF-SWALLOWS ("On the rugged face of a cliff")                    118
+
+ ROYAL GORGE                                                         123
+
+ PINE SISKINS                                                        128
+
+ WILLOW THRUSH                                                       136
+
+ BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS ("An interesting place for bird study")         139
+
+ YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS ("There the youngsters
+ perched")                                                           142
+
+ "FROM THEIR PLACE AMONG THE REEDS"                                  146
+
+ THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN JAY ("Seeking a covert in the
+ dense pineries when a storm sweeps down from the mountains")        152
+
+ RAINBOW FALLS                                                       165
+
+ WATER-OUSEL ("Up, up, only a few inches from the dashing
+ current")                                                           167
+
+ WATER-OUSEL ("Three hungry mouths which were opened wide to
+ receive the food")                                                  171
+
+ "NO SNOWSTORM CAN DISCOURAGE HIM"                                   174
+
+ "THE DARK DOORWAY"                                                  179
+
+ SONG SPARROW ("His songs are bubbling over still with melody
+ and glee")                                                          194
+
+ CLEAR CREEK VALLEY                                                  201
+
+ WESTERN ROBIN ("Out-pouring joy")                                   207
+
+ RED-NAPED SAPSUCKERS ("Chiselling grubs out of the bark")           211
+
+ PIGEON HAWK ("Watching for quarry")                                 214
+
+ "SOLO SINGING IN THE THRUSH REALM"                                  218
+
+ GRAY'S AND TORREY'S PEAKS                                           245
+
+ PANORAMA FROM GRAY'S PEAK--NORTHWEST                                249
+
+ THISTLE BUTTERFLY                                                   252
+
+ WESTERN WHITE                                                       252
+
+ JUNCO ("Under a roof of green grass")                               255
+
+ SOUTH PARK FROM KENOSHA HILL                                        265
+
+ MAGPIE AND WESTERN ROBINS ("They were hot on his trail")            271
+
+ VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW ("Squatted on the dusty road and took a
+ sun-bath")                                                          279
+
+
+    "'What bird is that? Its song is good,'
+        And eager eyes
+    Go peering through the dusky wood
+        In glad surprise;
+    Then late at night when by his fire
+        The traveller sits,
+    Watching the flame grow brighter, higher,
+        The sweet song flits
+    By snatches through his weary brain
+        To help him rest."
+
+    HELEN HUNT JACKSON: _The Way to Sing_.
+
+
+
+
+BRIEF FOREWORD
+
+
+With sincere pleasure the author would acknowledge the uniform courtesy
+of editors and publishers in permitting him to reprint many of the
+articles comprised in this volume, from the various periodicals in which
+they first appeared.
+
+He also desires to express his special indebtedness to Mr. Charles E.
+Aiken, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, whose contributions to the
+ornithology of the West have been of great scientific value, and to
+whose large and varied collection of bird-skins the author had frequent
+access for the purpose of settling difficult points in bird
+identification. This obliging gentleman also spent many hours in
+conversation with the writer, answering his numerous questions with the
+intelligence of the scientifically trained observer. Lastly, he kindly
+corrected some errors into which the author had inadvertently fallen.
+
+While the area covered by the writer's personal observations may be
+somewhat restricted, yet the scientific bird-list at the close of the
+volume widens the field so as to include the entire avi-fauna of
+Colorado so far as known to systematic students. Besides, constant
+comparison has been made between the birds of the West and the allied
+species and genera of our Central and Eastern States. For this reason
+the range of the volume really extends from the Atlantic seaboard to the
+parks, valleys, and plateaus beyond the Continental Divide.
+
+L. S. K.
+
+
+    All are needed by each one;
+    Nothing is fair or good alone.
+    I thought the sparrow's note from heaven,
+    Singing at dawn on the alder bough;
+    I brought him home, in his nest, at even;
+    He sings the song, but it cheers not now,
+    For I did not bring home the river and sky;--
+    He sang to my ear,--they sang to my eye.
+
+RALPH WALDO EMERSON: _Each and All_.
+
+    Not from his fellows only man may learn
+    Rights to compare and duties to discern;
+    All creatures and all objects, in degree,
+    Are friends and patrons of humanity.
+    There are to whom the garden, grove, and field
+    Perpetual lessons of forbearance yield;
+    Who would not lightly violate the grace
+    The lowliest flower possesses in its place;
+    Nor shorten the sweet life, too fugitive,
+    Which nothing less than infinite Power could give.
+
+WILLIAM WORDSWORTH: _Humanity_.
+
+    Sounds drop in visiting from everywhere--
+    The bluebird's and the robin's trill are there,
+    Their sweet liquidity diluted some
+    By dewy orchard spaces they have come.
+
+JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY: _A Child World_.
+
+    Even in the city, I
+    Am ever conscious of the sky;
+    A portion of its frame no less
+    Than in the open wilderness.
+    The stars are in my heart by night,
+    I sing beneath the opening light,
+    As envious of the bird; I live
+    Upon the payment, yet I give
+    My soul to every growing tree
+    That in the narrow ways I see.
+    My heart is in the blade of grass
+    Within the courtyard where I pass;
+    And the small, half-discovered cloud
+    Compels me till I cry aloud.
+    I am the wind that beats the walls
+    And wander trembling till it falls;
+    The snow, the summer rain am I,
+    In close communion with the sky.
+
+PHILIP HENRY SAVAGE.
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES
+
+
+
+
+UP AND DOWN THE HEIGHTS
+
+
+To study the birds from the level plains to the crests of the peaks
+swimming in cloudland; to note the species that are peculiar to the
+various altitudes, as well as those that range from the lower areas to
+the alpine heights; to observe the behavior of all the birds encountered
+in the West, and compare their habits, songs, and general deportment
+with those of correlated species and genera in the East; to learn as
+much as possible about the migratory movements up and down the mountains
+as the seasons wax and wane,--surely that would be an inspiring prospect
+to any student of the feathered fraternity. For many years one of the
+writer's most cherished desires has been to investigate the bird life of
+the Rocky Mountains. In the spring of 1899, and again in 1901, fortune
+smiled upon him in the most genial way, and--in a mental state akin to
+rapture, it must be confessed--he found himself rambling over the plains
+and mesas and through the deep canyons, and clambering up the dizzy
+heights, in search of winged rarities.
+
+In this chapter attention will be called to a few general facts relative
+to bird life in the Rockies, leaving the details for subsequent recital.
+As might be expected, the towering elevations influence the movements of
+the feathered tenants of the district. There is here what might be
+called a vertical migration, aside from the usual pilgrimages north and
+south which are known to the more level portions of North America. The
+migratory journeys up and down the mountains occur with a regularity
+that amounts to a system; yet so far as regards these movements each
+species must be studied for itself, each having manners that are all its
+own.
+
+In regions of a comparatively low altitude many birds, as is well known,
+hie to the far North to find the proper climatic conditions in which to
+rear their broods and spend their summer vacation, some of them going to
+the subarctic provinces and others beyond. How different among the
+sublime heights of the Rockies! Here they are required to make a journey
+of only a few miles, say from five to one hundred or slightly more,
+according to the locality selected, up the defiles and canyons or over
+the ridges, to find the conditions as to temperature, food, nesting
+sites, etc., that are precisely to their taste. The wind blowing down to
+their haunts from the snowy summits carries on its wings the same
+keenness and invigoration that they would find if they went to British
+America, where the breezes would descend from the regions of snow and
+ice beyond the Arctic Circle.
+
+[Illustration: _White-Crowned Sparrows_]
+
+It will add a little spice of detail if we take a concrete case. There
+is the handsome and lyrical white-crowned sparrow; in my native State,
+Ohio, this bird is only a migrant, passing for the summer far up into
+Canada to court his mate and rear his family. Now remember that Colorado
+is in the same latitude as Ohio; but the Buckeye State, famous as it is
+for furnishing presidents, has no lofty elevations, and therefore no
+white-crowns as summer residents. However, Colorado may claim this
+distinction, as well as that of producing gold and silver, and
+furnishing some of the sublimest scenery on the earth; for on the side
+of Pike's Peak, in a green, well-watered valley just below timber-line,
+I was almost thrown into transports at finding the white-crowns,
+listening to their rhythmic choruses, and discovering their grass-lined
+nests by the side of the babbling mountain brook. Altitude accomplishes
+for these birds what latitude does for their brothers and sisters of
+eastern North America.
+
+There is almost endless variety in the avi-faunal life of the Rockies.
+Some species breed far above timber-line in the thickets that invade the
+open valleys, or clamber far up the steep mountain sides. Others ascend
+still higher, building their nests on the bald summits of the loftiest
+peaks at an altitude of fourteen thousand feet and more, living all
+summer long in an atmosphere that is as rare as it is refreshing and
+pure. Among these alpine dwellers may be mentioned the brown-capped
+leucostictes, which shall be accorded the attention they deserve in
+another chapter. Then, there are species which have representatives both
+on the plains and far up in the mountain parks and valleys, such as the
+western robin, the western meadow-lark, and the mountain bluebird.
+
+In this wonderful country there is to be observed every style of
+migratory habit. A twofold migrating current must be noticed. While
+there is a movement up and down the mountain heights, there is at the
+same time a movement north and south, making the migratory system a
+perfect network of lines of travel. Some species summer in the
+mountains and winter on the plains; others summer in the mountains pass
+down to the plains in the autumn, then wing their way farther south into
+New Mexico, Mexico, Central America, and even South America, where they
+spend the winter, reversing this order on their return to the north in
+the spring; others simply pass through this region in their vernal and
+autumnal pilgrimages, stopping for a short time, but spending neither
+the summer nor the winter in this latitude; still others come down from
+the remote north on the approach of autumn, and winter in this State,
+either on the plains or in the sheltering ravines and forests of the
+mountains, and then return to the north in the spring; and, lastly,
+there are species that remain here all the year round, some of them in
+the mountains, others on the plains, and others again in both
+localities. A number of hardy birds--genuine feathered Norsemen--brave
+the arctic winters of the upper mountain regions, fairly revelling in
+the swirling snow-storms, and it must be a terrific gale indeed that
+will drive them down from their favorite habitats toward the plains.
+
+Does the avi-fauna of the Rocky Mountain district differ widely from
+that of the Eastern States? The reply must be made in the affirmative.
+Therefore the first work of the bird-student from the East will be that
+of a tyro--the identification of species. For this purpose he must have
+frequent recourse to the useful manuals of Coues and Ridgway, and to the
+invaluable brochure of Professor Wells W. Cooke on the "Birds of
+Colorado." In passing, it may be said that the last-named gentleman
+might almost be called the Colorado Audubon or Wilson.
+
+In studying the birds of the West, one should note that there are
+western subspecies and varieties, which differ in some respects, though
+not materially, from their eastern cousins; for instance, the western
+robin, the western chipping sparrow, the western lark sparrow, and the
+western nighthawk. Besides, intermediate forms are to be met with and
+classified, the eastern types shading off in a very interesting process
+into the western. It would be impossible for any one but a systematist
+with the birds in hand to determine where the intermediate forms become
+either typical easterners or typical westerners.
+
+Most interesting of all to the rambler on avian lore intent is the fact
+that there are many species and genera that are peculiar to the West,
+and therefore new to him, keeping him constantly on the _qui vive_. In
+Colorado you will look in vain for the common blue jay, so abundant in
+all parts of the East; but you will be more than compensated by the
+presence of seven other species of the jay household. The woodpeckers of
+the West (with one exception) are different from those of the East, and
+so are the flycatchers, the grosbeaks, the orioles, the tanagers, the
+humming-birds, and many of the sparrows. Instead of the purple and
+bronzed grackles (the latter are sometimes seen on the plains of
+Colorado, but are not common), the Rockies boast of Brewer's blackbird,
+whose habits are not as prosaic as his name would indicate. "Jim Crow"
+shuns the mountains for reasons satisfactory to himself; not so the
+magpie, the raven, and that mischief-maker, Clark's nutcracker. All of
+which keeps the bird-lover from the East in an ecstasy of surprises
+until he has become accustomed to his changed environment.
+
+One cannot help falling into the speculative mood in view of the sharp
+contrasts between the birds of the East and those of the West. Why does
+the hardy and almost ubiquitous blue jay studiously avoid the western
+plains and mountains? Why do not the magpie and the long-crested jay
+come east? What is there that prevents the indigo-bird from taking up
+residence in Colorado, where his pretty western cousin, the lazuli
+finch, finds himself so much at home? Why is the yellow-shafted flicker
+of the East replaced in the West by the red-shafted flicker? These
+questions are more easily asked than answered. From the writer's present
+home in eastern Kansas it is only six hundred miles to the foot of the
+Rockies; yet the avi-fauna of eastern Kansas is much more like that of
+the Eastern and New England States than that of the Colorado region.
+
+Perhaps the reason is largely, if not chiefly, physiological. Evidently
+there are birds that flourish best in a rare, dry atmosphere, while
+others naturally thrive in an atmosphere that is denser and more humid.
+The same is true of people. Many persons find the climate of Colorado
+especially adapted to their needs; indeed, to certain classes of
+invalids it is a veritable sanitarium. Others soon learn that it is
+detrimental to their health. Mayhap the same laws obtain in the bird
+realm.
+
+The altitude of my home is eight hundred and eighty feet above
+sea-level; that of Denver, Colorado, six thousand one hundred and sixty,
+making a difference of over five thousand feet, which may account for
+the absence of many eastern avian forms in the more elevated districts.
+Some day the dissector of birds may find a real difference in the
+physiological structure of the eastern and western meadow-larks. If so,
+it is to be hoped he will at once publish his discoveries for the
+satisfaction of all lovers of birds.
+
+If one had time and opportunity, some intensely interesting experiments
+might be tried. Suppose an eastern blue jay should be carried to the top
+of Pike's Peak, or Gray's, and then set free, how would he fare? Would
+the muscles and tendons of his wings have sufficient strength to bear
+him up in the rarefied atmosphere? One may easily imagine that he would
+go wabbling helplessly over the granite boulders, unable to lift himself
+more than a few feet in the air, while the pipit and the leucosticte,
+inured to the heights, would mount up to the sky and shout "Ha! ha!" in
+good-natured raillery at the blue tenderfoot. And would the feathered
+visitor feel a constriction in his chest and be compelled to gasp for
+breath, as the human tourists invariably do? It is even doubtful whether
+any eastern bird would be able to survive the changed meteorological
+conditions, Nature having designed him for a different environment.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION TO SOME SPECIES
+
+
+It was night when I found lodgings in the picturesque village of
+Manitou, nestling at the foot of the lower mountains that form the
+portico to Pike's Peak. Early the next morning I was out for a stroll
+along the bush-fringed mountain brook which had babbled me a serenade
+all night. To my delight, the place was rife with birds, the first to
+greet me being robins, catbirds, summer warblers, and warbling vireos,
+all of which, being well known in the East, need no description, but are
+mentioned here only to show the reader that some avian species are
+common to both the East and the West.
+
+But let me pause to pay a little tribute to the brave robin redbreast.
+Of course, here he is called the "western robin." His distribution is an
+interesting scientific fact. I found him everywhere--on the arid plains
+and mesas, in the solemn pines of the deep gulches and passes, and among
+the scraggy trees bordering on timber-line, over ten thousand feet above
+sea-level. In Colorado the robins are designated as "western," forms by
+the system-makers, but, even though called by a modified title, they
+deport themselves, build their nests, and sing their "cheerily,
+cheerily, cheer up," just as do their brothers and sisters of the land
+toward the rising sun. If there is any difference, their songs are not
+so loud and ringing, and their breasts not quite so ruddy as are those
+of the eastern types. Perhaps the incessant sunshine of Colorado
+bleaches out the tints somewhat.
+
+But in my ante-breakfast stroll at Manitou I soon stumbled upon
+feathered strangers. What was this little square-shouldered bird that
+kept uttering a shrill scream, which he seemed to mistake for a song? It
+was the western wood-pewee. Instead of piping the sweet, pensive
+"Pe-e-e-o-we-e-e-e" of the woodland bird of the Eastern States, this
+western swain persists in ringing the changes hour by hour upon that
+piercing scream, which sounds more like a cry of anguish than a song. At
+Buena Vista, where these birds are superabundant, their morning concerts
+were positively painful. One thing must be said, however, in defence of
+the western wood-pewee--he means well.
+
+Another acquaintance of my morning saunter was the debonair Arkansas
+goldfinch, which has received its bunglesome name, not from the State of
+Arkansas, but from the Arkansas River, dashing down from the mountains
+and flowing eastwardly through the southern part of Colorado. Most
+nattily this little bird wears his black cap, his olive-green frock,
+and his bright yellow vest. You will see at once that he dresses
+differently from the American goldfinch, so well known in the East, and,
+for that matter, just as well known on the plains of Colorado, where
+both species dwell in harmony. There are some white markings on the
+wings of _Spinus psaltria_ that give them a gauze-like appearance when
+they are rapidly fluttered.
+
+His song and some of his calls bear a close resemblance to those of the
+common goldfinch, but he is by no means a mere duplicate of that bird;
+he has an individuality of his own. While his flight is undulatory, the
+waviness is not so deeply and distinctly marked; nor does he sing a
+cheery cradle-song while swinging through the ether, although he often
+utters a series of unmusical chirps. One of the most pleasingly pensive
+sounds heard in my western rambles was the little coaxing call of this
+bird, whistled mostly by the female, I think. No doubt it is the tender
+love talk of a young wife or mother, which may account for its
+surpassing sweetness.
+
+Every lover of feathered kind is interested in what may be called
+comparative ornithology, and therefore I wish to speak of another
+western form and its eastern prototype--Bullock's oriole, which in
+Colorado takes the place of the Baltimore oriole known east of the
+plains all the way to the Atlantic coast. However, Bullock's is not
+merely a variety or subspecies, but a well-defined species of the oriole
+family, his scientific title being _Icterus bullocki_.
+
+Like our familiar Lord Baltimore, he bravely bears black and orange; but
+in _bullocki_ the latter color invades the sides of the neck, head, and
+forehead, leaving only a small black bow for the throat and a narrow
+black stripe running back over the crown and down the back of the neck;
+whereas in _Icterus galbula_ the entire head and neck are black.
+Brilliant as Bullock's oriole is, he does not seem to be anxious to
+display his fineries, for he usually makes it a point to keep himself
+ensconced behind a clump of foliage, so that, while you may hear a
+desultory piping in the trees, apparently inviting your confidence, it
+will be a long time before you can get more than a provoking glimpse of
+the jolly piper himself. "My gorgeous apparel was not made for parade,"
+seems to be his modest disclaimer.
+
+He is quite a vocalist. Here is a quotation from my lead-pencil, dashes
+and all: "Bullock's oriole--fine singer--voice stronger than orchard
+oriole's--song not quite so well articulated or so elaborate, but louder
+and more resonant--better singer than the Baltimore." It might be added
+that Bullock's, like the orchard, but unlike the Baltimore, pipes a real
+tune, with something of a theme running through its intermittent
+outbursts. The plumage of the young bird undergoes some curious
+changes, and what I took to be the year-old males seemed to be the most
+spirited musicians.
+
+Maurice Thompson's tribute to the Baltimore oriole will apply to that
+bird's western kinsman. He calls him:--
+
+    "Athlete of the air--
+    Of fire and song a glowing core;"
+
+and then adds, with tropical fervor:
+
+    "A hot flambeau on either wing
+      Rimples as you pass me by;
+    'T is seeing flame to hear you sing,
+      'T is hearing song to see you fly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "When flowery hints foresay the berry,
+      On spray of haw and tuft of brier,
+    Then, wandering incendiary,
+      You set the maple swamps afire!"
+
+Many nests of Bullock's oriole rewarded my slight search. They are
+larger and less compactly woven than the Baltimore's, and have a woolly
+appearance exteriorly, as if the down of the Cottonwood trees had been
+wrought into the fabric. Out on the plains I counted four dangling
+nests, old and new, on one small limb; but that, of course, was unusual,
+there being only one small clump of trees within a radius of many
+miles.
+
+In the vicinity of Manitou many trips were taken by the zealous
+pedestrian. Some of the dry, steep sides of the first range of mountains
+were hard climbing, but it was necessary to make the effort in order to
+discover their avian resources. One of the first birds met with on these
+unpromising acclivities was the spurred towhee of the Rockies. In his
+attire he closely resembles the towhee, or "chewink," of the East, but
+has as an extra ornament a beautiful sprinkling of white on his back and
+wings, which makes him look as if he had thrown a gauzy mantle of silver
+over his shoulders.
+
+But his song is different from our eastern towhee's. My notes say that
+it is "a cross between the song of the chewink and that of dickcissel,"
+and I shall stand by that assertion until I find good reason to disown
+it--should that time ever come. The opening syllabication is like
+dickcissel's; then follows a trill of no specially definable character.
+There are times when he sings with more than his wonted force, and it is
+then that his tune bears the strongest likeness to the eastern towhee's.
+But his alarm-call! It is no "chewink" at all, but almost as close a
+reproduction of a cat's mew as is the catbird's well-known call. Such
+crosses and anomalies does this country produce!
+
+On the arid mountain sides among the stunted bushes, cactus plants,
+sand, and rocks, this quaint bird makes his home, coming down into the
+valleys to drink at the tinkling brooks and trill his roundelays. Many,
+many times, as I was following a deep fissure in the mountains, his
+ditty came dripping down to me from some spot far up the steep mountain
+side--a little cascade of song mingling with the cascades of the brooks.
+The nests are usually placed under a bush on the sides of the mesas and
+mountains.
+
+And would you believe it? Colorado furnishes another towhee, though why
+he should have been put into the Pipilo group by the ornithologists is
+more than I can tell at this moment. He has no analogue in the East.
+True, he is a bird of the bushes, running sometimes like a little deer
+from one clump to another; but if you should see him mount a boulder or
+a bush, and hear him sing his rich, theme-like, finely modulated song,
+you would aver that he is closer kin to the thrushes or thrashers than
+to the towhees. There is not the remotest suggestion of the towhee
+minstrelsy in his prolonged and well-articulated melody. It would be
+difficult to find a finer lyrist among the mountains.
+
+But, hold! I have neglected to introduce this pretty Mozart of the West.
+He is known by an offensive and inapt title--the green-tailed towhee.
+Much more appropriately might he be called the chestnut-crowned towhee,
+for his cope is rich chestnut, and the crest is often held erect, making
+him look quite cavalier-like. It is the most conspicuous part of his
+toilet. His upper parts are grayish-green, becoming slightly deeper
+green on the tail, from which fact he derives his common name. His white
+throat and chin are a further diagnostic mark. The bright yellow of the
+edge of the wings, under coverts and axillaries is seldom seen, on
+account of the extreme wariness of the bird.
+
+In most of the dry and bushy places I found him at my elbow--or, rather,
+some distance away, but in evidence by his mellifluous song. Let me
+enumerate the localities in which I found my little favorite: Forty
+miles out on the plain among some bushes of a shallow dip; among the
+foothills about Colorado Springs and Manitou; on many of the open bushy
+slopes along the cog-road leading to Pike's Peak, but never in the dark
+ravines or thick timber; among the bushes just below timber-line on the
+southern acclivity of the peak; everywhere around the village of Buena
+Vista; about four miles below Leadville; and, lastly, beyond the range
+at Red Cliff and Glenwood.[1]
+
+    [1] This list was greatly enlarged in my second trip to Colorado in
+    1901.
+
+The song, besides its melodious quality, is full of expression. In this
+respect it excels the liquid chansons of the mountain hermit thrush,
+which is justly celebrated as a minstrel, but which does not rehearse a
+well-defined theme. The towhee's song is sprightly and cheerful, wild
+and free, has the swing of all outdoors, and is not pitched to a minor
+key. It gives you the impression that a bird which sings so blithesome a
+strain must surely be happy in his domestic relations.
+
+Among the Rockies the black-headed grosbeak is much in evidence, and so
+is his cheerful, good-tempered song, which is an exact counterpart of
+the song of the rose-breasted grosbeak, his eastern kinsman. Neither the
+rose-breast nor the cardinal is to be found in Colorado, but they are
+replaced by the black-headed and blue grosbeaks, the former dwelling
+among the lower mountains, the latter occurring along the streams of the
+plains. Master black-head and his mate are partial to the scrub oaks for
+nesting sites. I found one nest with four callow bantlings in it, but,
+much to my grief and anger, at my next call it had been robbed of its
+precious treasures. A few days later, not far from the same place, a
+female was building a nest, and I am disposed to believe that she was
+the mother whose children had been kidnapped.
+
+Instead of the scarlet and summer tanagers, the Rocky Mountain region is
+honored with that beautiful feathered gentleman, the Louisiana tanager,
+most of whose plumage is rich, glossy yellow, relieved by black on the
+wings, back, and tail; while his most conspicuous decoration is the
+scarlet or crimson tinting of his head and throat, shading off into the
+yellow of the breast. These colors form a picturesque combination,
+especially if set against a background of green. The crimson staining
+gives him the appearance of having washed his face in some bright-red
+pigment, and like an awkward child, blotched his bosom with it in the
+absence of a napkin.
+
+So far as I could analyze it, there is no appreciable difference between
+his lyrical performances and those of the scarlet tanager, both being a
+kind of lazy, drawling song, that is slightly better than no bird music
+at all. One nest was found without difficulty. It was placed on one of
+the lower branches of a pine tree by the roadside at the entrance to
+Engleman's Canyon. As a rule, the males are not excessively shy, as so
+many of the Rocky Mountain birds are. The tanagers were seen far up in
+the mountains, as well as among the foothills, and also at Red Cliff and
+Glenwood on the western side of the Divide.
+
+A unique character in feathers, one that is peculiar to the West, is the
+magpie, who would attract notice wherever he should deign to live, being
+a sort of grand sachem of the outdoor aviary. In some respects the
+magpies are striking birds. In flight they present a peculiar
+appearance; in fact, they closely resemble boys' kites with their long,
+slender tails trailing in the breeze. I could not avoid the impression
+that their tails were superfluous appendages, but no doubt they serve
+the birds a useful purpose as rudders and balancing-poles. The magpie
+presents a handsome picture as he swings through the air, the iridescent
+black gleaming in the sun, beautifully set off with snowy-white
+trimmings on both the upper and lower surfaces of the wings. On the
+perch or on the wing he is an ornament to any landscape. As to his
+voice--well, he is a genuine squawker. There is not, so far as I have
+observed, a musical cord in his larynx,[2] and I am sure he does not
+profess to be a musical genius, so that my criticism will do him no
+injury. All the use he has for his voice seems to be to call his fellows
+to a new-found banquet, or give warning of the approach of an interloper
+upon his chosen preserves. His cry, if you climb up to his nest, is
+quite pitiful, proving that he has real love for his offspring. Perhaps
+the magpies have won their chief distinction as architects. Their nests
+are really remarkable structures, sometimes as large as fair-sized
+tubs, the framework composed of good-sized sticks, skilfully plaited
+together, and the cup lined with grass and other soft material, making a
+cosey nursery for the infantile magpies. Then the nest proper is roofed
+over, and has an entrance to the apartment on either side. When you
+examine the structure closely, you find that it fairly bristles with dry
+twigs and sticks, and it is surprising how large some of the branches
+are that are braided into the domicile. All but one of the many nests I
+found were deserted, for my visit was made in June, and the birds, as a
+rule, breed earlier than that month. Some were placed in bushes, some in
+willow and cottonwood trees, and others in pines; and the birds
+themselves were almost ubiquitous, being found on the plains, among the
+foothills, and up in the mountains as far as the timber-line, not only
+close to human neighborhoods, but also in the most inaccessible
+solitudes.
+
+    [2] In this volume the author has made use of the terminology
+    usually employed in describing bird music. Hence such words as
+    "song," "chant," "vocal cords," etc., are of frequent occurrence. In
+    reality the writer's personal view is that the birds are whistlers,
+    pipers, fluters, and not vocalists, none of the sounds they produce
+    being real voice tones. The reader who may desire to go into this
+    matter somewhat technically is referred to Maurice Thompson's
+    chapter entitled "The Anatomy of Bird-Song" in his "Sylvan Secrets,"
+    and the author's article, "Are Birds Singers or Whistlers?" in "Our
+    Animal Friends" for June, 1901.
+
+In one of my excursions along a stream below Colorado Springs, one nest
+was found that was still occupied by the brooding bird. It was a bulky
+affair, perhaps half as large as a bushel basket, placed in the crotch
+of a tree about thirty feet from the ground. Within this commodious
+structure was a globular apartment which constituted the nest proper.
+Thus it was roofed over, and had an entrance at each side, so that the
+bird could go into his house at one doorway and out at the other, the
+room being too small to permit of his turning around in it. Thinking the
+nest might be occupied, in a tentative way I tossed a small club up
+among the branches, when to my surprise a magpie sprang out of the nest,
+and, making no outcry, swung around among the trees, appearing quite
+nervous and shy. When she saw me climbing the tree, she set up such a
+heart-broken series of cries that I permitted sentiment to get the
+better of me, and clambered down as fast as I could, rather than prolong
+her distress. Since then I have greatly regretted my failure to climb up
+to the nest and examine its contents, which might have been done without
+the least injury to the owner's valuable treasures. A nestful of
+magpie's eggs or bairns would have been a gratifying sight to my
+bird-hungry eyes.
+
+One bird which is familiar in the East as well as the West deserves
+attention on account of its choice of haunts. I refer to the turtle
+dove, which is much hardier than its mild and innocent looks would seem
+to indicate. It may be remarked, in passing, that very few birds are
+found in the deep canyons and gorges leading up to the higher localities;
+but the doves seem to constitute the one exception to the rule; for I
+saw them in some of the gloomiest defiles through which the train
+scurried in crossing the mountains. For instance, in the canyon of the
+Arkansas River many of them were seen from the car window, a pair just
+beyond the Royal Gorge darting across the turbulent stream to the other
+side. A number were also noticed in the darkest portions of the canyon of
+the Grand River, where one would think not a living creature could coax
+subsistence from the bare rocks and beetling cliffs. Turtle doves are so
+plentiful in the West that their distribution over every available
+feeding ground seems to be a matter of social and economic necessity.
+
+[Illustration: "_Darting across the turbulent stream_"
+
+_Turtle Doves_]
+
+
+
+
+BALD PEAKS AND GREEN VALES
+
+[Illustration: PLATE II
+
+GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE--_Pipilo chlorurus_
+(Male)
+
+SPURRED TOWHEE--_Pipilo megalonyx_
+(Male)]
+
+
+One of my chief objects in visiting the Rockies was to ascend Pike's
+Peak from Manitou, and make observations on the birds from the base to
+the summit. A walk one afternoon up to the Halfway House and back--the
+Halfway House is only about one-third of the way to the top--convinced
+me that to climb the entire distance on foot would be a useless
+expenditure of time and effort. An idea struck me: Why not ride up on
+the cog-wheel train, and then walk down, going around by some of the
+valleys and taking all the time needed for observations on the
+avi-faunal tenantry? That was the plan pursued, and an excellent one it
+proved.
+
+When the puffing cog-wheel train landed me on the summit, I was fresh
+and vigorous, and therefore in excellent condition physically and
+mentally to enjoy the scenery and also to ride my hobby at will over the
+realm of cloudland. The summit is a bald area of several acres, strewn
+with immense fragments of granite, with not a spear of grass visible.
+One of the signal-station men asked a friend who had just come up from
+the plain, "Is there anything green down below? I'd give almost
+anything to see a green patch of some kind." There was a yearning strain
+in his tones that really struck me as pathetic. Here were visitors
+revelling in the magnificence of the panorama, their pulses tingling and
+their feelings in many cases too exalted for expression; but those whose
+business or duty it was to remain on the summit day after day soon found
+life growing monotonous, and longed to set their eyes on some patch of
+verdure. To the visitors, however, who were in hale physical condition,
+the panorama of snow-clad ranges and isolated peaks was almost
+overwhelming. In the gorges and sheltered depressions of the old
+mountain's sides large fields of snow still gleamed in the sun and
+imparted to the air a frosty crispness.
+
+When the crowd of tourists, after posing for their photographs, had
+departed on the descending car, I walked out over the summit to see what
+birds, if any, had selected an altitude of fourteen thousand one hundred
+and forty-seven feet above sea-level for their summer home. Below me, to
+the east, stretched the gray plains running off to the skyline, while
+the foothills and lower mountains, which had previously appeared so high
+and rugged and difficult of access, now seemed like ant-hills crouching
+at the foot of the giant on whose crown I stood. Off to the southwest,
+the west, and the northwest, the snowy ranges towered, iridescent in
+the sunlight. In contemplating this vast, overawing scene, I almost
+forgot my natural history, and wanted to feast my eyes for hours on its
+ever-changing beauty; but presently I was brought back to a
+consciousness of my special vocation by a sharp chirp. Was it a bird, or
+only one of those playful little chipmunks that abound in the Rockies?
+Directly there sounded out on the serene air another ringing chirp, this
+time overhead, and, to my delight and surprise, a little bird swung over
+the summit, then out over the edge of the cliff, and plunged down into
+the fearsome abyss of the "Bottomless Pit." Other birds of the same
+species soon followed his example, making it evident that this was not a
+birdless region. Unable to identify the winged aeronauts, I clambered
+about over the rocks of the summit for a while, then slowly made my way
+down the southern declivity of the mountain for a short distance. Again
+my ear was greeted with that loud, ringing chirp, and now the bird
+uttering it obligingly alighted on a stone not too far away to be seen
+distinctly through my binocular. Who was the little waif that had chosen
+this sky-invading summit for its summer habitat? At first I mistook it
+for a horned lark, and felt so sure my decision was correct that I did
+not look at the bird as searchingly as I should have done, thereby
+learning a valuable lesson in thoroughness. The error was corrected by
+my friend, Mr. Charles E. Aiken, of Colorado Springs, who has been of
+not a little service in determining and classifying the avian fauna of
+Colorado. My new-found friend (the feathered one, I mean) was the
+American pipit, which some years ago was known as the tit-lark.
+
+[Illustration: _Pipits_
+
+"_Te-cheer! Te-cheer!_"]
+
+"Te-cheer! te-cheer! te-cheer!" (accent strong on the second syllable)
+the birds exclaimed in half-petulant remonstrance at my intrusion as I
+hobbled about over the rocks. Presently one of them darted up into the
+air; up, up, up, he swung in a series of oblique leaps and circles, this
+way and that, until he became a mere speck in the sky, and then
+disappeared from sight in the cerulean depths beyond. All the while I
+could hear his emphatic and rapidly repeated call, "Te-cheer! te-cheer!"
+sifting down out of the blue canopy. How long he remained aloft in "his
+watch-tower in the skies" I do not know, for one cannot well count
+minutes in such exciting circumstances, but it seemed a long time. By
+and by the call appeared to be coming nearer, and the little aeronaut
+swept down with a swiftness that made my blood tingle, and alighted on a
+rock as lightly as a snowflake. Afterwards a number of other pipits
+performed the same aerial exploit. It was wonderful to see them rise
+several hundred feet into the rarefied atmosphere over an abyss so deep
+that it has been named the "Bottomless Pit."
+
+[Illustration: _Pipits_
+
+"_Up over the Bottomless Pit_"]
+
+The pipits frequently flitted from rock to rock, teetering their slender
+bodies like sandpipers, and chirping their disapproval of my presence.
+They furnished some evidence of having begun the work of nest
+construction, although no nests were found, as it was doubtless still
+too early in the season. In some respects the pipits are extremely
+interesting, for, while many of them breed in remote northern latitudes,
+others select the loftiest summits of the Rockies for summer homes,
+where they rear their broods and scour the alpine heights in search of
+food. The following interesting facts relative to them in this alpine
+country are gleaned from Professor Cooke's pamphlet on "The Birds of
+Colorado":
+
+    In migration they are common throughout the State, but breed only on
+    the loftiest mountains. They arrive on the plains from the South
+    about the last of April, tarry for nearly a month, then hie to the
+    upper mountain parks, stopping there to spend the month of May. By
+    the first of June they have ascended above timber-line to their
+    summer home amid the treeless slopes and acclivities. Laying begins
+    early in July, as soon as the first grass is started. Most of the
+    nests are to be found at an elevation of twelve thousand to thirteen
+    thousand feet, the lowest known being one on Mount Audubon,
+    discovered on the third of July with fresh eggs. During the breeding
+    season these birds never descend below timber-line. The young birds
+    having left the nest, in August both old and young gather in flocks
+    and range over the bald mountain peaks in quest of such dainties as
+    are to the pipit taste. Some of them remain above timber-line until
+    October although most of them have by that time gone down into the
+    upper parks of the mountains. During this month they descend to the
+    plains, and in November return to their winter residence in the
+    South.
+
+While watching the pipits, I had another surprise. On a small, grassy
+area amid the rocks, about a hundred feet below the summit, a
+white-crowned sparrow was hopping about on the ground, now leaping upon
+a large stone, now creeping into an open space under the rocks, all the
+while picking up some kind of seed or nut or insect. It was very
+confiding, coming close to me, but vouchsafing neither song nor chirp.
+Farther on I shall have more to say about these tuneful birds, but at
+this point it is interesting to observe that they breed abundantly
+among the mountains at a height of from eight thousand to eleven
+thousand feet, while the highest nest known to explorers was twelve
+thousand five hundred feet above the sea. One of Colorado's bird men has
+noted the curious fact that they change their location between the first
+and second broods--that is, in a certain park at an elevation of eight
+thousand feet they breed abundantly in June, and then most of them leave
+that region and become numerous among the stunted bushes above
+timber-line, where they raise a second brood. It only remains to be
+proved that the birds in both localities are the same individuals, which
+is probable.
+
+On a shoulder of the mountain below me, a flock of ravens alighted on
+the ground, walked about awhile, uttered their hoarse croaks, and then
+took their departure, apparently in sullen mood. I could not tell
+whether they croaked "Nevermore!" or not.
+
+Down the mountain side I clambered, occasionally picking a beautiful
+blossom from the many brilliant-hued clusters and inhaling its
+fragrance. Indeed, sometimes the breeze was laden with the aroma of
+these flowers, and in places the slope looked like a cultivated garden.
+The only birds seen that afternoon above timber-line were those already
+mentioned. What do the birds find to eat in these treeless and shrubless
+altitudes? There are many flies, some grasshoppers, bumble-bees,
+beetles, and other insects, even in these arctic regions, dwelling among
+the rocks and in the short grass below them watered by the melting
+snows.
+
+At about half-past four in the afternoon I reached the timber-line,
+indicated by a few small, scattering pines and many thick clumps of
+bushes. Suddenly a loud, melodious song brought me to a standstill. It
+came from the bushes at the side of the trail. Although I turned aside
+and sought diligently, I could not find the shy lyrist. Another song of
+the same kind soon reached me from a distance. Farther down the path a
+white-crowned sparrow appeared, courting his mate. With crown-feathers
+and head and tail erect, he would glide to the top of a stone, then down
+into the grass where his lady-love sat; up and down, up and down he
+scuttled again and again. My approach put an end to the picturesque
+little comedy. The lady scurried away into hiding, while the little
+prince with the snow-white diadem mounted to the top of a bush and
+whistled the very strain that had surprised me so a little while before,
+farther up the slope. Yes, I had stumbled into the summer home of the
+white-crowned sparrow, which on the Atlantic coast and the central
+portions of the American continent breeds far in the North.
+
+It was not long before I was regaled with a white-crown vesper concert.
+From every part of the lonely valley the voices sounded. And what did
+they say? "Oh, de-e-e-ar, de-e-ar, Whittier, Whittier," sometimes
+adding, in low, caressing tones, "Dear Whittier"--one of the most
+melodious tributes to the Quaker poet I have ever heard. Here I also saw
+my first mountain bluebird, whose back and breast are wholly blue, there
+being no rufous at all in his plumage. He was feeding a youngster
+somewhere among the snags. A red-shafted flicker flew across the vale
+and called, "Zwick-ah! zwick-ah!" and then pealed out his loud call just
+like the eastern yellow-shafted high-holder. Why the Rocky Mountain
+region changes the lining of the flicker's wings from gold to
+crimson--who can tell? A robin--the western variety--sang his
+"Cheerily," a short distance up the hollow, right at the boundary of the
+timber-line.
+
+[Illustration: "_Dear Whittier_"
+
+_White-Crowned Sparrow_]
+
+About half-past five I found myself a few hundred feet below timber-line
+in the lone valley, which was already beginning to look shadowy and a
+little uncanny, the tall ridges that leaped up at the right obscuring
+the light of the declining sun. My purpose had been to find
+accommodations at a mountaineer's cabin far down the valley, in the
+neighborhood of the Seven Lakes; but I had tarried too long on the
+mountain, absorbed in watching the birds, and the danger now was that,
+if I ventured farther down the hollow, I should lose my way and be
+compelled to spend the night alone in this deserted place. I am neither
+very brave nor very cowardly; but, in any case, such a prospect was not
+pleasing to contemplate. Besides, I was by no means sure of being able
+to secure lodgings at the mountaineer's shanty, even if I should be able
+to find it in the dark. There seemed to be only one thing to do--to
+climb back to the signal station on the summit.
+
+I turned about and began the ascent. How much steeper the acclivities
+were than they had seemed to be when I came down! My limbs ached before
+I had gone many rods, and my breath came short. Upward I toiled, and by
+the time my trail reached the cog-road I was ready to drop from
+exhaustion. Yet I had not gone more than a third of the way to the top.
+I had had no supper, but was too weary even to crave food, my only
+desire being to find some place wherein to rest. Night had now come, but
+fortunately the moon shone brightly from a sky that was almost clear,
+and I had no difficulty in following the road.
+
+Wearily I began to climb up the steep cog-wheel track. Having trudged
+around one curve, I came to a portion of the road that stretched
+straight up before me for what seemed an almost interminable distance,
+and, oh! the way looked so steep, almost as if it would tumble back upon
+my head. Could I ever drag myself up to the next bend in the track? By
+a prodigious effort I did this at last--it seemed "at last" to me, at
+all events--and, lo! there gleamed before me another long stretch of
+four steel rails.
+
+My breath came shorter and shorter, until I was compelled to open my
+mouth widely and gasp the cold, rarefied air, which, it seemed, would
+not fill my chest with the needed oxygen. Sharp pains shot through my
+lungs, especially in the extremities far down in the chest; my head and
+eye-balls ached, and it seemed sometimes as if they would burst; my
+limbs trembled with weakness, and I tottered and reeled like a drunken
+man from side to side of the road, having to watch carefully lest I
+might topple over the edge and meet with a serious accident. Still that
+relentless track, with its quartette of steel rails, stretched steep
+before me in the distance.
+
+For the last half mile or more I was compelled to fling myself down upon
+the track every few rods to rest and recover breath. Up, up, the road
+climbed, until at length I reached the point where it ceases to swing
+around the shoulders of the mountain, and ascends directly to the
+summit. Here was the steepest climb of all. By throwing my weary frame
+on the track at frequent intervals and resting for five minutes, taking
+deep draughts of air between my parched lips, I at last came in sight of
+the government building. It is neither a mansion nor a palace, not even
+a cottage, but never before was I so glad to get a glimpse of a building
+erected by human hands. It was past nine o'clock when I staggered up to
+the door and rang the night bell, having spent more than three hours and
+a half in climbing about two miles and a half. Too weary to sleep, I
+tossed for hours on my bed. At last, however, "nature's sweet restorer"
+came to my relief, and I slept the deep sleep of unconsciousness until
+seven o'clock the next morning, allowing the sun to rise upon the Peak
+without getting up to greet him. That omission may have been an
+unpardonable sin, for one of the chief fads of visitors is to see the
+sun rise from the Peak; but I must say in my defence that, in the first
+place, I failed to wake up in time to witness the Day King's advent,
+and, in a second place, being on bird lore intent rather than scenic
+wonders, my principal need was to recruit my strength for the tramping
+to be done during the day. The sequel proved that, for my special
+purpose, I had chosen the wiser course.
+
+By eight o'clock I had written a letter home, eaten a refreshing
+breakfast, paying a dollar for it, and another for lodging, and was
+starting down the mountain, surprised at the exhilaration I felt, in
+view of my extreme exhaustion of the evening before. I naturally
+expected to feel stiff and sore in every joint, languid and woe-be-gone;
+but such was not the case. It is wonderful how soon one recovers
+strength among these heights. How bracing is the cool mountain air, if
+you breathe it deeply! As I began the descent, I whistled and
+sang,--that is, I tried to. To be frank, it was all noise and no music,
+but I must have some way of giving expression to the uplifted emotions
+that filled my breast. Again and again I said to myself, "I'm so glad!
+I'm so glad! I'm so glad!" It was gladness pure and simple,--the
+dictionary has no other word to express it. No pen can do justice to the
+panorama of mountain and valley and plain as viewed from such a height
+on a clear, crisp morning of June. One felt like exclaiming with George
+Herbert:
+
+    "Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
+      The bridal of the earth and sky!"
+
+So far as the aesthetic value of it went, I was monarch of all I
+surveyed, even though mile on mile of grandeur and glory was spread out
+before me. The quatrain of Lowell recurred to my mind:
+
+    "'Tis heaven alone that is given away,
+    'Tis only God may be had for the asking;
+    No price is set on the lavish summer;
+    June may be had by poorest comer."
+
+Before leaving the Peak, I watched a flock of birds eating from the
+waste-heap at the Summit House. They were the brown-capped rosy finches,
+called scientifically _Leucosticte australis_. Their plumage was a rich
+chocolate, suffused over neck, breast, and back with intense crimson,
+while the pileum was quite black. With one exception--the white-tailed
+ptarmigan--they range the highest in summer of all Colorado birds. They
+are never seen below timber-line in that season, and are not known to
+breed below twelve thousand feet; thence to the tops of the highest
+peaks they hatch and rear their young. In August old and young swarm
+over the summits picking edible insects from the snow, while in winter
+they descend to timber-line, where most of them remain to brave the
+arctic weather and its frequent storms.
+
+Bidding a regretful good-by to the summit, for it held me as by a
+magician's spell, I hastened down the steep incline of the cog-wheel
+road, past Windy Point, and turning to the right, descended across the
+green slope below the boulder region to the open, sunlit valley which I
+had visited on the previous afternoon. It was an idyllic place, a
+veritable paradise for birds. Such a chorus as greeted me from the
+throats of I know not how many white-crowned sparrows,--several dozen,
+perhaps,--it would have done the heart of any lover of avian minstrelsy
+good to listen to. The whole valley seemed to be transfigured by their
+roundelays, which have about them such an air of poetry and old-world
+romance. During the morning I was so fortunate as to find a nest, the
+first of this species that I had ever discovered. Providence had never
+before cast my lot with these birds in their breeding haunts. The nest
+was a pretty structure placed on the ground, beneath a bush amid the
+green grass, its holdings consisting of four dainty, pale-blue eggs,
+speckled with brown. The female leaped from her seat as I passed near,
+and in that act divulged her little family secret. Although she chirped
+uneasily as I bent over her treasures, she had all her solicitude for
+nothing; the last thing I would think of doing would be to mar her
+maternal prospects. As has been said, in this valley these handsome
+sparrows were quite plentiful; but when, toward evening, I clambered
+over a ridge, and descended into the valley of Moraine Lake, several
+hundred feet lower than the Seven Lakes valley, what was my surprise to
+find not a white-crown there! The next day I trudged up to the Seven
+Lakes, and found the white-crowns quite abundant in the copses, as they
+had been farther up the hollow on the previous day; and, besides, in a
+boggy place about two miles below Moraine Lake there were several pairs,
+and I was fortunate enough to find a nest. Strange--was it not?--that
+these birds should avoid the copsy swamps near Moraine Lake, and yet
+select for breeding homes the valleys both above and below it. Perhaps
+the valley of Moraine Lake is a little too secluded and shut in by the
+towering mountains on three sides, the other places being more open and
+sunshiny.
+
+The upper valley was the summer home of that musician _par excellence_
+of the Rockies, the green-tailed towhee, and he sang most divinely,
+pouring out his
+
+                                 "full heart
+    In profuse strains of unpremeditated art."
+
+Having elsewhere described his minstrelsy and habits with more or less
+fulness, I need give him only this passing reference here. A little bird
+with which I here first made acquaintance was an elegant species known
+as Audubon's warbler, which may be regarded as the western
+representative of the myrtle warbler of the East. The two birds are
+almost counterparts. Indeed, at first I mistook the Audubon for the
+myrtle. The former has a yellow throat, while the latter's throat is
+white.
+
+In all the upper mountain valleys, and on the steep slopes of the
+western as well as the eastern side of the Divide, I had the Audubon
+warblers often at my elbow. In summer they make their homes at an
+altitude of seven to eleven thousand feet, and are partial to pine
+timber; indeed, I think I never found them elsewhere, save occasionally
+among the quaking asps. I learned to distinguish Audubon's chanson from
+those of his fellow-minstrels. It is not much of a song--a rather weak
+little trill, with a kind of drawl in the vocalization that forms its
+diagnostic feature. The persistency with which it is repeated on the
+solitary pine-clad mountain sides constitutes its principal charm.
+
+The winter haunts of Audubon's warblers are farther south than Colorado,
+mostly in Mexico and Guatemala, although a few of them remain in the
+sheltered mountain valleys of the western part of the United States.
+Early in May they appear on the plains of eastern Colorado, where they
+are known only as migrants. Here a double movement presently takes
+place--what might be called a longitudinal and a vertical migration--one
+division of the warbler army sweeping north to their breeding grounds in
+Canada, and the other wheeling westward and ascending to the alpine
+heights among the mountains, where they find the subartic conditions
+that are congenial to their natures without travelling so great a
+distance. Here they build their nests in the pine or spruce trees, rear
+their families, and as autumn approaches, descend to the plains, tarry
+there a week or two, then hie to their winter homes in the South.
+
+One of the most gorgeous tenants of this valley was Wilson's warbler.[3]
+It wears a dainty little cap that is jet black, bordered in front and
+below with golden yellow, while the upper parts are rich olive and the
+lower parts bright yellow. These warblers were quite abundant, and were
+evidently partial to the thickets covering the boggy portions of the
+vale. While Audubon's warblers kept themselves for the most part among
+the pines on the slopes and acclivities, the little black-caps preferred
+the lower ground. Their songs were not brilliant performances, though
+rather pleasing, being short, jerky trills, somewhat lower in the scale
+than those of the well-known summer warbler.
+
+    [3] Mr. Aiken says, "The Rocky Mountain representative of Wilson's
+    warbler is an intermediate form, nearest the Pacific coast bird
+    which is distinguished as the pileolated warbler."
+
+While I was stalking about in the low, boggy part of the hollow, my
+attention was attracted by an odd little song that came rolling down
+from the pines on the mountain side. At length, time was found to go to
+the place whence the song came. What could the gay little minstrel be?
+Somewhere I had heard such minstrelsy--but where? There were runs in it
+that bore some resemblance to certain strains of the Carolina wren's
+vigorous lays, but this songster's voice was of a finer quality and had
+less volume than that of the Carolina. The little bird was found
+flitting among the pines, and continued to sing his gay little ballad
+with as much vigor as before. Indeed, my presence seemed to inspire him
+to redouble his efforts and to sing with more snap and challenge. He
+acted somewhat like a wren, but was smaller than any species of that
+family with which I was acquainted, and no part of his plumage was
+barred with brown and white.
+
+Now the midget in feathers leaped up the alternating branches of a pine,
+and now he flew down and fluttered amid the chaos of dead logs and
+boughs on the ground, all the while rolling his ditty from his limber
+tongue. Beginning with an exceedingly fine whistle, which could not
+be heard far away, he descanted in sounds that it is impossible to
+convey in syllables. The best literation of his song that I was
+able to make was the following: "Tse-e-ek, tse-e-ek, tse-e-e-ek,
+cholly-cholly-cholly, che-che-che, pur-tie, pur-tie, pur-tie!" the
+_pur-tie_ accented strongly on the second syllable and the whole
+performance closing with an interrogative inflection.
+
+For a long time I watched the little acrobat, but could not settle his
+identity. Some hours later, while stalking along the other side of the
+valley, I heard the song duplicated; this time the singer elevated his
+crest feathers, and at once I recognized him; he was the ruby-crowned
+kinglet, of course, of course! It was a shame not to identify him at
+first sight. In Ohio I had often heard his song during the migrating
+season, and now remembered it well; but never dreaming that the
+ruby-crown would be found in these alpine districts, I was completely
+thrown off my reckoning on hearing his quaint melodies.
+
+[Illustration: _Ruby-Crowned Kinglet_
+
+"_The singer elevated his crest feathers_"]
+
+The ruby-crowned kinglet migrates to these heights in the spring and
+rears his brood at an elevation of from nine thousand feet to the
+timber-line, building a nest far up in a pine tree; whereas his eastern
+kindred hie to the northern part of the United States and beyond, to
+find summer homes and suitable breeding grounds. Within their chosen
+boundaries the rubies are very plentiful in the Rockies, their quaint
+rondeaus tumbling down from every pine-clad acclivity. In October they
+descend to the plains, and in the latter part of the month hurry off to
+a more southerly clime.
+
+The birds were most abundant in the upper part of the valley, keeping
+close to the precipitous heights of the Peak. It was a long walk down to
+the mountaineer's cabin, and I had reason to be glad for not having
+undertaken to find it the evening before, as I should certainly have
+lost my way in the darkness. No one was at home now, but through the
+screen door I could see a canary in a cage. Not a very inviting place to
+spend the night, I reflected, and I crossed the valley, climbed a steep
+ridge, following a slightly used wagon road, and trudged down the other
+side into what I afterwards found was the valley of Moraine Lake, one of
+the crystal sheets of water that are seen from the summit of Pike's Peak
+sparkling in the sunshine. While climbing the ridge, I saw my first
+mountain chickadee, capering about in the trees. He called like the
+familiar black-cap, and his behavior was much like that bird's. As will
+be seen in another chapter, I afterwards heard the mountain chickadee's
+song on the western side of the range, and found it to be quite unlike
+the minor strain of our pleasant black-cap of the East.
+
+On the mountain side forming the descent to Moraine Lake a flock of
+Clark's nutcrackers were flying about in the pine woods, giving
+expression to their feelings in a great variety of calls, some of them
+quite strident. A little junco came in sight by the side of the trail,
+and hopped about on the ground, and I was surprised to note a reddish
+patch ornamenting the centre of his back. Afterwards I learned that it
+was the gray-headed junco, which is distinctly a western species,
+breeding among the mountains of Colorado. Thrashing about among some
+dead boles, and making a great to-do, were a pair of small woodpeckers,
+which closely resembled the well-known downies of our eastern
+longitudes. I suppose them to have been their western representatives,
+which are known, according to Mr. Aiken and Professor Cooke, as
+Batchelder's woodpecker. Near the same place I saw a second pair of
+mountain bluebirds, flitting about somewhat nervously, and uttering a
+gentle sigh at intervals; but as evening was now rapidly approaching, I
+felt the need of finding lodging for the night, and could not stop to
+hunt for their nest.
+
+Faring down the mountain side to the lake, I circled around its lower
+end until I came to the cottage of the family who have the care of the
+reservoirs that supply the three towns at the foot of the mountains
+with water fresh from the snow-fields. Here, to my intense relief, I was
+able to secure lodging and board as long as I desired to remain.
+
+I enjoyed the generous hospitality offered me for two nights and
+considerably more than one day. It was a genuine retreat, right at the
+foot of a tall mountain, embowered in a grove of quaking asps. Several
+persons from Colorado Springs, one of them a professor of the college,
+were spending their outing at the cottage, and a delightful fellowship
+we had, discussing birds, literature, and mountain climbing.
+
+After resting awhile, I strolled up the valley to listen to the vesper
+concert of the birds, and a rich one it was. The western robins were
+piping their blithesome "Cheerilies," Audubon's warblers were trilling
+in the pines, and, most of all--but here I had one of the most
+gratifying finds in all my mountain quest. It will perhaps be remembered
+that the white-crowned sparrows, so plentiful in the upper valley, were
+not to be seen in the valley of Moraine Lake. Still there were
+compensations in this cloistered dip among the towering mountains; the
+mountain hermit thrushes--sometimes called Audubon's thrushes--found the
+sequestered valley precisely to their liking, and on the evening in
+question I saw them and heard their pensive cadences for the first time.
+Such exquisite tones, which seemed to take vocal possession of the vale
+and the steep, pine-clad mountain side, it has seldom been my good
+fortune to hear. Scores of the birds were singing simultaneously, some
+of their voices pitched high in the scale and others quite low, as
+though they were furnishing both the air and the contralto of the
+chorus. It was my first opportunity to listen to the songs of any of the
+several varieties of hermit thrushes, and I freely confess that I came,
+a willing captive, under the spell of their minstrelsy, so sweet and sad
+and far away, and yet so rich in vocal expression. In the latter part of
+the run, which is all too brief, there is a strain which bears close
+resemblance to the liquid melody of the eastern wood-thrush, but the
+opening notes have a pathetic quality all their own. Perhaps Charles G.
+D. Roberts can give some idea of one's feelings at a time like this:
+
+    "O hermit of evening! thine hour
+      Is the sacrament of desire,
+    When love hath a heavenlier flower,
+      And passion a holier fire."
+
+A happy moment it was when a nest of this mountain hermit was
+discovered, saddled on one of the lower limbs of a pine and containing
+four eggs of a rich green color. These birds are partial to dense pine
+forests on the steep, rocky mountain sides. They are extremely shy and
+elusive, evidently believing that hermit thrushes ought to be heard and
+not seen. A score or more may be singing at a stone's throw up an
+acclivity, but if you clamber toward them they will simply remove
+further up the mountain, making your effort to see and hear them at
+close range unavailing. That evening, however, as the gloaming settled
+upon the valley, one selected a perch on a dead branch some distance up
+the hillside, and obligingly permitted me to obtain a fair view of him
+with my glass. The hermits breed far up in the mountains, the greatest
+altitude at which I found them being on the sides of Bald Mountain,
+above Seven Lakes and a little below the timber-line. To this day their
+sad refrains are ringing in my ears, bringing back the thought of many
+half-mournful facts and incidents that haunt the memory.
+
+A good night's rest in the cottage, close beneath the unceiled roof,
+prepared the bird-lover for an all-day ramble. The matutinal concert was
+early in full swing, the hermit thrushes, western robins, and Audubon's
+warblers being the chief choralists. One gaudy Audubon's warbler visited
+the quaking asp grove surrounding the cottage, and trilled the choicest
+selections of his repertory. Farther up the valley several Wilson's
+warblers were seen and heard. A shy little bird flitting about in the
+tangle of grass and bushes in the swampy ground above the lake was a
+conundrum to me for a long time, but I now know that it was Lincoln's
+sparrow, which was later found in other ravines among the mountains. It
+is an exceedingly wary bird, keeping itself hidden amid the bushy
+clusters for the greater part of the time, now and then venturing to
+peep out at the intruder, and then bolting quickly into a safe covert.
+Occasionally it will hop out upon the top of a bush in plain sight, and
+remain for a few moments, just long enough for you to fix its identity
+and note the character of its pleasing trill. Some of these points were
+settled afterwards and not on the morning of my first meeting with the
+chary little songster.
+
+My plan for the day was to retrace my steps of the previous afternoon,
+by climbing over the ridge into the upper valley and visiting the famous
+Seven Lakes, which I had missed the day before through a miscalculation
+in my direction. Clark's crows and the mountain jays were abundant on
+the acclivities. One of the latter dashed out of a pine bush with a
+clatter that almost raised the echoes, but, look as I would, I could
+find no nest or young or anything else that would account for the
+racket.
+
+The Seven Lakes are beautiful little sheets of transparent water,
+embosomed among the mountains in a somewhat open valley where there is
+plenty of sunshine. They are visible from the summit of Pike's Peak,
+from which distant viewpoint they sparkle like sapphire gems in a
+setting of green. As seen from the Peak they appear to be quite close
+together, and the land about them seems perfectly level, but when you
+visit the place itself, you learn that some of them are separated from
+the others by ridges of considerable height. Beautiful and sequestered
+as the spot is, I did not find as many birds as I expected. Not a duck
+or water bird of any kind was seen. Perhaps there is too much hunting
+about the lakes, and, besides, winged visitors here would have
+absolutely no protection, for the banks are free of bushes of any
+description, and no rushes or flags grow in the shallower parts. On the
+ridges and mountain sides the kinglets and hermit thrushes were
+abundant, a robin was carolling, a Batchelder woodpecker chirped and
+pounded in his tumultuous way, Clark's crows and several magpies lilted
+about, while below the lakes in the copses the white-crowned sparrows
+and green-tailed towhees held lyrical carnival, their sway disputed only
+by the natty Wilson's warblers.
+
+It was a pleasure to be alive and well in such a place, where one
+breathed invigoration at every draught of the fresh, untainted mountain
+air; nor was it less a delight to sit on the bank of one of the
+transparent lakes and eat my luncheon and quaff from a pellucid spring
+that gushed as cold as ice and as sweet as nectar from the sand, while
+the white-crowned sparrows trilled a serenade in the copses.
+
+Toward evening I clambered down to the cottage by Moraine Lake. The next
+morning, in addition to the birds already observed in the valley, I
+listened to the theme-like recitative of a warbling vireo, and also
+watched a sandpiper teetering about the edge of the water, while a
+red-shafted flicker dashed across the lake to a pine tree on the
+opposite side. As I left this attractive valley, the hermit thrushes
+seemed to waft me a sad farewell.
+
+A little over half a day was spent in walking down from Moraine Lake to
+the Halfway House. It was a saunter that shall never be forgotten, for I
+gathered a half day's tribute of lore from the birds. A narrow green
+hollow, wedging itself into one of the gorges of the towering Peak, and
+watered by a snow-fed mountain brook, proved a very paradise for birds.
+Here was that queer little midget of the Rockies, the broad-tailed
+humming-bird, which performs such wonderful feats of balancing in the
+air; the red-shafted flicker; the western robin, singing precisely like
+his eastern half-brother; a pair of house-wrens guarding their
+treasures; Lincoln's sparrows, not quite so shy as those at Moraine
+Lake; mountain chickadees; olive-sided flycatchers; on the pine-clad
+mountain sides the lyrical hermit thrushes; and finally those
+ballad-singers of the mountain vales, the white-crowned sparrows, one of
+whose nests I was so fortunate as to come upon. It was placed in a small
+pine bush, and was just in process of construction. One of the birds
+flew fiercely at a mischievous chipmunk, and drove him away, as if he
+knew him for an arrant nest-robber.
+
+Leaving this enchanting spot, I trudged down the mountain valleys and
+ravines, holding silent converse everywhere with the birds, and at
+length reached a small park, green and bushy, a short distance above the
+Halfway House. While jogging along, my eye caught sight of a gray-headed
+junco, which flitted from a clump of bushes bordering the stream to a
+spot on the ground close to some shrubs. The act appeared so suggestive
+that I decided to reconnoitre. I walked cautiously to the spot where the
+bird had dropped down, and in a moment she flew up with a scolding
+chipper. There was the nest, set on the ground in the grass and cosily
+hidden beneath the over-arching branches of a low bush. Had the mother
+bird been wise and courageous enough to retain her place, her secret
+would not have been betrayed, the nest was so well concealed.
+
+The pretty couch contained four juvenile juncos covered only with down,
+and yet, in spite of their extreme youth, their foreheads and lores
+showed black, and their backs a distinctly reddish tint, so early in
+life were they adopting the pattern worn by their parents. The
+persistency of species in the floral and faunal realms presents some
+hard nuts for the evolutionist to crack. But that is an excursus, and
+would lead us too far afield. This was the first junco's nest I had ever
+found, and no one can blame me for feeling gratified with the
+discovery. The gray-headed juncos were very abundant in the Rockies, and
+are the only species at present known to breed in the State of Colorado.
+They are differentiated from the common slate-colored snowbird by their
+ash-gray suits, modestly decorated with a rust-colored patch on the
+back.
+
+It was now far past noon, and beginning to feel weak with hunger, I
+reluctantly said adieu to the junco and her brood, and hurried on to the
+Halfway House, where a luncheon of sandwiches, pie and coffee
+strengthened me for the remainder of my tramp down the mountain to
+Manitou. That was a walk which lingers like a Greek legend in my memory
+on account of--well, that is the story that remains to be told.
+
+On a former visit to the Halfway House I was mentally knocked off my
+feet by several glimpses of a woodpecker which was entirely new to me,
+and of whose existence I was not even aware until this gorgeous
+gentleman hove in sight. He was the handsomest member of the _Picidae_
+family I have ever seen--his upper parts glossy black, some portions
+showing a bluish iridescence; his belly rich sulphur yellow, a bright
+red median stripe on the throat, set in the midst of the black, looking
+like a small necktie; two white stripes running along the side of the
+head, and a large white patch covering the middle and greater
+wing-coverts. Altogether, an odd livery for a woodpecker. Silently he
+swung from bole to bole for a few minutes, and then disappeared.
+
+Not until I reached my room in Manitou could I fix the bird's place in
+the avicular system. By consulting Coues's _Key_ and Professor Cooke's
+brochure on the _Birds of Colorado_, I found this quaintly costumed
+woodpecker to be Williamson's sapsucker (_Sphyrapicus thyroideus_),
+known only in the western part of the United States from the Rocky
+Mountains to the Pacific coast. I now lingered in the beautiful pine
+grove surrounding the Halfway House, hoping to see him again, but he did
+not appear, and I reluctantly started down the cog-wheel track.
+
+As I was turning a bend in the road, I caught sight of a mountain
+chickadee flitting to a dead snag on the slope at the right, the next
+moment slipping into a small hole leading inside. I climbed up to the
+shelf, a small level nook among the tall pines on the mountain side, to
+inspect her retreat, for it was the first nest of this interesting
+species that I found. The chickadee flashed in and out of the orifice,
+carrying food to her little ones, surreptitiously executing her
+housewifely duties. The mountain tit seems to be a shy and quiet little
+body when compared with the common black-cap known in the East.
+
+While watching this bird from my place of concealment, I became
+conscious of the half-suppressed chirping of a woodpecker, and, to my
+intense joy, a moment later a Williamson's sapsucker swung to a pine
+bole a little below me and began pecking leisurely and with assumed
+nonchalance for grubs in the fissures of the bark. From my hiding-place
+behind some bushes I kept my eye on the handsome creature. An artist
+might well covet the privilege of painting this elegant bird as he
+scales the wall of a pine tree. Presently he glided to a snag not more
+than a rod from the chickadee's domicile, and then I noticed that the
+dead bole was perforated by a number of woodpecker holes, into one of
+which the sapsucker presently slipped with the tidbit he held in his
+bill. The doorway was almost too small for him, obliging him to turn
+slightly sidewise and make some effort to effect an entrance. Fortune
+had treated me as one of her favorites: I had discovered the nest of
+Williamson's sapsucker.
+
+But still another surprise was in store. A low, dubious chirping was
+heard, and then the female ambled leisurely to the snag and hitched up
+to the orifice. She made several efforts to enter, but could not while
+her spouse was within. Presently he wormed himself out, whereupon she
+went in, and remained for some time. At length I crept to the snag and
+beat against it with my cane. She was loath to leave the nest, but after
+a little while decided that discretion was the better part of valor.
+When she came out, my presence so near her nursery caused her not a
+little agitation, which she displayed by flinging about from bole to
+bole and uttering a nervous chirp.
+
+As to costume, the male and the female had little in common. Her back
+was picturesquely mottled and barred with black and white, her head
+light brown, her breast decorated with a large black patch, and her
+other under parts yellow. Had the couple not been seen together flitting
+about the nest, they would not have been regarded as mates, so
+differently were they habited.
+
+Standing before the doorway of the nursery--it was not quite so high as
+my head--I could plainly hear the chirping of the youngsters within.
+Much as I coveted the sight of a brood of this rare species, I could not
+bring myself to break down the walls of their cottage and thus expose
+them to the claws and beaks of their foes. Even scientific curiosity
+must be restrained by considerations of mercy.
+
+The liege lord of the family had now disappeared. Desirous of seeing him
+once more, I hid myself in a bush-clump near at hand and awaited his
+return. Presently he came ambling along and scrambled into the orifice,
+turning his body sidewise, as he had done before. I made my way quietly
+to the snag and tapped upon it with my cane, but he did not come out, as
+I expected him to do. Then I struck the snag more vigorously. No result.
+Then I whacked the bole directly in the rear of the nest, while I stood
+close at one side watching the doorway. The bird came to the orifice,
+peeped out, then, seeing me, quickly drew back, determined not to desert
+his brood in what he must have regarded as an emergency. In spite of all
+my pounding and coaxing and feigned scolding--and I kept up the racket
+for several minutes--I did not succeed in driving the _pater familias_
+from his post of duty. Once he apparently made a slight effort to
+escape, but evidently stuck fast in the entrance, and so dropped back
+and would not leave, only springing up to the door and peeping out at me
+when my appeals became especially vigorous. It appeared like a genuine
+case of "I'm determined to defend my children, or die in the attempt!"
+
+Meanwhile the mother bird was flitting about in an agitated way,
+uttering piteous cries of remonstrance and entreaty. Did that bandit
+intend to rob her of both her husband and her children? It was useless,
+if not wanton, to hector the poor creatures any longer, even to study
+their behavior under trying circumstances; and I left them in peace, and
+hurried down to my lodgings in Manitou, satisfied with the results of my
+day's ramble.
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS OF THE ARID PLAIN
+
+[Illustration: PLATE III
+
+LAZULI BUNTING--_Cyanospiza amoena_
+(Upper figure, male; lower, female)]
+
+
+Having explored the summit of Pike's Peak and part of its southern slope
+down to the timber-line, and spent several delightful days in the upper
+valleys of the mountains, as well as in exploring several canyons, the
+rambler was desirous of knowing what species of birds reside on the
+plain stretching eastward from the bases of the towering ranges. One
+afternoon in the latter part of June, I found myself in a straggling
+village about forty miles east of Colorado Springs.
+
+On looking around, I was discouraged, and almost wished I had not come;
+for all about me extended the parched and treeless plain, with only here
+and there a spot that had a cast of verdure, and even that was of a dull
+and sickly hue. Far off to the northeast rose a range of low hills
+sparsely covered with scraggy pines, but they were at least ten miles
+away, perhaps twenty, and had almost as arid an aspect as that of the
+plains themselves. Only one small cluster of deciduous trees was
+visible, about a mile up a shallow valley or "draw." Surely this was a
+most unpromising field for bird study. If I had only been content to
+remain among the mountains, where, even though the climbing was
+difficult, there were brawling brooks, shady woodlands, and green, copsy
+vales in which many feathered friends had lurked!
+
+[Illustration: _Desert Horned Larks_
+
+"_They were plentiful in this parched region_"]
+
+But wherever the bird-lover chances to be, his mania leads him to look
+for his favorites, and he is seldom disappointed; rather, he is often
+delightfully surprised. People were able to make a livelihood here, as
+was proved by the presence of the village and a few scattering dwellings
+on the plain; then why not the birds, which are as thrifty and wise in
+many ways as their human relatives? In a short time my baggage was
+stowed in a safe place, and, field-glass in hand, I sallied forth for my
+first jaunt on a Colorado plain. But, hold! what were these active
+little birds, hopping about on the street and sipping from the pool by
+the village well? They were the desert horned larks, so called because
+they select the dry plains of the West as their dwelling place. They are
+interesting birds. The fewer trees and the less humidity, provided
+there is a spot not too far away at which they may quench their thirst
+and rinse their feathers, the better they seem to be pleased. They were
+plentiful in this parched region, running or flying cheerfully before me
+wherever my steps were bent. I could not help wondering how many
+thousands of them--and millions, perhaps--had taken up free homesteads
+on the seemingly limitless plains of eastern Colorado.
+
+Most of the young had already left the nest, and were flying about in
+the company of their elders, learning the fine art of making a living
+for themselves and evading the many dangers to which bird flesh is heir.
+The youngsters could readily be distinguished from their seniors by the
+absence of distinct black markings on throat, chest, and forehead, and
+the lighter cast of their entire plumage.
+
+Sometimes these birds are called shore larks; but that is evidently a
+misnomer, or at least a very inapt name, for they are not in the least
+partial to the sea-shore or even the shores of lakes, but are more
+disposed to take up their residence in inland and comparatively dry
+regions. There are several varieties, all bearing a very close
+resemblance, so close, indeed, that only an expert ornithologist can
+distinguish them, even with the birds in hand. The common horned lark is
+well known in the eastern part of the United States as a winter
+resident, while in the middle West, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, etc.,
+are to be found the prairie horned larks, which, as their name
+indicates, choose the open prairie for their home. The desert horned
+larks are tenants exclusively of the arid plains, mesas, and mountain
+parks of the West. There is still another variety, called the pallid
+horned lark, which spends the winter in Colorado, then hies himself
+farther north in summer to rear his brood.
+
+As I pursued my walk, one of these birds suddenly assumed an alert
+attitude, then darted into the air, mounting up, up, up, in a series of
+swift leaps, like "an embodied joy whose race has just begun." Up he
+soared until he could no longer be seen with the naked eye, and even
+through my field-glass he was a mere speck against the blue canopy, and
+yet, high as he had gone, his ditty filtered down to me through the
+still, rarefied atmosphere, like a sifting of fine sand. His descent was
+a grand plunge, made with the swiftness of an Indian's arrow, his head
+bent downward, his wings partly folded, and his tail perked upward at
+precisely the proper angle to make a rudder, all the various organs so
+finely adjusted as to convert him into a perfectly dirigible parachute.
+Swift as his descent was, he alighted on the ground as lightly as a tuft
+of down. It was the poetry of motion. One or two writers have insisted
+that the horned lark's empyrean song compares favorably with that of
+the European skylark; but, loyal and patriotic an American as we are,
+honesty compels us to concede that our bird's voice is much feebler and
+less musical than that of his celebrated relative across the sea. It
+sounds like the unmelodious clicking of pebbles, while the song of the
+skylark is loud, clear, and ringing.
+
+Our birds of the plain find insects to their taste in the short grass
+which carpets the land with greenish or olive gray. The following
+morning a mother lark was seen gathering insects and holding them in her
+bill--a sure sign of fledglings in the near neighborhood. I decided to
+watch her, and, if possible, find her bantlings. It required not a
+little patience, for she was wary and the sun poured down a flood of
+almost blistering heat. This way and that she scurried over the ground,
+now picking up an insect and adding it to the store already in her bill,
+and now standing almost erect to eye me narrowly and with some
+suspicion. At length she seemed to settle down for a moment upon a
+particular spot, and when I looked again with my glass, her beak was
+empty. I examined every inch of ground, as I thought, in the
+neighborhood of the place where she had stopped, but could find neither
+nest nor nestlings.
+
+Again I turned my attention to the mother bird, which meanwhile had
+gathered another bunch of insects and was hopping about with them
+through the croppy grass, now and then adding to her accumulation until
+her mouth was full. For a long time she zigzagged about, going by
+provoking fits and starts. At length fortune favored me, for through my
+levelled glass I suddenly caught sight of a small, grayish-looking ball
+hopping and tumbling from a cactus clump toward the mother bird, who
+jabbed the contents of her bill into a small, open mouth. I followed a
+bee-line to the spot, and actually had to scan the ground sharply for a
+few moments before I could distinguish the youngster from its
+surroundings, for it had squatted flat, its gray and white plumage
+harmonizing perfectly with the grayish desert grass.
+
+[Illustration: _Lark_
+
+"_It was a dear little thing_"]
+
+It was a dear little thing, and did not try to escape, although I took
+it up in my hand and stroked its downy back again and again. Sometimes
+it closed its eyes as if it were sleepy. When I placed it on the ground,
+it hopped away a few inches, and by accident punctured the fleshy corner
+of its mouth with a sharp cactus thorn, and had to jerk itself loose,
+bringing the blood from the lacerated part. Meanwhile the mother lark
+went calmly about her household duties, merely keeping a watchful eye
+on the human meddler, and making no outcry when she saw her infant in my
+possession. I may have been _persona non grata_, but, if so, she did not
+express her feeling. This was the youngest horned lark seen by me in my
+rambles on the plains.
+
+Perhaps the reader will care to know something about the winter habits
+of these birds. They do not spend the season of cold and storm in the
+mountains, not even those that breed there, for the snow is very deep
+and the tempests especially fierce. Many of them, however, remain in the
+foothills and on the mesas and plains, where they find plenty of seeds
+and berries for their sustenance, unless the weather chances to be
+unusually severe. One winter, not long ago, the snow continued to lie
+much longer than usual, cutting off the natural food supply of the
+larks. What regimen did they adopt in that exigency? They simply went to
+town. Many of the kindly disposed citizens of Colorado Springs scattered
+crumbs and millet seeds on the streets and lawns, and of this supply the
+little visitors ate greedily, becoming quite tame. As soon, however, as
+the snow disappeared they took their departure, not even stopping to say
+thanks or adieu; although we may take it for granted that they felt
+grateful for favors bestowed.
+
+Besides the horned larks, many other birds were found on the plain. Next
+in abundance were the western meadow-larks. Persons who live in the
+East and are familiar with the songs of the common meadow-lark, should
+hear the vocal performances of the westerners. The first time I heard
+one of them, the minstrelsy was so strange to my ear, so different from
+anything I had ever heard, I was thrown into an ecstasy of delight, and
+could not imagine from what kind of bird larynx so quaint a medley could
+emanate. The song opened with a loud, fine, piercing whistle, and ended
+with an abrupt staccato gurgle much lower in the musical staff, sounding
+precisely as if the soloist's performance had been suddenly choked off
+by the rising of water in the windpipe. It was something after the order
+of the purple martin's melodious sputter, only the tones were richer and
+fuller and the music better defined, as became a genuine oscine. His
+sudden and emphatic cessation seemed to indicate that he was in a
+petulant mood, perhaps impatient with the intruder, or angry with a
+rival songster.
+
+Afterwards I heard him--or, rather, one of his brothers--sing arias so
+surpassingly sweet that I voted him the master minstrel of the western
+plains, prairies, and meadows. One evening as I was returning to
+Colorado Springs from a long tramp through one of the canyons of the
+mountains, a western meadow-lark sat on a small tree and sang six
+different tunes within the space of a few minutes. Two of them were so
+exquisite and unique that I involuntarily sprang to my feet with a cry
+of delight. There he sat in the lengthening shadows of Cheyenne
+Mountain, the champion phrase-fluter of the irrigated meadow in which he
+and a number of his comrades had found a summer home.
+
+On the plain, at the time of my visit, the meadow-larks were not quite
+so tuneful, for here the seasons are somewhat earlier than in the
+proximity of the mountains, and the time of courtship and incubation was
+over. Still, they sang enough to prove themselves members of a gifted
+musical family. Observers in the East will remember the sputtering call
+of the eastern larks when they are alarmed or their suspicions are
+aroused. The western larks do not utter alarums of that kind, but a
+harsh "chack" instead, very similar to the call of the grackles. The
+nesting habits of the eastern and western species are the same, their
+domiciles being placed on the ground amid the grass, often prettily
+arched over in the rear and made snug and neat.
+
+It must not be thought, because my monograph on the western larks is
+included in this chapter, that they dwell exclusively on the arid plain.
+No; they revel likewise in the areas of verdure bordering the streams,
+in the irrigated fields and meadows, and in the watered portions of the
+upper mountain parks.
+
+An interesting question is the following: Are the eastern and western
+meadow-larks distinct species, or only varieties somewhat specialized by
+differences of locality and environment? It is a problem over which the
+scientific professors have had not a little disputation. My own opinion
+is that they are distinct species and do not cohabit, and the conviction
+is based on some special investigations, though not of the kind that are
+made with the birds in hand. It has been my privilege to study both
+forms in the field. In the first place, their vocal exhibitions are very
+different, so much so as to indicate a marked diversity in the organic
+structure of their larynxes. Much as I have listened to their
+minstrelsy, I have never known one kind to borrow from the musical
+repertory of the other. True, there are strains in the arias of the
+westerners that closely resemble the clear, liquid whistle of the
+eastern larks, but they occur right in the midst of the song and are
+part and parcel of it, and therefore afford no evidence of mimicry or
+amalgamation. Even the trills of the grassfinch and the song-sparrow
+have points of similarity; does that prove that they borrow from each
+other, or that espousals sometimes occur between the two species?
+
+The habiliments of the two forms of larks are more divergent than would
+appear at first blush. Above, the coloration of _neglecta_ (the western)
+is paler and grayer than that of _magna_, the black markings being less
+conspicuous, and those on the tertials and middle tail-feathers being
+arranged in narrow, isolated bars, and not connected along the shaft.
+While the flanks and under tail-coverts of _magna_ are distinctly washed
+with buff, those of _neglecta_ are white, very faintly tinged with buff,
+if at all. The yellow of the throat of the eastern form does not spread
+out laterally over the malar region, as does that of the western lark.
+All of which tends to prove that the two forms are distinct.
+
+Early in the spring of 1901 the writer took a trip to Oklahoma in the
+interest of bird-study, and found both kinds of meadow-larks extremely
+abundant and lavish of their melodies on the fertile prairies. He
+decided to carry on a little original investigation in the field of
+inquiry now under discussion. One day, in a draw of the prairie, he
+noticed a western meadow-lark which was unusually lyrical, having the
+skill of a past-master in the art of trilling and gurgling and fluting.
+Again and again I went to the place, on the same day and on different
+days, and invariably found the westerner there, perching on the fence or
+a weed-stem, and greeting me with his exultant lays. But, mark: no
+eastern lark ever intruded on his preserve. In other and more distant
+parts of the broad field the easterners were blowing their piccolos, but
+they did not encroach on the domain of the lyrical westerner, who, with
+his mate--now on her nest in the grass--had evidently jumped his claim
+and held it with a high hand. In many other places in Oklahoma and
+Kansas where both species dwell, I have noticed the same interesting
+fact--that in the breeding season each form selects a special precinct,
+into which the other form does not intrude. They perhaps put up some
+kind of trespass sign. These observations have all but convinced me that
+_S. magna_ and _S. neglecta_ are distinct species, and avoid getting
+mixed up in their family affairs.
+
+Nor is that all. While both forms dwell on the vast prairies of
+Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, yet, as you travel eastward, the western
+larks gradually diminish in number until at length they entirely
+disappear; whereas, if you journey westward, the precise opposite
+occurs. I have never heard _neglecta_ east of the Missouri River,[4] nor
+_magna_ on the plains of Colorado. Therefore the conclusion is almost
+forced upon the observer that there are structural and organic
+differences between the two forms.
+
+    [4] He sometimes ventures, though sparingly, as far east as Illinois
+    and Wisconsin; still my statement is true--I have never heard the
+    western lark even in the bottoms and meadows of the broad valley
+    east of the Missouri River, while, one spring morning, I did hear
+    one of these birds fluting in the top of a cottonwood tree in my
+    yard on the high western bluff of that stream.
+
+After the foregoing deductions had been reached, the writer bethought
+him of consulting Ridgway's Manual on the subject, and was gratified to
+find his views corroborated by a footnote answering to an asterisk
+affixed to the name of the western lark:
+
+    "Without much doubt a distinct species. The occurrence of both _S.
+    neglecta_ and _S. magna_ together in many portions of the
+    Mississippi Valley, each in its typical style (the ranges of the two
+    overlapping, in fact, for a distance of several hundred miles),
+    taken together with the excessive rarity of intermediate specimens
+    and the universally attested radical difference in their notes, are
+    facts wholly incompatible with the theory of their being merely
+    geographical races of the same species."
+
+This has been a long _excursus_, and we must get back to our jaunt on
+the plain. While I was engaged in watching the birds already named, my
+ear was greeted by a loud, clear, bell-like call; and, on looking in the
+direction from which it came, I observed a bird hovering over a ploughed
+field not far away, and then descending with graceful, poising flight to
+the ground. It proved to be the Arkansas flycatcher, a large, elegant
+bird that is restricted to the West. I had never seen this species.
+Nothing like him is known in the East, the crested flycatcher being most
+nearly a copy of him, although the manners of the two birds are quite
+unlike. The body of the western bird is as large as that of the robin,
+and he must be considerably longer from tip of beak to tip of tail. He
+is a fine-looking fellow, presenting a handsome picture as he stands on
+a weed-stalk or a fence-post, his yellow jacket gleaming in the sun. He
+is the possessor of a clear, musical voice, and if he had the vocal
+organs of some of the oscines, he certainly would be one of the best
+feathered lyrists of America. Unfortunately he is able to do nothing but
+chirp and chatter, although he puts not a little music into his simple
+vocal exercises.
+
+It was surprising to note on how slender a weed-stalk so large a bird
+was able to perch. There being few trees and fences in this region, he
+has doubtless gained expertness through practice in the art of securing
+a foot-hold on the tops of the weed-stems. Some of the weeds on which he
+stood with perfect ease and grace were extremely lithe and flexible and
+almost devoid of branches.
+
+But what was the cause of this particular bird's intense solicitude? It
+was obvious there was a nest in the neighborhood. As I sought in the
+grass and weed-clumps, he uttered his piercing calls of protest and
+circled and hovered overhead like a red-winged blackbird. Suddenly the
+thought occurred to me that the flycatchers of my acquaintance do not
+nest on the ground, but on trees. I looked around, and, sure enough, in
+the shallow hollow below me stood a solitary willow tree not more than
+fifteen or twenty feet high, the only tree to be seen within a mile. And
+that lone tree on the plain was occupied by the flycatcher and his mate
+for a nesting place. In a crotch the gray cottage was set, containing
+three callow babies and one beautifully mottled egg.
+
+In another fork of the same small tree a pair of kingbirds--the same
+species as our well-known eastern bee-martins--had built their nest, in
+the downy cup of which lay four eggs similarly decorated with brown
+spots. The birds now all circled overhead and joined in an earnest plea
+with me not to destroy their homes and little ones, and I hurriedly
+climbed down from the tree to relieve their agitation, stopping only a
+moment to examine the twine plaited into the felted nests of the
+kingbirds. The willow sapling contained also the nest of a turtle dove.
+
+"If there are three nests in this small tree, there may be a large
+number in the cluster of trees beyond the swell about a mile away," I
+mused, and forthwith made haste to go to the place indicated. I was not
+disappointed. Had the effort been made, I am sure two score of nests
+might have been found in these trees, for they were liberally decorated
+with bird cots and hammocks. Most of these were kingbirds' and Arkansas
+flycatchers' nests, but there were others as well. On one small limb
+there were four of the dangling nests of Bullock's orioles, one of them
+fresh, the rest more or less weather beaten, proving that this bird had
+been rearing broods here for a number of seasons.
+
+Whose song was this ringing from one of the larger trees a little
+farther down the glade? I could scarcely believe the testimony of my
+ears and eyes, yet there could be no mistake--it was the vivacious
+mimicry of the mocking-bird, which had travelled far across the plain to
+this solitary clump of trees to find singing perches and a site for his
+nests. He piped his musical miscellany with as much good-cheer as if he
+were dwelling in the neighborhood of some embowered cottage in
+Dixie-land. In suitable localities on the plains of Colorado the mockers
+were found to be quite plentiful, but none were seen among the
+mountains.
+
+A network of twigs and vines in one of the small willows afforded a
+support and partial covert for the nest of a pair of white-rumped
+shrikes. It contained six thickly speckled eggs, and was the first nest
+of this species I had ever found. The same hollow,--if so shallow a dip
+in the plain can be called a hollow,--was selected as the home of
+several pairs of red-winged and Brewer's blackbirds, which built their
+grassy cots in the low bushes of a slightly boggy spot, where a feeble
+spring oozed from the ground. It was a special pleasure to find a
+green-tailed towhee in the copse of the draw, for I had supposed that he
+always hugged close to the steep mountain sides.
+
+A walk before breakfast the next morning added several more avian
+species to my roll. To my surprise, a pair of mountain bluebirds had
+chosen the village for their summer residence, and were building a nest
+in the coupler of a freight car standing on a side track. The domicile
+was almost completed, and I could not help feeling sorry for the pretty,
+innocent couple, at the thought that the car would soon be rolling
+hundreds of miles away, and all their loving toil would go for naught.
+Bluebirds had previously been seen at the timber-line among the
+mountains, and here was a pair forty miles out on the plain--quite a
+range for this species, both longitudinally and vertically.
+
+During the forenoon the following birds were observed: A family of
+juvenile Arkansas flycatchers, which were being fed by their parents; a
+half-dozen or more western grassfinches, trilling the same pensive tunes
+as their eastern half-brothers; a small, long-tailed sparrow, which I
+could not identify at the time, but which I now feel certain was
+Lincoln's sparrow; these, with a large marsh-harrier and a colony of
+cliff-swallows, completed my bird catalogue at this place. It may not be
+amiss to add that several jack-rabbits went skipping over the swells;
+that many families of prairie dogs were visited, and that a coyotte
+galloped lightly across the plain, stopping and looking back
+occasionally to see whether he were being pursued.
+
+It was no difficult task to study the birds on the plain. Having few
+hiding-places in a locality almost destitute of trees and bushes, where
+even the grass was too short to afford a covert, they naturally felt
+little fear of man, and hence were easily approached. Their cousins
+residing in the mountains were, as a rule, provokingly wary. The number
+of birds that had pre-empted homesteads on the treeless wastes was
+indeed a gratifying surprise, and I went back to the mountains refreshed
+by the pleasant change my brief excursion upon the plains had afforded
+me.
+
+[Illustration: _Coyotte_
+
+"_Looking back to see whether he were being pursued_"]
+
+
+
+
+A PRETTY HUMMER
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Where do you suppose I got my first glimpse of the mite in feathers
+called the broad-tailed humming-bird? It was in a green bower in the
+Rocky Mountains in plain sight of the towering summit of Pike's Peak,
+which seemed almost to be standing guard over the place. Two brawling
+mountain brooks met here, and, joining their forces, went with increased
+speed and gurgle down the glades and gorges. As they sped through this
+ravine, they slightly overflowed their banks, making a boggy area of
+about an acre as green as green could be; and here amid the grass and
+bushes a number of birds found a pleasant summer home, among them the
+dainty hummer.
+
+From the snow-drifts, still to be seen in the sheltered gorges of Pike's
+Peak, the breezes would frequently blow down into the nook with a
+freshness that stimulated like wine with no danger of intoxicating; and
+it was no wonder that the white-crowned sparrows, Lincoln's sparrows,
+the robins and wrens, and several other species, found in this spot a
+pleasant place to live. One of the narrow valleys led directly up to the
+base of the massive cone of the Peak, its stream fed by the snow-fields
+shining in the sun. Going around by the valley of Seven Lakes, I had
+walked down from the summit, but nowhere had I seen the tiny hummer
+until I reached the green nook just described. Still, he sometimes
+ascends to an elevation of eleven thousand feet above the level of the
+sea.
+
+_ONE OF THE SEVEN LAKES_
+
+_PIKE'S PEAK shows dimly in the background, more plainly in the
+reflection. Viewed from the peak, the lakes sparkle like opaline gems in
+the sun. The waters are so clear that an inverted world is seen in their
+transparent depths. The valley is an elysium for many kinds of birds,
+most of them described in the text. The white-crowned sparrows love the
+shores of these beautiful lakes, which mirror the blithe forms of the
+birds. The pine forests of the mountain sides are vocal with the
+refrains of the hermit thrushes._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Our feathered dot is gorgeous with his metallic green upper parts,
+bordered on the tail with purplish black, his white or grayish under
+parts, and his gorget of purple which gleams in bright, varying tints in
+the sun. He closely resembles our common ruby-throated humming-bird,
+whose gorget is intense crimson instead of purple, and who does not
+venture into the Rocky Mountain region, but dwells exclusively in the
+eastern part of North America. It is a little strange that the eastern
+part of our country attracts only one species of the large hummer
+family, while the western portion, including the Rocky Mountain region,
+can boast of at least seventeen different kinds as summer residents or
+visitors.
+
+My attention was first directed to the broad-tailed hummer by seeing him
+darting about in the air with the swiftness of an arrow, sipping honey
+from the flower cups, and then flying to the twigs of a dead tree that
+stood in the marsh. There he sat, turning his head this way and that,
+and watching me with his keen little eyes. It was plain he did not trust
+me, and therefore resented my presence. Though an unwelcome guest, I
+prolonged my call for several hours, during which I made many heroic but
+vain attempts to find his nest.
+
+But what was the meaning of a sharp, insect-like buzzing that fell at
+intervals on my ear? Presently I succeeded in tracing the sound to the
+hummer, which utters it whenever he darts from his perch and back again,
+especially if there is a spectator or a rival near at hand, for whom he
+seems in this way to express his contempt. It is a vocal sound, or, at
+least, it comes from his throat, and is much louder and sharper than the
+_susurrus_ produced by the rapid movement of his wings. This I ascertain
+by hearing both the sounds at the same time.
+
+But the oddest prank which this hummer performs is to dart up in the
+air, and then down, almost striking a bush or a clump of grass at each
+descent, repeating this feat a number of times with a swiftness that the
+eye can scarcely follow. Having done this, he will swing up into the air
+so far that you can scarcely see him with the naked eye; the next moment
+he will drop into view, poise in mid-air seventy-five or a hundred feet
+above your head, supporting himself by a swift motion of the wings, and
+simply hitching to right and left in short arcs, as if he were fixed on
+a pivot, sometimes meanwhile whirling clear around. There he hangs on
+his invisible axis until you grow tired watching him, and then he darts
+to his favorite perch on the dead tree.
+
+No doubt John Vance Cheney had in mind another species when he composed
+the following metrical description, but it aptly characterized the
+volatile broad-tail as well:
+
+    "Voyager on golden air,
+    Type of all that's fleet and fair,
+    Incarnate gem,
+    Live diadem,
+    Bird-beam of the summer day,--
+    Whither on your sunny way?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Stay, forget lost Paradise,
+    Star-bird fallen from happy skies."
+
+After that first meeting the broad-tailed hummers were frequently seen
+in my rambles among the Rockies. In some places there were small
+colonies of them. They did not always dwell together in harmony, but
+often pursued one another like tiny furies, with a loud z-z-z-zip that
+meant defiance and war. The swiftness of their movements often excited
+my wonder, and it was difficult to see how they kept from impaling
+themselves on thorns or snags, so reckless were their lightning-like
+passages through the bushes and trees. When four or five of them were
+found in one place, they would fairly thread the air with green and
+purple as they described their circles and loops and festoons with a
+rapidity that fairly made my head whirl. At one place several of them
+grew very bold, dashing at me or wheeling around my head, coming so
+close that I could hear the _susurrus_ of their wings as well as the
+sharp, challenging buzz from their throats.
+
+Perhaps it would interest you to know where the rambler found these tiny
+hummers. They were never in the dark canyons and gorges, nor in the
+ravines that were heavily wooded with pine, but in the open, sunshiny
+glades and valleys, where there were green grass and bright flowers. In
+the upper part of both North and South Cheyenne Canyons they were
+plentiful, although they avoided the most scenic parts of these
+wonderful mountain gorges. Another place where they found a pleasant
+summer home was in a green pocket of the mountain above Red Cliff, a
+village on the western side of the great range. On descending the
+mountains to the town of Glenwood, I did not find them, and therefore am
+disposed to think that in the breeding season they do not choose to
+dwell in too low or too high an altitude, but seek suitable places at an
+elevation of from seven thousand to nine thousand feet.
+
+_SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK_
+
+_Only a small portion of the peak is shown in the view. The
+comparatively level area referred to in the text lies back of the signal
+station on the crest. At a garbage heap near the building a flock of
+leucostictes were seen, and the writer was told that they came there
+regularly to feed. From this sublime height the American pipits rise on
+resilient wings hundreds of feet into the air until they disappear in
+the cerulean depths of the sky, singing all the while at "heaven's
+gate."_
+
+[Illustration]
+
+One day, while staying at Buena Vista, Colorado, I hired a saddle-horse
+and rode to Cottonwood Lake, twelve miles away, among the rugged
+mountains. The valley is wide enough here to admit of a good deal of
+sunshine, and therefore flowers studded the ground in places. It was
+here I saw the only female broad-tailed hummer that was met with in my
+rambles in the Rockies. She was flitting among the flowers, and did not
+make the buzzing sound that the males produce wherever found. She was
+not clad so elegantly as were her masculine relatives, for the
+throat-patch was white instead of purple, and the green on her back did
+not gleam so brightly. But, oddly enough, her sides and under
+tail-coverts were stained with a rufous tint--a color that does not
+appear at all in the costume of the male.
+
+A curious habit of these hummers is worth describing. The males remain
+in the breeding haunts until the young are out of the nest and are
+beginning to be able to shift for themselves. Then the papas begin to
+disappear, and in about ten days all have gone, leaving the mothers and
+the youngsters to tarry about the summer home until the latter are
+strong enough to make the journey to some resort lower in the mountains
+or farther south. The reason the males do this is perhaps evident
+enough, for at a certain date the flowers upon whose sweets the birds
+largely subsist begin to grow scant, and so if they remained there
+would not be enough for all.
+
+In the San Francisco Mountains of Arizona, Doctor Merriam found the
+broad-tails very abundant in the balsam timber and the upper part of the
+pine belt, where they breed in the latter part of July; after which they
+remain in that region until the middle of September, even though the
+weather often becomes quite frosty at night. At break of day, in spite
+of the cold, they will gather in large flocks at some spring to drink
+and bathe. Doctor Merriam says about them at such times:
+
+    "They were like swarms of bees, buzzing about one's head and darting
+    to and fro in every direction. The air was full of them. They would
+    drop down to the water, dip their feet and bellies, and rise and
+    shoot away as if propelled by an unseen power. They would often dart
+    at the face of an intruder as if bent on piercing the eye with their
+    needle-like bills, and then poise for a moment almost within reach
+    before turning, when they were again lost in the busy throng.
+    Whether this act was prompted by curiosity or resentment I was not
+    able to ascertain."
+
+As has already been said, there is not always unruffled peace in the
+hummer family. Among the Rocky Mountains, and especially on the western
+side of the range, there dwells another little hummer called the rufous
+humming-bird, because the prevailing color of his plumage is reddish,
+and between this family and the broad-tails there exists a bitter feud.
+When, in the migrating season, a large number of both species gather
+together in a locality where there is a cluster of wild-flowers, the
+picture they make as they dart to and fro and bicker and fight for some
+choice blossom, their metallic colors flashing in the sun, is so
+brilliant as never to be forgotten by the spectator who is fortunate
+enough to witness it.
+
+[Illustration: "_Pike's Peak in cloudland_"]
+
+
+
+
+OVER THE DIVIDE AND BACK
+
+
+One June day a Denver & Rio Grande train bore the bird-lover from
+Colorado Springs to Pueblo, thence westward to the mountains, up the
+Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River, through the Royal Gorge, past the
+smiling, sunshiny upper mountain valleys, over the Divide at Tennessee
+Pass, and then down the western slopes to the next stopping-place, which
+was Red Cliff, a village nestling in a deep mountain ravine at the
+junction of Eagle River and Turkey Creek. The following day, a little
+after "peep o' dawn," I was out on the street, and was impressed by a
+song coming from the trees on the acclivity above the village. "Surely
+that is a new song," I said to myself; "and yet it seems to have a
+familiar air." A few minutes of hard climbing brought me near enough to
+get my glass on the little lyrist, and then I found it was only the
+house-wren! "How could you be led astray by so familiar a song?" you
+inquire. Well, that is the humiliating part of the incident, for I have
+been listening to the house-wren's gurgling sonata for some twenty
+years--rather more than less--and should have recognized it at once;
+only it must be remembered that I was in a strange place, and had my
+ears and eyes set for avian rarities, and therefore blundered.[5]
+
+    [5] On this incident I quote a personal note from my friend, Mr.
+    Aiken: "The wren of the Rockies is the western house-wren, but is
+    the same form as that found in the Mississippi Valley. It is quite
+    possible that a difference in song may occur, but I have not noticed
+    any."
+
+[Illustration: _Cliff-Swallows_
+
+"_On the rugged face of a cliff_"]
+
+To my surprise, I found many birds on those steep mountain sides, which
+were quite well timbered. Above the village a colony of cliff-swallows
+had a nesting place on the rugged face of a cliff, and were soaring
+about catching insects and attending to the wants of their greedy young.
+
+Besides the species named, I here found warbling vireos, broad-tailed
+humming-birds, western nighthawks, ruby-crowned kinglets, magpies,
+summer warblers, mountain chickadees, western wood-pewees, Louisiana
+tanagers, long-crested jays, kingfishers, gray-headed juncos,
+red-shafted flickers, pygmy nuthatches, house-finches, mountain jays,
+and Clarke's nutcrackers. The only species noted here that had not
+previously been seen east of the Divide was the pygmy nuthatch, a little
+bird which scales the trunks and branches of trees like all his family,
+but which is restricted to the Rocky Mountains. Like the white-breasted
+nuthatch, he utters an alto call, "Yang! yang! yang!" only it is soft
+and low--a miniature edition of the call of its eastern relative.
+
+A mountain chickadee's nest was also found, and here I heard for the
+first time one of these birds sing. Its performance was quite an
+affecting little minor whistle, usually composed of four distinct notes,
+though sometimes the vocalist contented himself with a song of two or
+three syllables. The ordinary run might be represented phonetically in
+this way, "Phee, ph-e-e-e, phe-phe," with the chief emphasis on the
+second syllable, which is considerably prolonged. The song is quite
+different from that of the black-capped chickadee both in the intoning
+and the technical arrangement, while it does not run so high in the
+scale, nor does it impress me as being quite so much of a minor strain,
+if such a distinction can be made in music. Both birds' tunes, however,
+have the character of being whistled.
+
+Glenwood is a charming summer resort in Colorado on the western side of
+the Rocky Mountain range, and can be reached by both the Denver & Rio
+Grande and the Colorado Midland Railways. Beautifully situated in an
+open mountain valley, it possesses many attractions in the way of
+natural scenery, while the cool breezes blow down from the snow-mantled
+ranges gleaming in the distance, and the medicinal springs draw many
+tourists in search of health and recuperation.
+
+My purpose, however, in visiting this idyllic spot--I went there from
+Red Cliff--was not primarily to view the scenery, nor to make use of the
+healing waters, but to gratify my thirst for bird-lore. Having spent
+some weeks in observing the avi-fauna east of the range, I had a
+curiosity to know something of bird life west of the great chain of
+alpine heights, and therefore I selected Glenwood as a fertile field in
+which to carry on some investigations. While my stay at this resort was
+all too short, it was of sufficient length to put me in possession of a
+number of facts that may prove to be of general interest.
+
+For one thing I learned, somewhat to my surprise, that the avian fauna
+on both sides of the Divide is much the same. Indeed, with one
+exception--to be noted more at length hereafter--I found no birds on
+the western side that I had not previously seen on the eastern side,
+although a longer and minuter examination would undoubtedly have
+resulted in the discovery of a few species that are peculiar to the
+regions beyond the range. In the extreme western and southwestern
+portions of Colorado there are quite a number of species that are seldom
+or never seen in the eastern part of the State. However, keeping to the
+mountainous districts, and given the same altitude and other conditions,
+you will be likely to find the same kinds of feathered folk on both
+sides of the range. A few concrete cases will make this statement clear.
+The elevation of Glenwood is five thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight
+feet; that of Colorado Springs, five thousand nine hundred and
+ninety-two feet; and the climatic conditions otherwise are practically
+the same. Hence at both places the following species were found: Lazuli
+buntings, Arkansas goldfinches, American goldfinches, western
+wood-pewees, Arkansas kingbirds, Bullock's orioles, grassfinches, and
+catbirds. At the same time there were a number of species in both
+localities that have a more extensive vertical range, as, for example,
+the western robins, which were seen in many places from the bases of the
+mountains up to the timber-line, over eleven thousand five hundred feet
+above sea-level.
+
+_ROYAL GORGE_
+
+_In the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River. In canyons like this, their
+walls rising almost vertically from one thousand to fifteen hundred
+feet, few birds are to be seen. Occasionally a dove will fly from one
+side of the gorge to the other before the scurrying train. From below a
+magpie or a Clark's crow may sometimes be seen flying overhead across
+the fearful chasm from one wall to the other, turning its head at
+intervals as if to inspect and question the spectator over a thousand
+feet below._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The presence of practically the same avian fauna on both sides of the
+great range suggests some speculations as to their movements in the
+migrating season. Do those on the western side of the mountains travel
+over the towering summits from the eastern plains? Or do they come up
+from their southern winter homes by way of the valleys and plains west
+of the range? Undoubtedly the latter is the correct surmise, for there
+were birds at Glenwood that are never known to ascend far into the
+mountains, and should they attempt to cross the Divide in the early
+spring, they would surely perish in the intense cold of those elevated
+regions, where snow often falls even in June, July, and August. One can
+easily imagine some of the eastern and western residents meeting in the
+autumn on the plains at the southern extremity of the mountain range,
+dwelling together in some southern locality throughout the winter, and
+then, when spring approaches, taking their separate routes, part going
+east and part west of the range, for their breeding haunts in the North.
+More than likely they do not meet again until the following autumn.
+There are individuals, doubtless, that never catch a glimpse of the
+western side of the great American watershed, while others are deprived
+of the privilege of looking upon the majestic panoramas of the eastern
+side.
+
+What has just been said applies, of course, only to those species that
+prefer to dwell in the lower altitudes. There are other species that
+find habitats to their taste in the most elevated localities, ranging
+at will in the summer time over the bald summits in the regions of
+perpetual snow. Among these may be mentioned the brown-capped
+leucostictes, the American pipits, the ravens, and Brewer's blackbirds.
+These species will often have the privilege of looking upon the scenery
+on both sides of the range, and you and I can scarcely repress a feeling
+of envy when we think of their happy freedom, and their frequent
+opportunities to go sightseeing.
+
+While taking an early morning stroll along one of the streets of
+Glenwood, I caught sight of a new member of the phoebe family, its
+reddish breast and sides differentiating it from the familiar phoebe
+of the East. Afterwards I identified it as Say's phoebe, a distinctly
+western species. Its habits are like those of its eastern relative. A
+pair of Say's phoebes had placed their nest on a beam of a veranda,
+near the roof, where they could be seen carrying food to their young. My
+notes say nothing of their singing a tune or even uttering a chirp. This
+was my first observation of Say's phoebe, although, as will be seen, I
+subsequently saw one under somewhat peculiar circumstances.
+
+Having spent all the time I could spare at Glenwood, one morning I
+boarded the eastward-bound train, and was soon whirling up through the
+sublime canyons of Grand and Eagle Rivers, keeping on the alert for such
+birds as I could see from the car-window. Few birds, as has been said,
+can be seen in the dark gorges of the mountains, the species that are
+most frequently descried being the turtle doves, with now and then a
+small flock of blackbirds. The open, sunlit valleys of the upper
+mountains, watered by the brawling streams, are much more to the liking
+of many birds, especially the mountain song-sparrows, the white-crowned
+sparrows, the green-tailed towhees, and Audubon's and Wilson's warblers.
+Up, up, for many miles the double-headed train crept, tooting and
+puffing hard, until at length it reached the highest point on the route,
+which is Tennessee Pass, through the tunnel of which it swept with a
+sullen roar, issuing into daylight on the eastern side, where the waters
+of the streams flow eastward instead of westward. The elevation of this
+tunnel is ten thousand four hundred and eighteen feet, which is still
+about a thousand feet below the timber-line. A minute after emerging
+from the tunnel's mouth I caught sight of a red-shafted flicker which
+went bolting across the narrow valley. The train swept down the valley
+for some miles, stopped long enough to have another engine coupled to
+the one that had brought us down from the tunnel, then wheeled to the
+left and began the ascent to the city of Leadville. This city is
+situated on a sloping plain on the mountain side, in full view of many
+bald mountain peaks whose gorges are filled with deep snow-drifts
+throughout the summer. For some purposes Leadville may be an exceedingly
+desirable city, but it has few attractions for the ornithologist. I took
+a long walk through a part of the city, and, whether you will believe it
+or not, I did not see a single bird outside of a cage, not even a
+house-finch or an English sparrow, nor did I see one tree in my entire
+stroll along the busy streets. The caged birds seen were a canary and a
+cardinal, and, oddly enough, both of them were singing, mayhap for very
+homesickness.
+
+Why should a bird student tarry here? What was there to keep him in a
+birdless place like this? I decided to leave at once, and so, checking
+my baggage through to Buena Vista, I started afoot down the mountain
+side, determined to walk to Malta, a station five miles below, observing
+the birds along the way. Not a feathered lilter was seen until I had
+gone about a mile from Leadville, when a disconsolate robin appeared
+among some scraggy pine bushes, not uttering so much as a chirp by way
+of greeting.
+
+A few minutes later I heard a vigorous and musical chirping in the pine
+bushes, and, turning aside, found a flock of small, finch-like birds.
+They flitted about so rapidly that it was impossible to get a good view
+of them with my glasses; but such glimpses as I obtained revealed a
+prevailing grayish, streaked with some darker color, while a glint of
+yellow in their wings and tails was displayed as the birds flew from
+bush to bush. When the wings were spread, a narrow bar of yellow or
+whitish-yellow seemed to stretch across them lengthwise, giving them a
+gauzy appearance. The birds remained together in a more or less compact
+flock. They uttered a loud, clear chirp that was almost musical, and
+also piped a quaint trill that was almost as low and harsh as that of
+the little clay-colored sparrow, although occasionally one would lift
+his voice to a much higher pitch. What were these tenants of the dry and
+piney mountain side? They were pine siskins, which I had ample
+opportunity to study in my rambles among the mountains in 1901.
+
+[Illustration: _Pine Siskins_]
+
+A mile farther down, a lone mountain bluebird appeared in sight, perched
+on a gray stump on the gray hillside, and keeping as silent as if it
+were a crime in bluebird-land to utter a sound. This bird's breeding
+range extends from the plains to the timber-line; and he dwells on both
+sides of the mountains, for I met with him at Glenwood. About a half
+mile above Malta a western nighthawk was seen, hurtling in his
+eccentric, zigzag flight overhead, uttering his strident call, and
+"hawking for flies," as White of Selborne would phrase it. A western
+grassfinch flew over to some bushes with a morsel in its bill, but I
+could not discover its nest or young, search as I would. Afterwards it
+perched on a telegraph wire and poured out its evening voluntary, which
+was the precise duplicate of the trills of the grassfinches of eastern
+North America. There seems to be only a slight difference between the
+eastern and western forms of these birds, so slight, indeed, that they
+can be distinguished only by having the birds in hand.
+
+Turtle doves were also plentiful in the valley above Malta, as they were
+in most suitable localities. Here were also several western robins, one
+of which saluted me with a cheerful carol, whose tone and syllabling
+were exactly like those of the merry redbreast of our Eastern States. I
+was delighted to find the sweet-voiced white-crowned sparrows tenants of
+this valley, although they were not so abundant here as they had been a
+little over a week before in the hollows below the summit of Pike's
+Peak. But what was the bird which was singing so blithely a short
+distance up the slope? He remained hidden until I drew near, when he
+ran off on the ground like a frightened doe, and was soon ensconced in a
+sage bush. Note his chestnut crest and greenish back. This is the
+green-tailed towhee. He is one of the finest vocalists of the Rocky
+Mountains, his tones being strong and well modulated, his execution
+almost perfect as to technique, and his entire song characterized by a
+quality that might be defined as human expressiveness.
+
+A pair of western chipping sparrows were feeding their young in one of
+the sage bushes. I hoped to find a nest, but my quest simply proved that
+the bantlings had already left their nurseries. It was some
+satisfaction, however, to establish the fact at first hand that the
+western chipping sparrows breed at an elevation of nine thousand five
+hundred and eighty feet above sea-level.
+
+While strolling about a short distance above the town, I discovered an
+underground passage leading to some of the factories, or perhaps the
+smelting works, a few miles farther up the valley. The over-arching
+ground and timbers forming the roof were broken through at various
+places, making convenient openings for the unwary pedestrian to tumble
+through should he venture to stroll about here by night. Suddenly a
+little broad-shouldered bird appeared from some mysterious quarter, and
+flitted silently about from bush to bush or from one tussock of grass to
+another. To my surprise, he presently dropped into one of the openings
+of the subterranean passage, disappeared for a few moments, and then
+emerged from another opening a little farther away. The bird--let me say
+at once--was Say's phoebe, with which, as previously told, I made
+acquaintance at Glenwood. He may be recognized by the reddish or
+cinnamon-brown cast of his abdomen and sides. Again and again he darted
+into the passage, perhaps to make sure that his bairns had not been
+kidnapped, and then came up to keep a vigilant eye on his visitor, whom
+he was not wholly disposed to trust. I am not sure that there was a nest
+in the subterranean passage, as my time was too short to look for it.
+Others may not regard it as an important ornithological discovery, and I
+do not pretend that it was epoch-making, but to me it was at least
+interesting to find this species, which was new to me, dwelling at an
+elevation of five thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight feet on the
+western side of the range, and on the eastern side at an elevation of
+nine thousand five hundred and eighty feet. Nowhere else in my
+peregrinations among the Rockies did I so much as catch a glimpse of
+Say's phoebe.[6]
+
+    [6] In 1901 this bird was seen by me in South Park, and its quaint
+    whistle was heard,--it says _Phe-by_, but its tone and expression
+    are different from those of its eastern relative. See the chapter
+    entitled "Pleasant Outings."
+
+With the exception of some swallows circling about in the air, I saw no
+other birds during my brief stay at Malta. I was sorely disappointed in
+not being able to find accommodation at this place, for it had been my
+intention to remain here for the night, and walk the next day to a
+station called Granite, some seventeen miles farther down the valley,
+making observations on bird life in the region by the way. To this day I
+regret that my calculations went "agley"; but I was told that
+accommodation was not to be secured at Malta "for love or money," and so
+I shook the dust from my feet, and boarded an evening train for my next
+stopping-place, which was Buena Vista.
+
+The elevation of this beautiful mountain town is seven thousand nine
+hundred and sixty-seven feet. It nestles amid cottonwood trees and green
+meadows in a wide valley or park, and is flanked on the east by the
+rolling and roaring Arkansas River, while to the west the plain slopes
+up gradually to the foothills of the three towering college
+peaks,--Harvard, Yale, and Princeton,--crowned all the year with snow.
+And here were birds in plenty. Before daybreak the avian concert began
+with the shrieking of the western wood-pewees--a vocal performance that
+they, in their innocence, seriously mistake for melody--and continued
+until night had again settled on the vale. In this place I spent three
+or four days, giving myself up to my favorite study and pastime, and a
+list of all the birds that I saw in the neighborhood would surprise the
+reader. However, a mere catalogue would be of slight interest, I
+apprehend, and therefore mention will be made only of those species
+which I had not seen elsewhere, passing by such familiar feathered folk
+as the Arkansas goldfinches, catbirds, western meadow-larks, Brewer's
+blackbirds, house-finches, green-tailed towhees, magpies, long-crested
+jays, summer warblers, and many others, begging their pardon, of course,
+for paying them such scant courtesy.
+
+Early on a bright morning I was following one of the streets of the
+village, when, on reaching the suburbs, I was greeted by a blithe,
+dulcet trill which could come from no other vocalist than the
+song-sparrow. His tones and vocalization were precisely like those of
+_Melospiza fasciata_, to which I have so often listened in my native
+State of Ohio. It was a dulcet strain, and stirred memories half sad,
+half glad, of many a charming ramble about my eastern home when the
+song-sparrows were the chief choralists in the outdoor opera festival.
+Peering into the bushes that fringed the gurgling mountain brook, I soon
+caught sight of the little triller, and found that, so far as I could
+distinguish them with my field-glass, his markings were just like those
+of his eastern relative--the same mottled breast, with the large dusky
+blotch in the centre.
+
+Delighted as I was with the bird's aria, I could not decide whether this
+was the common song-sparrow or the mountain song-sparrow. Something
+over a week earlier I had seen what I took to be the mountain
+song-sparrow in a green nook below the summit of Pike's Peak, and had
+noted his trill as a rather shabby performance in comparison with the
+tinkling chansons of the song-sparrow of the East. Had I mistaken some
+other bird for the mountain song-sparrow? Or was the Buena Vista bird
+the common song-sparrow which had gone entirely beyond its Colorado
+range? Consulting Professor W. W. Cooke's list of Colorado birds, I
+found that _Melospiza fasciata_ is marked "migratory, rare," and has
+been known thus far only in the extreme eastern part of the State;
+whereas _Melospiza fasciata montana_ is a summer resident, "common
+throughout the State in migration, and not uncommon as a breeder from
+the plains to eight thousand feet."
+
+But Professor Cooke fails to give a clue to the song of either variety,
+and therefore my little problem remains unsolved, as I could not think
+of taking the life of a dulcet-voiced bird merely to discover whether it
+should have "_montana_" affixed to its scientific name or not. All I can
+say is, if this soloist was a mountain song-sparrow, he reproduced
+exactly the trills of his half-brothers of the East.[7] On the morning
+of my departure from Buena Vista another song-sparrow sang his matins,
+in loud, clear tones among the bushes of a stream that flowed through
+the town, ringing quite a number of changes in his tune, all of them
+familiar to my ear from long acquaintance with the eastern forms of the
+_Melospiza_ subfamily.
+
+    [7] The problem has since been solved, through the aid of Mr. Aiken.
+    The Buena Vista bird was _montana_, while the bird in the Pike's
+    Peak hollow was Lincoln's sparrow.
+
+How well I recall a rainy afternoon during my stay at Buena Vista! The
+rain was not so much of a downpour as to drive me indoors, although it
+made rambling in the bushes somewhat unpleasant. What was this haunting
+song that rose from a thick copse fringing one of the babbling mountain
+brooks? It mingled sweetly with the patter of the rain upon the leaves.
+Surely it was the song of the veery thrush! The same rich, melodious
+strain, sounding as if it were blown through a wind-harp, setting all
+the strings a-tune at the same time. Too long and closely had I studied
+the veery's minstrelsy in his summer haunts in northern Minnesota to be
+deceived now--unless, indeed, this fertile avian region produced another
+thrush which whistled precisely the same tune. The bird's alarm-call was
+also like that of the veery. The few glimpses he permitted of his
+flitting, shadowy form convinced me that he must be a veery, and so I
+entered him in my note-book.
+
+But on looking up the matter--for the bird student must aim at
+accuracy--what was my surprise to find that the Colorado ornithologists
+have decided that the veery thrush is not a resident of the State, nor
+even an occasional visitor! Of course I could not set up my judgment
+against that of those scientific gentlemen. But what could this minstrel
+be? I wrote to my friend, Mr. Charles E. Aiken, of Colorado Springs, who
+replied that the bird was undoubtedly the willow thrush, which is the
+western representative of the veery. I am willing to abide by this
+decision, especially as Ridgway indicates in his Manual that there is
+very little difference in the coloration of the two varieties. One more
+mile-post had been passed in my never-ending ornithological journey--I
+had learned for myself and others that the willow thrush of the Rockies
+and the veery of our Eastern and Middle States have practically the same
+musical repertory, and nowhere in the East or the West is sweeter and
+more haunting avian minstrelsy to be heard, if only it did not give one
+that sad feeling which Heine calls _Heimweh_!
+
+[Illustration: _Willow Thrush_]
+
+
+
+
+A ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAKE
+
+[Illustration: PLATE IV
+
+LARK BUNTING--_Calamospiza melanocorys_
+(Upper figure, male; lower, female)]
+
+
+"You will find a small lake just about a mile from town. Follow the road
+leading out this way"--indicating the direction--"until you come to a
+red gate. The lake is private property, but you can go right in, as you
+don't shoot. No one will drive you out. I think you will find it an
+interesting place for bird study."
+
+[Illustration: _Brewer's Blackbirds_
+
+"_An interesting place for bird study_"]
+
+The foregoing is what my landlord told me one morning at Buena Vista.
+Nor did I waste time in finding the way to the lake, a small sheet of
+water, as clear as crystal, embowered in the lovely park lying between
+towering, snow-clad mountains. One might almost call the spot a bird's
+Arcadia. In no place, in all my tramping among the Rockies, did I find
+so many birds in an equal area.
+
+In the green, irrigated meadow bordering one side of the sheet of water,
+I was pleased to find a number of Brewer's blackbirds busily gathering
+food in the wet grass for their young. And who or what are Brewer's
+blackbirds? In the East, the purple and bronzed grackles, or crow
+blackbirds, are found in great abundance; but in Colorado these birds
+are replaced by Brewer's blackbirds, which closely resemble their
+eastern kinsfolk, although not quite so large. The iridescence of the
+plumage is somewhat different in the two species, but in both the golden
+eye-balls show white at a distance. When I first saw a couple of
+Brewer's blackbirds stalking featly about on a lawn at Manitou, digging
+worms and grubs out of the sod, I simply put them down in my note-book
+as bronzed or purple grackles--an error that had to be corrected
+afterwards, on more careful examination. The mistake shows how close is
+the resemblance between the two species.
+
+The Brewer division of the family breed on the plains and in the
+mountains, to an altitude of ten thousand feet, always selecting marshy
+places for their early summer home; then in August and September, the
+breeding season over, large flocks of old and young ascend to the
+regions above the timber-line, about thirteen thousand feet above
+sea-level, where they swarm over the grassy but treeless mountain sides
+in search of food. In October they retire to the plains, in advance of
+the austere weather of the great altitudes, and soon the majority of
+them hie to a blander climate than Colorado affords in winter.
+
+Still more interesting to me was the large colony of yellow-headed
+blackbirds that had taken up their residence in the rushes and flags of
+the upper end of the lake. These birds are not such exclusive westerners
+as their ebon-hued cousins just described; for I found them breeding at
+Lake Minnetonka, near Minneapolis, Minnesota, a few years ago, and they
+sometimes straggle, I believe, as far east as Ohio. A most beautiful
+bird is this member of the _Icteridae_ family, a kind of Beau Brummel
+among his fellows, with his glossy black coat and rich yellow--and even
+orange, in highest feather--mantle covering the whole head, neck, and
+breast, and a large white, decorative spot on the wings, showing plainly
+in flight. He is the handsomest blackbird with which I am acquainted.
+
+At the time of my visit to the lake, the latter part of June, the
+yellow-heads were busy feeding their young, many of which had already
+left the nest. From the shore, I could see dozens of them clinging to
+the reeds, several of which they would grasp with the claws of each
+foot, their little legs straddled far apart, the flexile rushes
+spreading out beneath their weight. There the youngsters perched,
+without seeming to feel any discomfort from their strained position. And
+what a racket they made when the parent birds returned from an excursion
+to distant meadows and lawns, with bill-some tidbits! They were
+certainly a hungry lot of bairns. When I waded out into the shallow
+water toward their rushy home, the old birds became quite uneasy,
+circling about above me like the red-wings, and uttering a harsh
+blackbird "chack," varied at intervals by a loud, and not unmusical,
+chirp.
+
+[Illustration: _Yellow-Headed Blackbirds_
+
+"_There the youngsters perched_"]
+
+You should see the nest of the yellow-head. It is really a fine
+structure, showing no small amount of artistic skill--a plaited cup,
+looking almost as if it had been woven by human hands, the rushes of the
+rim and sides folding the supporting reeds in their loops. Thus the nest
+and its reedy pillars are firmly bound together. I waded out to a clump
+of rushes and found one nest with three eggs in its softly felted
+cup--the promise, no doubt, of a belated, or possibly a second, brood.
+
+This mountain lake was also the abode of a number of species of ducks,
+not all of which could be identified, on account of the distance they
+constantly put between themselves and the observer. Flocks of them
+floated like light, feathered craft upon the silvery bosom of the lake,
+now pursuing one another, now drifting lazily, now diving, and anon
+playing many attractive gambols.
+
+One of the most curious ducks I have ever seen was the ruddy duck,
+called in the scientific manuals _Erismatura rubida_. As I sat on a rock
+on the shore, watching the aquatic fowl, one of the male ruddy ducks,
+accompanied by three or four females, swam out from the reeds into an
+open space where I could see him plainly with my field-glass. A
+beautiful picture he presented, as he glided proudly about on the water,
+surrounded by his devoted harem. Imagine, if you can, how regal he must
+have appeared--his broad, flat bill, light blue, widening out at the
+commissure, and seeming to shade off into the large white cheeks, which
+looked like snowy puffballs on the sides of his head; his crown, black
+and tapering; his neck, back, and sides, a rich, glossy brownish-red;
+his lower parts, "silky, silvery white, 'watered' with dusky, yielding,
+gray undulations"; and his wing-coverts and jauntily perked-up tail,
+black. If that was not a picture worthy of an artist's brush I have
+never seen one in the outdoor world.
+
+No less quaint was his conduct. That he was proud and self-conscious, no
+one seeing him could doubt; and it was just as plain from his
+consequential mien, that he was posing before his train of plainly clad
+wives, who, no doubt, looked upon him as the greatest "catch" of the
+lake. Unlike most ducks, in swimming this haughty major carries his head
+erect, and even bent backward at a sharp angle; and his short tail is
+cocked up and bent forward, so that his glossy back forms a graceful
+half-circle or more, and does not slope downward, as do the backs of
+most ducks on the water.
+
+Of all the odd gestures, this fellow's carried off the palm. He would
+draw his head up and back, then thrust it forward a few inches, extend
+his blue bill in a horizontal line, and at the same time emit a low,
+coarse squawk that I could barely hear. Oddly enough, all the females,
+staid as they were, imitated their liege lord's deportment. It was their
+way of protesting against my ill-bred intrusion into their demesne.
+
+Presently a second male came out into the open space, accompanied by a
+retinue of wives, and then a third emerged, similarly attended. With
+this there was a challenging among the rivals that was interesting to
+witness; they fairly strutted about on the water, now advancing, now
+retreating, and occasionally almost, but never quite, closing in combat.
+Sometimes one would pursue another for a rod or more, in a swift rush
+that would make the spray fly and cut a swath on the smooth bosom of
+the lake.
+
+Several coots now appeared on the scene. Between them and the ruddy
+ducks there seemed to be a feud of more or less intensity, each being on
+the offensive or the defensive as the exigencies of naval warfare
+demanded. Once I was moved to laughter as a coot made a fierce dash
+toward one of the ducks, and was almost upon her, and I thought she was
+destined to receive a severe trouncing, when she suddenly dodged her
+pursuer by diving. He just as suddenly gave up the chase, looking as if
+it were a case of "sour grapes," anyway.
+
+After watching the antics of these birds for a long time, I turned my
+attention to another pretty scene,--a pair of coots leading their family
+of eight or ten little ones out into the clear area from their
+hiding-place among the reeds, presenting a picture of unruffled domestic
+bliss. How sweet and innocent the little coots were! Instead of the
+black heads and necks of their parents, and the white bills and frontal
+bones, these parts were tinted with red, which appeared quite bright and
+gauze-like in the sunshine.
+
+The process of feeding the juvenile birds was interesting. The parents
+would swim about, then suddenly dip their heads into the water, or else
+dive clear under, coming up with slugs in their bills. Turning to the
+youngsters, which were always close upon their heels--or perhaps I
+would better say their tails--they would hold out their bills, when the
+little ones would swim up and pick off the toothsome morsel. It must not
+be supposed that the bantlings opened their mouths, as most young birds
+do, to receive the tidbits. No, indeed! That is not coot vogue. The
+little ones picked the insects from the sides of the papa's or mamma's
+beak, turning their own little heads cunningly to one side as they
+helped themselves to their luncheon.
+
+The other waterfowl of the lake acted in an ordinary way, and therefore
+need no description. It was strange, however, that this was the only
+lake seen in all my Rocky Mountain touring where I found waterfowl. At
+Seven Lakes, Moraine Lake, and others in the vicinity of Pike's Peak,
+not a duck, crane, or coot was to be seen; and the same was true of
+Cottonwood Lake, twelve miles from Buena Vista, right in the heart of
+the rugged mountains.
+
+[Illustration: "_From their place among the reeds_"]
+
+Two facts may account for the abundance of birds at the little lake near
+Buena Vista; first, here they were protected from gunners and pot
+hunters by the owner, whose residence commanded a full view of the whole
+area; and, second, large spaces of the upper end of the lake was thickly
+grown with flags and rushes, which were cut off from the shore by a
+watery space of considerable breadth. In this place these birds found
+coverts from enemies and suitable sites for their nests.
+
+
+
+
+A BIRD MISCELLANY
+
+
+It shall be my purpose in this chapter to describe with more or less
+fulness a number of Rocky Mountain birds which have either not been
+mentioned in previous chapters or have received only casual attention.
+
+On reaching Colorado one is surprised to find none of our common blue
+jays which are so abundant in the Eastern and Middle States. In my
+numerous Rocky Mountain jaunts not one was seen. Yet this region does
+not need to go begging for jays, only they belong to different groups of
+the _Garrulinae_ subfamily. The most abundant and conspicuous of these
+western forms are the long-crested jays, so called on account of the
+long tuft of black feathers adorning the occiput. This distinguishing
+mark is not like the firm pyramidal crest of the eastern jay, but is
+longer and narrower, and so flexible that it sways back and forth as the
+bird flits from branch to branch or takes a hop-skip-and-jump over the
+ground. Its owner can raise and lower it at will.
+
+The forehead of this jay is prettily sprinkled with white; his head and
+neck are black, in decided contrast with the umber-brown of the back;
+his rump and belly are pale blue, and his wings and tail are rich
+indigo-blue, somewhat iridescent and widely barred with black. Thus it
+will be seen that he has quite a different costume from that of our
+eastern jay, with his gaudy trimmings of white and black and purplish
+blue. The westerner cannot boast of _cristata's_ dressy black collar,
+but otherwise he is more richly attired, although he may not be quite so
+showy.
+
+The long-crested jays have a wide range among the mountains, breeding
+from the base of the foothills to the timber-line, although their nests
+are not commonly found below an altitude of seven thousand feet. In many
+places from nine to eleven thousand feet up the acclivities of the
+mountains they were seen flitting among the pines or the quaking asps.
+Like their eastern relatives, some individuals seem to prefer the
+society of man, dwelling in the villages or in the vicinity of country
+homes, while others choose the most secluded and solitary localities for
+their habitat. The fact is, I rarely made an excursion anywhere without
+sooner or later discovering that these jays had pre-empted the place for
+feeding or breeding purposes, sometimes with loud objurgations bidding
+me be gone, and at other times making no to-do whatever over my
+intrusion. Perhaps the proximity or remoteness of their nests was the
+chief cause of this variableness in their behavior.
+
+A pretty picture is one of these jays mounting from branch to branch
+around the stem of a pine tree, from the lower limbs to the top, as if
+he were ascending a spiral staircase. This seems to be one of their
+regulation habits when they find themselves under inspection. If you
+intrude on their domestic precincts, their cry is quite harsh, and bears
+no resemblance to the quaint calls of the eastern jays; nor does the
+plaintive note of the eastern representative, so frequently heard in the
+autumnal woods, ever issue from any of the numerous jay throats of the
+West.
+
+Far be it from me to blacken the reputation of any bird, but there is at
+least circumstantial evidence that the long-crested jay, like his
+eastern cousin, is a nest robber; for such birds as robins, tanagers,
+flycatchers, and vireos make war upon him whenever he comes within their
+breeding districts, and this would indicate that they are only too well
+aware of his predatory habits. More than that, he has the sly and
+stealthy manners of the sneak-thief and the brigand. Of course, he is by
+no means an unmixed evil, for you will often see him leaping about on
+the lawns, capturing beetles and worms which would surely be injurious
+to vegetation if allowed to live and multiply.
+
+There are other jays in the Rockies that deserve attention. The Rocky
+Mountain jay--_Perisoneus canadensis capitalis_--is a bird of the higher
+altitudes, remaining near the timber-line all the year round, braving
+the most rigorous weather and the fiercest mountain storms during the
+winter. Although not an attractive species, his hardiness invests him
+with not a little interest. One can imagine him seeking a covert in the
+dense pineries when a storm sweeps down from the bald, snow-mantled
+summits, squawking his disapproval of the ferocity of old Boreas, and
+yet able to resist his most violent onsets.
+
+[Illustration: _The Rocky Mountain Jay_
+
+"_Seeking a covert in the dense pineries when a storm sweeps down from
+the mountains_"]
+
+Early in April, at an altitude of from eight thousand to eleven thousand
+five hundred feet, these jays begin to breed. At that height this is
+long before the snow ceases to fall; indeed, on the twentieth of June,
+while making the descent from Pike's Peak, I was caught in a snowfall
+that gave the ground quite a frosty aspect for a few minutes. One can
+readily fancy, therefore, that the nests of these birds are often
+surrounded with snow, and that the bantlings may get their first view
+of the world in the swirl of a snow-squall. The nests are built in pine
+bushes and trees at various distances from the ground. Of all the
+hurly-burlies ever heard, that which these birds are able to make when
+you go near their nests, or discover them, bears off the palm, their
+voices being as raucous as a buzz-saw, fairly setting your teeth on
+edge.
+
+Those of us who live in the East are so accustomed to the adjective
+"blue" in connection with the jay that we are surprised to find that _P.
+c. capitalis_ wears no blue whatever, but dons a sombre suit of leaden
+gray, somewhat relieved by the blackish shade of the wings and tail,
+with their silvery or frosted lustre. He is certainly not an attractive
+bird, either in dress or in form, for he appears very "thick-headed" and
+lumpish, as if he scarcely knew enough to seek shelter in a time of
+storm; but, of course, a bird that contrives to coax a livelihood out of
+such unpromising surroundings must possess a fine degree of
+intelligence, and, therefore, cannot be so much of a dullard as his
+appearance would indicate.
+
+He has some interesting ways, too, as will be seen from the following
+quotation from a Colorado writer: "White-headed, grave, and sedate, he
+seems a very paragon of propriety, and if you appear to be a suitable
+personage, he will be apt to give you a bit of advice. Becoming
+confidential, he sputters out a lot of nonsense which causes you to
+think him a veritable 'whiskey Jack.' Yet, whenever he is disposed, a
+more bland, mind-your-own-business appearing bird will be hard to find;
+as will also many small articles around camp after one of his visits,
+for his whimsical brain has a great fancy for anything which may be
+valuable to you, but perfectly useless to himself." This habit of
+purloining has won him the title of "camp robber" among the people of
+the Rocky Mountains.
+
+Woodhouse's jay, also peculiar to the Rocky Mountain region, is mostly
+to be found along the base of the foothills and the lower wooded
+mountains. While he may be called a "blue" jay, having more of that
+color in his plumage than even the long-crested, he belongs to the
+_Aphelcoma_ group--that is, he is without a crest.
+
+Every observer of eastern feathered folk is familiar with our "little
+boy blue," the indigo-bird, whose song is such a rollicking and saucy
+air, making you feel as if the little lyrist were chaffing you. In
+Colorado, however, you do not meet this animated chunk of blue, but
+another little bird that belongs to the same group, called the "painted
+finches," although their plumes are not painted any more than those of
+other species. This bird is the lazuli bunting. He wears a great deal of
+blue, but it is azure, and not indigo, covering the head, neck, most of
+the upper parts, and the lining of the wings; and, as if to give
+variety to the bird's attire, the nape and back are prettily shaded with
+brown, and the wings and tail with black. But his plumage is still more
+variegated, for he bears a conspicuous white spot on the greater
+wing-coverts, and his breast is daintily tinted with chestnut-brown,
+abruptly cut off from the blue of the throat, while the remaining under
+parts are snowy white. From this description it will be seen that he is
+quite unlike the indigo-bird, which has no brown or white in his
+cerulean attire. Handsome as Master Indigo is, the lazuli finch, with
+his sextet of hues, is a more showily dressed bird; in fact, a lyric in
+colors.
+
+The habits of the two birds are quite similar. However, the lazuli
+seemed to be much shyer than his relative, for the latter is a familiar
+figure at the border of our eastern woodlands, about our country homes,
+and even in the neighborhood of our town dwellings, when there are
+bushes and trees close at hand. My saunterings among the mountains took
+me into the haunts of the lazulis, but I regret to have to confess that
+all my alertness was of so little avail that I saw only three males and
+one female. One day, while rambling among the cottonwoods that broidered
+the creek flowing south of Colorado Springs, I was brought to a
+standstill by a sharp chirp, and the next moment a pair of lazulis
+appeared on the lower branches and twigs of a tree. There they sat quiet
+enough, watching me keenly, but allowing me to peer at them at will
+with my field-glass. I could not understand why birds that otherwise
+were so shy should now permit a prolonged inspection and manifest so
+little anxiety; but perhaps they reasoned that they had been discovered
+anyway, and there was no need of pretending that no lazulis dwelt in the
+neighborhood. How elegant the little husband looked in his variegated
+attire! The wife was soberly clad in warm brown, slightly streaked with
+dusk, but she was trig and pretty and worthy of her more richly
+apparelled spouse. In the bushes below I found a well-made nest, which I
+felt morally certain belonged to the little couple that was keeping such
+faithful surveillance over it. As yet it contained no eggs.
+
+In order to make certainty doubly sure, I visited the place a week or so
+later, and found that my previous conclusion had been correct. I flushed
+the little madame from the nest, and saw her flit with a chirp to the
+twigs above, where she sat quietly watching her visitor, exhibiting no
+uneasiness whatever about her cot in the bushes with its three precious
+eggs. It was pleasing to note the calmness and dignity with which she
+regarded me. But where was that important personage, the little husband?
+He was nowhere to be seen, although I lingered about the charmed spot
+for over two hours, hoping to get at least a glimpse of him. A friend,
+who understands the sly ways of the lazulis, suggested that very likely
+the male was watching me narrowly all the while from a safe hiding-place
+in the dense foliage of some tree not far away.
+
+My friend told me that I would not be able to distinguish the song of
+the lazuli from those of the summer and mountain warblers. We shall see
+whether he was right. One evening I was searching for a couple of blue
+grosbeaks at the border of Colorado Springs, where I had previously seen
+them, when a loud, somewhat percussive song, much like the summer
+warbler's, burst on my ear, coming from a clump of willow bushes hard by
+the stream. At once I said to myself, "That is not the summer warbler's
+trill. It resembles the challenging song of the indigo-bird, only it is
+not quite so loud and defiant. A lazuli finch's song, or I am sadly
+astray! Let me settle the question now."
+
+I did settle it to my great satisfaction, for, after no little effort, I
+succeeded in obtaining a plain view of the elusive little lyrist, and,
+sure enough, it proved to be the lazuli finch. Metaphorically I patted
+myself with a great deal of self-complacency, as I muttered: "The idea
+of Mr. Aiken's thinking I had so little discrimination! I know that
+hereafter I shall be able to detect the lazuli's peculiar intonations
+every time." So I walked home in a very self-confident frame of mind. A
+few days later I heard another song lilting down from the upper branches
+of a small tree. "Surely that is the lazuli again," I muttered. "I know
+that voice." For a while I eyed the tree, and presently caught sight of
+the little triller, and behold, it was--a summer warbler! All my
+self-complacency vanished in a moment; I wasn't cock-sure of anything;
+and I am obliged to confess that I was led astray in a similar manner
+more than once afterward. It may indicate an odd psychological condition
+to make the claim; but, absurd or not, I am disposed to believe that,
+whenever I really heard the lazuli, I was able to recognize his song
+with a fair degree of certainty, but when I heard the summer warbler I
+was thrown into more or less confusion, not being quite sure whether it
+was that bird or the other.
+
+The most satisfactory lazuli song I heard was on the western side of the
+range, at the resort called Glenwood. This time, as was usually the
+case, I heard the little triller before seeing him, and was sure it was
+_Passerina amoena_, as the bunting strains were plainly discernible.
+He was sitting on a telephone wire, and did not flit away as I stood
+below and peered at him through my glass, and admired his trig and
+handsome form. I studied his song, and tried to fix the peculiar
+intonations in my mind, and felt positive that I could never be caught
+again--but I was.[8]
+
+    [8] In the foregoing remarks the lazuli finches have been
+    represented as excessively shy. So they were in 1899 in the
+    neighborhoods then visited. Strangely enough, in the vicinity of
+    Denver in 1901, these birds were abundant and as easily approached
+    and studied as are the indigoes of the East. See the chapter
+    entitled, "Plains and Foothills."
+
+The lazuli finch does not venture very high into the mountains, seldom
+reaching an altitude of more than seven thousand feet. He is a lover of
+the plains, the foothills, and the lower ranges of the mountains. In
+this respect he differs from some other little birds, which seek a
+summer home in the higher regions. On the southern slope of Pike's Peak,
+a little below the timber-line, I found a dainty little bird which was a
+stranger to me. It was Audubon's warbler. At first sight I decided that
+he must be the myrtle warbler, but was compelled to change my conclusion
+when I got a glimpse of his throat, which was golden yellow, whereas the
+throat of _Dendroica coronata_ is pure white. Then, too, the myrtle
+warbler is only a migrant in Colorado, passing farther north to breed.
+Audubon's, it must be said, has extremely rich habiliments, his upper
+parts being bluish-ash, streaked with black, his belly and under
+tail-coverts white, and his breast in high feather, black, prettily
+skirted with gray or invaded with white from below; but his yellow
+spots, set like gleaming gold in various parts of his plumage,
+constitute his most marked embellishment, being found on the crown,
+rump, throat, and each side of the chest.
+
+On my first excursion to some meadows and wooded low-grounds south of
+Colorado Springs, while listening to a concert given by western
+meadow-larks, my attention was attracted to a large, black bird circling
+about the fields and then alighting on a fence-post. My first thought
+was: "It is only a crow blackbird." But on second thought I decided that
+the crow blackbird did not soar and circle about in this manner. At all
+events, there seemed to be something slightly peculiar about this bird's
+behavior, so I went nearer to inspect him, when he left his perch on the
+post, flapped around over the meadow, and finally flew to a large,
+partially decayed cottonwood tree in a pasture field. If I could believe
+my eyes, he clung to the upright stems of the branches after the style
+of a woodpecker! That was queer indeed--a woodpecker that looked
+precisely like a blackbird! Such a featherland oddity was certainly
+foreign to any of my calculations; for, it must be remembered, this was
+prior to my making acquaintance with Williamson's sapsucker.
+
+Closer inspection proved that this bird was actually hitching up and
+down the branches of the tree in the regular woodpecker fashion.
+Presently he slipped into a hole in a large limb, and the loud, eager
+chirping of young birds was heard. It was not long before his mate
+appeared, entered the cavity, and fed the clamorous brood. The birds
+proved to be Lewis's woodpeckers, another distinctly western type. My
+field-glass soon clearly brought out their peculiar markings.
+
+A beautiful bird-skin, bought of Mr. Charles E. Aiken, now lies on my
+desk and enables me to describe the fine habiliments of this kind from
+an actual specimen. His upper parts are glossy black, the sheen on the
+back being greenish, and that on the wings and tail bluish or purplish,
+according to the angle of the sun's light; a white collar prettily
+encircles the neck, becoming quite narrow on the nape, but widening out
+on the side so as to cover the entire breast and throat. This pectoral
+shield is mottled with black and lightly stained with buff in spots; the
+forehead, chin, superciliary line, and a broad space on the cheek are
+dyed a deep crimson; and, not least by any means, the abdomen is washed
+with pink, which is delicately stencilled with white, gray, and buff. A
+most gorgeous bird, fairly rivalling, but not distancing, Williamson's
+sapsucker.
+
+By accident I made a little discovery relative to the claws of this
+woodpecker which, I suppose, would be true of all the _Picidae_ family.
+The claws of the two fore toes are sharply curved and extremely acute,
+making genuine hooks, so that when I attempt to pass my finger over them
+the points catch at the skin. Could a better hook be contrived for
+enabling the bird to clamber up the trunks and branches of trees? But
+note: the claws of the two hind toes are not so sharply decurved, nor
+so acute at the points, the finger slipping readily over them. Who can
+deny the evidence of design in nature? The fore claws are highly
+specialized for clinging, the very purpose for which they are needed,
+while the hind claws, being used for a different purpose--only that of
+support--are moulded over a different pattern.
+
+Like our common red-head, this bird has the habit of soaring out into
+the air and nabbing insects on the wing. The only other pair of these
+woodpeckers I was so fortunate as to meet with were found in the ravine
+leading up from Buena Vista to Cottonwood Lake.[9] Their nest was in a
+dead tree by the roadside. While the first couple had been entirely
+silent, one of the second pair chirped somewhat uneasily when I lingered
+beneath his tree, suspecting, no doubt, that I had sinister designs upon
+his nest. Unlike some of their kinsmen, these pickers of wood seem to be
+quiet and dignified, not given to much demonstration, and are quite
+leisurely in their movements both on the branch and on the wing.
+
+    [9] Two years later a pair were seen on a mountain near Golden,
+    Colorado, and probably twenty individuals were watched a long time
+    from a canyon above Boulder as they circled gracefully over the
+    mountains, catching insects on the wing.
+
+One day, when walking up Ute Pass, celebrated both for its magnificent
+scenery and its Indian history, I first saw the water-ousel. I had been
+inspecting Rainbow Falls, and was duly impressed with its
+attractiveness. Thinking I had lingered long enough, I turned away and
+clambered up the rocky wall below the falls towards the road above. As I
+did so, a loud, bell-like song rang above the roar of the water. On
+looking down into the ravine, I saw a mouse-colored bird, a little
+smaller than the robin, his tail perked up almost vertically, scuttling
+about on the rocks below and dipping his body in an expressive way like
+the "tip-up" sandpiper. Having read about this bird, I at once
+recognized it as the water-ousel. My interest in everything else
+vanished. This was one of the birds I had made my pilgrimage to the
+Rockies to study. It required only a few minutes to scramble down into
+the ravine again.
+
+Breathlessly I watched the little bird. Its queer teetering is like that
+of some of the wrens, accentors, and water-thrushes. Now it ran to the
+top of a rock and stood dipping and eying me narrowly, flirting its
+bobby tail; now it flew to one of the steep, almost vertical walls of
+rock and scrambled up to a protuberance; then down again to the water;
+then, to my intense delight, it plunged into the limpid stream, and came
+up the next moment with a slug or water-beetle in its bill. Presently it
+flew over to the opposite wall, its feet slipping on the wet rocks, and
+darted into a small crevice just below the foot of the falls, gave a
+quick poke with its beak and flitted away--minus the tidbit it had held
+in its bill.
+
+_RAINBOW FALLS_
+
+_When the sun strikes the spray and mist at the proper angle, a
+beautiful rainbow is painted on the face of the falls. At the time of
+the author's visit to this idyllic spot a pair of water-ousels had
+chosen it for a summer residence. They flew from the rocks below to the
+top of the falls, hugging close to the rushing torrent. In returning,
+they darted in one swift plunge from the top to the bottom, alighting on
+the rocks below. With the utmost abandon they dived into the seething
+waters at the foot of the falls, usually emerging with a slug or beetle
+in their bills for the nestlings. Shod with tall rubber boots, the
+writer waded close up to the foot of the falls in search of the dipper's
+nest, which was set in a cleft of the rocks a few inches above the
+water, in the little shadowed cavern at the left of the stream. The
+pointed rock wrapped in mist, almost in the line of the plunging tide,
+was a favorite perch for the dippers._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Ah! my propitious stars shone on me that day with special favor. I had
+found not only the water-ousel itself, but also its nest. Suddenly
+water-ousel number two, the mate of number one, appeared on the scene,
+dipped, scanned me closely, flew to the slippery wall, darted to the
+cranny, and deposited its morsel, as its spouse had done. This time I
+heard the chirping of the youngsters. Before examining the nest I
+decided to watch the performances of the parent birds, which soon cast
+off all the restraint caused for a moment by my presence, taking me, no
+doubt, for the ordinary sightseer who overlooks them altogether.
+
+Again and again the birds plunged into the churning flood at the foot of
+the falls, sometimes remaining under water what seemed a long while, and
+always coming to the surface with a delicacy for the nestlings. They
+were able to dip into the swift, white currents and wrestle with them
+without being washed away. Of course, the water would sometimes carry
+them down stream, but never more than a few inches, and never to a point
+where they could be injured. They were perfect masters of the situation.
+They simply slipped in and out like living chunks of cork. Their coats
+were waterproof, all they needed to do being to shake off the crystal
+drops now and then.
+
+Their flight up the almost perpendicular face of the falls was one of
+graceful celerity. Up, up, they would mount only a few inches from the
+dashing current, and disappear upstream in search of food. In returning,
+they would sweep down over the precipitous falls with the swiftness of
+arrows, stopping themselves lightly with their outspread wings before
+reaching the rocks below. From a human point of view it was a frightful
+plunge; from the ousel point of view it was an every-day affair.
+
+[Illustration: _Water-Ousel_
+
+"_Up, up, only a few inches from the dashing current_"]
+
+After watching the tussle between ousel and water for a long time, I
+decided to take a peep at their nursery. In order to do this I was
+compelled to wade into the stream a little below the falls, through mist
+and spray; yet such humid quarters were the natural habitat and
+playground of these interesting cinclids. And there the nest was, set in
+a cleft about a foot and a half above the water, its outer walls kept
+moist by the spray which constantly dashed against them from the falls.
+The water was also dripping from the rock that over-hung the nest and
+formed its roof. A damp, uncanny place for a bird's domicile, you would
+naturally suppose, but the little lovers of cascades knew what they were
+about. Only the exterior of the thick, moss-covered walls were moist.
+Within, the nest was dry and cosey. It was an oval structure, set in its
+rocky cleft like a small oven, with an opening at the front. And there
+in the doorway cuddled the two fledglings, looking out at the dripping
+walls and the watery tumult, but kept warm and comfortable. I could not
+resist touching them and caressing their little heads, considering it
+quite an ornithological triumph for one day to find a pair of
+water-ousels, discover a nest, and place my finger upon the crowns of
+the nestlings.
+
+Scores of tourists visited the famous falls every day, some of them
+lingering long in the beautiful place, and yet the little ousels had
+gone on with their nest-building and brood-rearing, undisturbed by human
+spectators. I wondered whether many of the visitors noticed the birds,
+and whether any one but myself had discovered their nest. Indeed, their
+little ones were safe enough from human meddling, for one could not see
+the nest without wading up the stream into the sphere of the flying
+mists.
+
+The natural home of _Cinclus mexicanus_ is the Rocky Mountains, to which
+he is restricted, not being known anywhere else on this continent. He is
+the only member of the dipper family in North America. There is one
+species in South America, and another in Europe. He loves the mountain
+stream, with its dashing rapids and cascades. Indeed, he will erect his
+oven-like cottage nowhere else, and it must be a fall and not a mere
+ripple or rapid. Then from this point as a centre--or, rather, the
+middle point of a wavering line--he forages up and down the babbling,
+meandering brook, feeding chiefly, if not wholly, on water insects.
+Strange to say, he never leaves the streams, never makes excursions to
+the country roundabout, never flies over a mountain ridge or divide to
+reach another valley, but simply pursues the winding streams with a
+fidelity that deserves praise for its very singleness of purpose. No
+"landlubber" he. It is said by one writer that the dipper has never been
+known to alight on a tree, preferring a rock or a piece of driftwood
+beside the babbling stream; yet he has the digits and claws of the
+passeres, among which he is placed systematically. He is indeed an
+anomaly, though a very engaging one. Should he wish to go to another
+canyon, he will simply follow the devious stream he is on to its junction
+with the stream of the other valley; then up the second defile. His
+flight is exceedingly swift. His song is a loud, clear, cheerful strain,
+the very quintessence of gladness as it mingles with the roar of the
+cataracts.
+
+Farther up Ute Pass I found another nest, which was placed right back
+of a cascade, so that the birds had to dash through a curtain of spray
+to reach their cot. They also were feeding their young, and I could see
+them standing on a rock beneath the shelf, tilting their bodies and
+scanning me narrowly before diving into the cleft where the nest was
+hidden. This nest, being placed back of the falls, could not be reached.
+
+In Bear Creek canyon I discovered another inaccessible nest, which was
+placed in a fissure at the very foot of the falls and only an inch or
+two above the agitated waters. There must have been a cavity running
+back into the rock, else the nest would have been kept in a soggy
+condition all the time.
+
+Perhaps the most interesting dipper's nest I found was one at the
+celebrated Seven Falls in the south Cheyenne Canyon. On the face of the
+cliff by the side of the lowest fall there was a cleft, in which the
+nest was placed, looking like a large bunch of moss and grass. My glass
+brought the structure so near that I could plainly see three little
+heads protruding from the doorway. There were a dozen or more people
+about the falls at the time, who made no attempt at being quiet, and yet
+the parent birds flew fearlessly up to the nest with tidbits in their
+bills, and were greeted with loud, impatient cries from three hungry
+mouths, which were opened wide to receive the food. The total plunge of
+the stream over the Seven Falls is hundreds of feet, and yet the adult
+birds would toss themselves over the abyss with reckless abandon, stop
+themselves without apparent effort in front of their cleft, and thrust
+the gathered morsels into the little yellow-lined mouths. It was an
+aerial feat that made our heads dizzy. This pair of birds did not fly up
+the face of the falls in ascending to the top, as did those at Rainbow
+Falls, but clambered up the wall of the cliff close to the side of the
+roaring cataract, aiding themselves with both claws and wings. When
+gathering food below the falls, they would usually, in going or
+returning, fly in a graceful curve over the heads of their human
+visitors.
+
+[Illustration: _Water-Ousel_
+
+"_Three hungry mouths, which were opened wide to receive the food_"]
+
+Although the dipper is not a web-footed bird, and is not classed by the
+naturalists among the aquatic fowl, but is, indeed, a genuine passerine,
+yet he can swim quite dexterously on the surface of the water. However,
+his greatest strength and skill are shown in swimming under water, where
+he propels himself with his wings, often to a considerable distance,
+either with or against the current. Sometimes he will allow the current
+to carry him a short distance down the stream, but he is always able to
+stop himself at a chosen point. "Ever and anon," says Mr. John Muir, in
+his attractive book on "The Mountains of California," "while searching
+for food in the rushing stream, he sidles out to where the too powerful
+current carries him off his feet; then he dexterously rises on the wing
+and goes gleaning again in shallower places." So it seems that our
+little acrobat is equal to every emergency that may arise in his
+adventurous life.
+
+In winter, when the rushing mountain streams are flowing with the sludge
+of the half-melted snow, so that he cannot see the bottom, where most of
+his delicacies lie, he betakes himself to the quieter stretches of the
+rivers, or to the mill ponds or mountain lakes, where he finds clearer
+and smoother water, although a little deeper than he usually selects.
+Such weather does not find him at the end of his resources; no, indeed!
+Having betaken himself to a lake, he does not at once plunge into its
+depths after the manner of a duck, but finding a perch on a snag or a
+fallen pine, he sits there a moment, and then, flying out thirty or
+forty yards, "he alights with a dainty glint on the surface, swims
+about, looks down, finally makes up his mind, and disappears with a
+sharp stroke of his wings." So says Mr. John Muir, who continues: "After
+feeding for two or three minutes he suddenly reappears, showers the
+water from his wings with one vigorous shake, and rises abruptly into
+the air as if pushed up from beneath, comes back to his perch, sings a
+few minutes, and goes out to dive again; thus coming and going, singing
+and diving, at the same place for hours."
+
+The depths to which the cinclid dives for the food on the bottom is
+often from fifteen to twenty feet. When he selects a river instead of a
+lake for his winter bathing, its waters, like those of the shallower
+streams, may also contain a large quantity of sludge, thus rendering
+them opaque even to the sharp little eyes of the dipper. Then what does
+he do? He has a very natural and cunning way of solving this problem; he
+simply seeks a deep portion of the river and dives through the turbid
+water to the clear water beneath, where he can plainly see the "goodies"
+on the bottom.
+
+It must not be thought that this little bird is mute amid all the watery
+tumult of his mountain home, for he is a rare vocalist, his song
+mingling with the ripple and gurgle and roar of the streams that he
+haunts. Nor does he sing only in the springtime, but all the year round,
+on stormy days as well as fair. During Indian summer, when the streams
+are small, and silence broods over many a mountain solitude, the song of
+the ousel falls to its lowest ebb; but when winter comes and the streams
+are converted into rolling torrents, he resumes his vocal efforts, which
+reach their height in early summer. Thus it would seem that the bird's
+mood is the gayest when his favorite stream is dashing at its noisiest
+and most rapid pace down the steep mountain defiles. The clamor of the
+stream often drowns the song of the bird, the movement of his mandibles
+being seen when not a sound from his music-box can be heard. There must
+be a feeling of fellowship between the bird and the stream he loves so
+well.
+
+[Illustration: "_No snowstorm can discourage him_"]
+
+You will not be surprised to learn that the dipper is an extremely hardy
+bird. No snowstorm, however violent, can discourage him, but in the
+midst of it all he sings his most cheerful lays, as if defying all the
+gods of the winds. While other birds, even the hardy nuthatches, often
+succumb to discouragement in cold weather, and move about with
+fluffed-up feathers, the very picture of dejection--not so the little
+dipper, who always preserves his cheerful temper, and is ready to say,
+in acts, if not in words: "Isn't this the jolliest weather you ever
+saw?" Away up in Alaska, where the glaciers hold perpetual sway, this
+bird has been seen in the month of November as glad and blithesome as
+were his comrades in the summery gorges of New Mexico.
+
+
+
+
+PLAINS AND FOOTHILLS
+
+[Illustration: PLATE V
+
+LOUISIANA TANAGER--_Pyranga ludoviciana_
+(Upper figure, male; lower, female)]
+
+
+The foregoing chapters contain a recital of observations made in the
+neighborhood of Colorado Springs and in trips on the plains and among
+the mountains in that latitude. Two years later--that is, in 1901--the
+rambler's good angel again smiled upon him and made possible another
+tour among the Colorado mountains. This time he made Denver, instead of
+Colorado Springs, the centre of operations; nor did he go alone, his
+companion being an active boy of fourteen who has a penchant for
+Butterflies, while that of the writer, as need scarcely be said, is for
+the Birds--in our estimation, the two cardinal B's of the English
+language. Imagine two inveterate ramblers, then, with two such
+enchanting hobbies, set loose on the Colorado plains and in the
+mountains, with the prospect of a month of uninterrupted indulgence in
+their manias!
+
+In the account of my first visit, most of the species met with were
+described in detail both as to their habits and personal appearance. In
+the present record no such minutiae will be necessary so far as the same
+species were observed, and therefore the chief objects of the following
+chapters will be, first, to note the diversities in the avian fauna of
+the two regions; second, to give special attention to such birds as
+either were not seen in my first visit or were for some cause partly
+overlooked; and, third, to trace the peculiar transitions in bird life
+in passing from the plains about Denver to the crest of Gray's Peak,
+including jaunts to several other localities.
+
+In my rambles in the neighborhood of Denver only a few species not
+previously described were observed, and yet there were some noteworthy
+points of difference in the avi-fauna of the two latitudes, which are
+only about seventy-five miles apart. It will perhaps be remembered that,
+in the vicinity of Colorado Springs and Manitou, the pretty lazuli
+buntings were quite rare and exceedingly shy, only two or three
+individuals having been seen. The reverse was the case in the suburbs of
+Denver and on the irrigated plains between that city and the mountains,
+and also in the neighborhood of Boulder, where in all suitable haunts
+the lazulis were constantly at my elbow, lavish enough of their pert
+little melodies to satisfy the most exacting, and almost as familiar and
+approachable as the indigo-birds of the East. It is possible that, for
+the most part, the blue-coated beauties prefer a more northern latitude
+than Colorado Springs for the breeding season.
+
+At the latter place I failed to find the burrowing owl, although there
+can be little doubt of his presence there, especially out on the
+plains. Not far from Denver one of these uncanny, sepulchral birds was
+seen, having been frightened from her tunnel as I came stalking near it.
+She flew over the brow of the hill in her smooth, silent way, and
+uttered no syllable of protest as I examined her domicile--or, rather,
+the outside of it. Scattered about the dark doorway were a number of
+bones, feathers, and the skin of a frog, telling the story of the _table
+d'hote_ set by this underground dweller before her nestlings. She might
+have put up the crossbones and skull as a sign at the entrance to her
+burrow, or even placed there the well-known Dantean legend, "All hope
+abandon, ye who enter here," neither of which would have been more
+suggestive than the telltale litter piled up before her door. When I
+chased her from her hiding-place, she flew down the hill and alighted on
+a fence-post in the neighborhood of her nest, uttering several screechy
+notes as I came near her again, as if she meant to say that I was
+carrying the joke a little too far in pursuing her about. Presently she
+circled away on oily wings, and I saw her no more.
+
+[Illustration: "_The dark doorway_"]
+
+So little enthusiasm does such a bird stir within me that I felt too
+lazy to follow her about on the arid plain. It may be interesting as a
+matter of scientific information to know that the burrowing owl breeds
+in a hole in the ground, and keeps company with the prairie dog and the
+rattlesnake, but a bird that lives in a gloomy, malodorous cave, whose
+manners are far from attractive, and whose voice sounds as strident as a
+buzz-saw--surely such a bird can cast no spell upon the observer who is
+interested in the aesthetic side of bird nature. A recent writer, in
+describing "A Buzzards' Banquet," asks a couple of pregnant questions:
+"Is there anything ugly out of doors? Can the ardent, sympathetic lover
+of nature ever find her unlovely?" To the present writer these questions
+present no Chinese puzzle. He simply brushes all speculation and
+theorizing aside by responding "Yes," to both interrogatories, on the
+principle that it is sometimes just as well to cut the Gordian knot as
+to waste precious time trying to untie it. The burrowing owl makes me
+think of a denizen of the other side of the river Styx, and why should
+one try to love that which nature has made unattractive, especially when
+one cannot help one's feeling?
+
+In the preceding chronicles no mention, I believe, has been made of one
+little bird that deserves more than a mere _obiter dictum_. My first
+meeting with the blithesome house-finch of the West occurred in the city
+of Denver, in 1899. It could not properly be called a formal
+presentment, but was none the less welcome on that account. I had
+scarcely stepped out upon the busy street before my ear was accosted by
+a kind of half twitter and half song that was new to me. "Surely that is
+not the racket of the English sparrow; it is too musical," I remarked to
+a friend walking by my side.
+
+Peering among the trees and houses, I presently focussed my field-glass
+upon a small, finch-like bird whose coat was striped with gray and
+brown, and whose face, crown, breast, and rump were beautifully tinged
+or washed with crimson, giving him quite a dressy appearance. What could
+this chipper little city chap be, with his trig form and well-bred
+manners, in such marked contrast with those of the swaggering English
+sparrow? Afterwards he was identified as the house-finch, which rejoices
+in the high-sounding Latin name of _Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis_. His
+distribution is restricted to the Rocky Mountain district chiefly south
+of the fortieth parallel of north latitude.
+
+He is certainly an attractive species, and I wish we could offer
+sufficient inducements to bring him east. A bird like him is a boon and
+an ornament to the streets and parks of any city that he graces with
+his presence and enlivens with his songs. No selfish recluse is he; no,
+indeed! In no dark gulch or wilderness, far from human neighborhood,
+does he sulkily take up his abode, but prefers the companionship of man
+to the solitudes of nature, declaring in all his conduct that he likes
+to be where there are "folks." In this respect he bears likeness to the
+English sparrow; but let it be remembered that there the analogy stops.
+Even his chirruping is musical as he flies overhead, or makes his
+_caveat_ from a tree or a telegraph wire against your ill-bred
+espionage. He and his plainly clad little spouse build a neat cottage
+for their bairns about the houses, but do not clog the spouting and make
+themselves a nuisance otherwise, as is the habit of their English
+cousins.
+
+This finch is a minstrel, not of the first class, still one that merits
+a high place among the minor songsters; and, withal, he is generous with
+his music. You might call him a kind of urban Arion, for there is real
+melody in his little score. As he is an early riser, his matin
+voluntaries often mingled with my half-waking dreams in the morning at
+dawn's peeping, and I loved to hear it too well to be angry for being
+aroused at an unseasonable hour. The song is quite a complicated
+performance at its best, considerably prolonged and varied, running up
+and down the chromatic scale with a swing and gallop, and delivered
+with great rapidity, as if the lyrist were in a hurry to have done, so
+that he could get at something else.
+
+In my rambles he was found not only in the cities of the plains (Denver,
+Colorado Springs, and Pueblo), but also in many of the mountain towns
+and villages visited, Leadville, over ten thousand feet skyward, being,
+I believe, one of the exceptions, while Silver Plume and Graymont were
+others. He does not fancy altitudes, I take it, much over eight thousand
+feet. In the villages of Red Cliff and Glenwood, both beyond the
+continental divide, he was the same sprightly citizen, making himself
+very much at home.
+
+Much as this finch cherishes the society of man, he is quite wary and
+suspicious, and does not fancy being watched. As long as you go on your
+way without seeming to notice him, he also goes his way, coming into
+plain sight and chirping and singing; but just stop to watch him with
+your binocular, and see how quickly he will take alarm, dart away, and
+ensconce himself behind a clump of foliage, uttering a protest which
+seems to say, "Why doesn't that old fellow go about his own business?"
+If in some way the American house-finch could be persuaded to come east,
+and the English sparrow could be given papers of extradition, the
+exchange would be a relief and a benefit to the whole country.
+
+Some idyllic days were spent in sauntering about Golden, which keeps
+guard at the entrance of Clear Creek Canyon, and has tucked itself in a
+beautiful valley among the foothills, which in turn stand sentinel over
+it. In the village itself and along the bush-fringed border of the creek
+below, as well as in the little park at its border, there were many
+birds, nearly all of which have been described in the previous chapters.
+However, several exceptions are worthy of note. A matted copse a mile
+and a half below the town afforded a hiding-place for three young or
+female redstarts, which were "playing butterfly," as usual, and chanting
+their vivacious little tunes. These and several near Boulder were the
+only redstarts seen in my Colorado wanderings, although Professor Cooke
+says they breed sparingly on the plains, and a little more commonly in
+the mountains to an altitude of eight thousand feet, while one observer
+saw a female in July at the timber-line, which is three thousand feet
+above the normal range of the species. Why did not this birdlet remain
+within the bounds set by the scientific guild? Suit for contempt of
+court should be brought against it. Redstarts must have been very scarce
+in the regions over which I rambled, else I certainly should have
+noticed birds that are so fearless and so lavish of song.
+
+One day my companion and I clambered up the steep side of a mesa some
+distance below Golden--that is, the base of the mesa was below the
+village, while its top towered far above it. A mesa was a structural
+portion of Colorado topography that neither of the two ramblers had yet
+explored, and we were anxious to know something about its resources from
+a natural history point of view. It was hard climbing on account of the
+steepness of the acclivity, its rocky character, and the thick network
+of bushes and brambles in many places; but "excelsior" was our motto in
+all our mountaineering, and we allowed no surmountable difficulties to
+daunt us. What birds select such steep places for a habitat? Here lived
+in happy domesticity the lyrical green-tailed towhee, the bird of the
+liquid voice, the poet laureate of the steep, bushy mountain sides, just
+as the water-ousel is the poet of the cascades far down in the canyons
+and gulches; here also thrived the spurred towhees, one of which had
+tucked a nest beneath a bush cradling three speckled eggs. This was the
+second nest of this species I had found, albeit not the last. Here also
+dwelt the rock wren, a little bird that was new to me and that I had not
+found in the latitude of Colorado Springs either east or west of the
+continental divide. A description of this anchorite of the rocks will be
+given in a later chapter. I simply pause here to remark that he has a
+sort of "monarch-of-all-I-survey" air as he sits on a tall sandstone
+rock and blows the music from his Huon's horn on the messenger breezes.
+His wild melodies, often sounding like a blast from a bugle, are in
+perfect concord with the wild and rugged acclivities which he haunts,
+from which he can command many a prospect that pleases, whether he
+glances down into the valleys or up to the silver-capped mountain peaks.
+One cannot help feeling--at least, after one has left his rock-strewn
+dwelling-place--that a kind of glamour hangs about it and him.
+
+The loud hurly-burly of the long-tailed chat reached us from a bushy
+hollow not far away. So far as I could determine, this fellow is as
+garrulous a churl and bully as his yellow-breasted cousin so well known
+in the East. (Afterwards I found the chats quite numerous at Boulder.)
+At length we scaled the cliffs, and presently stood on the edge of the
+mesa, which we found to be a somewhat rolling plateau, looking much like
+the plains themselves in general features, with here and there a hint of
+verdure, on which a herd of cattle were grazing. The pasture was the
+buffalo grass. Does the bird-lover ask what species dwell on a treeless
+mesa like this? It was the home of western grassfinches, western
+meadow-larks, turtle doves, desert horned larks, and a little bird that
+was new to me, evidently Brewer's sparrow. Its favorite resort was in
+the low bushes growing on the border of the mesa and along the edge of
+the cliff. Its song was unique, the opening syllable running low on the
+alto clef, while the closing notes constituted a very respectable
+soprano. A few extremely shy sparrows flitted about in the thickets of a
+hollow as we began our descent, and I have no doubt they were Lincoln's
+sparrows.
+
+The valley and the irrigated plain were the birds' elysium. Here we
+first saw and heard that captivating bird, the lark bunting, as will be
+fully set forth in the closing chapter. This was one of the birds that
+had escaped me in my first visit to Colorado, save as I had caught
+tantalizing glimpses of him from the car-window on the plain beyond
+Denver, and when I went south to Colorado Springs, I utterly failed to
+find him. It has been a sort of riddle to me that not one could be
+discovered in that vicinity, while two years later these birds were
+abundant on the plains both east and west of Denver. If Colorado Springs
+is a little too far south for them in the summer, Denver is obviously
+just to their liking. No less abundant were the western meadow-larks,
+which flew and sang with a kind of lyrical intoxication over the green
+alfalfa fields.
+
+One morning we decided to walk some distance up Clear Creek Canyon. At
+the opening of the canyon, Brewer's blackbirds were scuttling about in
+the bushes that broidered the steep banks of the tumultuous stream, and
+a short distance up in the gorge a lazuli bunting sat on a telegraph
+wire and piped his merry lay. Soon the canyon narrowed, grew dark and
+forbidding, and the steep walls rose high on both sides, compelling the
+railway to creep like a half-imprisoned serpent along the foot of the
+cliffs; then the birds disappeared, not caring to dwell in such dark,
+more than half-immured places. Occasionally a magpie could be seen
+sailing overhead at an immense height, crossing over from one hillside
+to the other, turning his head as he made the transit, to get a view of
+the two peripatetics in the gulch below, anxious to discover whether
+they were bent on brigandage of any kind.
+
+At length we reached a point where the mountain side did not look so
+steep as elsewhere, and we decided to scale it. From the railway it
+looked like a short climb, even if a little difficult, and we began it
+with only a slight idea of the magnitude of our undertaking. The fact
+is, mountain climbing is a good deal more than pastime; it amounts to
+work, downright hard work. In the present instance, no sooner had we
+gained one height than another loomed steep and challenging above us, so
+that we climbed the mountain by a series of immense steps or terraces.
+At places the acclivity was so steep that we were compelled to scramble
+over the rocks on all fours, and were glad to stop frequently and draw
+breath and rest our tired limbs. My boy comrade, having fewer things
+than I to lure him by the way, and being, perhaps, a little more agile
+as well, went far on ahead of me, often standing on a dizzy pinnacle of
+rock, and waving his butterfly-net or his cap in the air, and shouting
+at the top of his voice to encourage his lagging parent and announce his
+triumph as a mountaineer.
+
+However, the birdman can never forget his hobby. There were a few birds
+on that precipitous mountain side, and that lent it its chief
+attraction. At one place a spurred towhee flitted about in a bushy clump
+and called much like a catbird--an almost certain proof of a nest on the
+steep, rocky wall far up from the roaring torrent in the gorge below. On
+a stony ridge still farther up, a rock wren was ringing his peculiar
+score, which sounds so much like a challenge, while still farther up, in
+a cluster of stunted pines, a long-crested jay lilted about and called
+petulantly, until I came near, when he swung across the canyon, and I saw
+him no more.
+
+After a couple of hours of hard climbing, we reached the summit, from
+which we were afforded a magnificent view of the foothills, the mesas,
+and the stretching plains below us, while above us to the west hills
+rose on hills until they culminated in mighty snow-capped peaks and
+ridges. It must not be supposed, because the snow-mantled summits in the
+west loomed far above our present station, that this mountain which we
+had ascended was a comparatively insignificant affair. The fact is, it
+was of huge bulk and great height measured from its base in the canyon;
+almost as much of a mountain, in itself considered, as Gray's Peak. It
+must be borne in mind that the snowy peaks were from thirty to forty
+miles away, and that there is a gradual ascent the entire distance to
+the upper valleys and gorges which creep about the bases of the loftiest
+peaks and ridges. A mountain rising from the foothills may be almost as
+bulky and high and precipitous as one of the alpine peaks covered with
+eternal snow. Its actual altitude above sea-level may be less by many
+thousand feet, while its height from the surrounding canyons and valleys
+may be almost, if not quite, as great. The alpine peaks have the
+advantage of majesty of situation, because the general level of the
+country from which they rise is very high. There we stood at a sort of
+outdoor halfway house between the plains and the towering ridges, and I
+can only say that the view was superb.
+
+There were certain kinds of birds which had brought their household gods
+to the mountain's crest. Lewis's woodpeckers ambled about over the
+summit and rocky ridges, catching insects on the wing, as is their wont.
+Some distance below the summit a pair of them had a nest in a dead pine
+snag, from the orifice of which one was seen to issue. A mother hawk was
+feeding a couple of youngsters on the snarly branch of a dead pine.
+Almost on the summit a western nighthawk sprang up from my feet. On the
+bare ground, without the faintest sign of a nest, lay her two speckled
+eggs, which she had been brooding. She swept around above the summit in
+immense zigzag spirals while I examined her roofless dwelling-place. It
+was interesting to one bird-lover, at least, to know that the nighthawk
+breeds in such places. Like their eastern congeners, the western
+nighthawks are fond of "booming." At intervals a magpie would swing
+across the canyon, looking from side to side, the impersonation of
+cautious shyness. A few rods below the crest a couple of rock wrens were
+flitting about some large rocks, creeping in and out among the crevices
+like gray mice, and at length one of them slyly fed a well-fledged
+youngster. This proves that these birds, like many of their congeners,
+are partial to a commanding lookout for a nesting site. These were the
+only occupants of the mountain's brow at the time of our visit, although
+in one of the hollows below us the spurred and green-tailed towhees were
+rendering a selection from Haydn's "Creation," probably "The heavens are
+telling."
+
+No water was to be found from the bottom of the canyon to the summit of
+the mountain; all was as dry as the plain itself. The feathered tenants
+of the dizzy height were doubtless compelled to fly down into the gorge
+for drinking and bathing purposes, and then wing up again to the
+summit--certainly no light task for such birds as the wrens and
+towhees.
+
+Before daybreak one morning I made my way to a small park on the
+outskirts of the village to listen to the birds' matutinal concert. The
+earliest singers were the western robins, which began their carols at
+the first hint of the coming dawn; the next to break the silence were
+the western wood-pewees; then the summer warblers chimed in, followed by
+the western grassfinches, Bullock's orioles, meadow-larks, and lark
+sparrows, in the order named. Before daylight had fully come a family of
+mountain bluebirds were taking their breakfast at the border of the
+park, while their human relatives were still snoring in bed. The
+bluebirds are governed by old-fashioned rules even in this very "modern"
+age, among their maxims being,--
+
+    "Early to bed and early to rise,
+    Makes bluebirds healthy and wealthy and wise."
+
+Just now I came across a pretty conceit of John B. Tabb, which more
+aptly sets off the mountain blue than it does his eastern relative, and
+which I cannot forbear quoting:
+
+    "When God made a host of them,
+    One little flower lacked a stem
+      To hold its blossom blue;
+    So into it He breathed a song,
+    And suddenly, with petals strong
+      As wings, away it flew."
+
+And there is Eben E. Rexford, who almost loses himself in a tangle of
+metaphors in his efforts to express his admiration of this bird with
+the cerulean plumes. Hark to his rhapsody:
+
+    "Winged lute that we call a bluebird, you blend in a silver strain
+    The sound of the laughing waters, the patter of spring's sweet rain,
+    The voice of the winds, the sunshine, and fragrance of blossoming
+        things;
+    Ah! you are an April poem that God has dowered with wings."
+
+On our return to the plains from a two weeks' trip to Georgetown and
+Gray's Peak, we spent several days at Arvada, a village about halfway
+between Denver and Golden. The place was rife with birds, all of which
+are described in other chapters of this volume.[10] Mention need be made
+here only of the song-sparrows, which were seen in a bushy place through
+which a purling stream wound its way. Of course, they were _Melospiza
+fasciata montana_, but their clear, bell-like trills were precise copies
+of those of the merry lowland minstrels of the East. Special attention
+is called to the fact that, in my first visit to Colorado, the only
+place in which mountain song-sparrows were met with was Buena Vista,
+quite a distance up among the mountains, while in the visit now being
+described they were not found anywhere in the mountains, save in the
+vale below Cassels. They were breeding at Arvada, for a female was seen
+carrying a worm in her bill, and I am sure a nest might easily have been
+found had I not been so busily occupied in the study of other and rarer
+species. However, the recollection of the merry lyrists with the
+speckled breasts and silvery voices, brings to mind Mr. Ernest Thompson
+Seton's "Myth of the Song-Sparrow," from which it will be seen that this
+attractive bird has had something of an adventurous career:
+
+    "His mother was the Brook, his sisters were the Reeds,
+    And they every one applauded when he sang about his deeds.
+    His vest was white, his mantle brown, as clear as they could be,
+    And his songs were fairly bubbling o'er with melody and glee.
+    But an envious Neighbor splashed with mud our Brownie's coat and vest,
+    And then a final handful threw that stuck upon his breast.
+    The Brook-bird's mother did her best to wash the stains away,
+    But there they stuck, and, as it seems, are very like to stay.
+    And so he wears the splashes and the mud blotch, as you see;
+    But his songs are bubbling over still with melody and glee."
+
+[Illustration: "_His songs are bubbling over still with melody and
+glee._"
+
+_Song Sparrow_]
+
+    [10] I find I have overlooked the western Maryland yellow-throat,
+    which was seen here; also near Colorado Springs, and in several
+    other bushy spots, only on the plains. It seldom ascends into the
+    mountains, never far. Its song and habits are similar to those of
+    its eastern congener.
+
+
+
+
+RAMBLES ABOUT GEORGETOWN
+
+
+At nine o'clock on the morning of June 22, the two ramblers boarded a
+Colorado and Southern train, and bowled up Clear Creek Canyon to
+Georgetown. Having been studying winged creatures on the plains and
+among the foothills, mesas, and lower mountains, we now proposed to go
+up among the mountains that were mountains in good earnest, and see what
+we could find.
+
+The village of Georgetown nestles in a deep pocket of the mountains. The
+valley is quite narrow, and on three sides, save where the two branches
+of Clear Creek have hewn out their canyons, the ridges rise at a sharp
+angle to a towering height, while here and there a white-cap peeps out
+through the depressions. Those parts of the narrow vale that are
+irrigated by the creek and its numerous tiny tributaries are beautiful
+in their garb of green, while the areas that are not thus refreshed are
+as gray as the arid portions of the plains themselves. And that is the
+case everywhere among the Rockies--where no water flows over the
+surface the porous, sandy soil is dry and parched. The altitude of
+Georgetown is eight thousand four hundred and seventy-six feet. We were
+therefore three thousand feet higher than we had been in the morning,
+and had a right to expect a somewhat different avi-fauna, an expectation
+in which we were not disappointed.
+
+Our initial ramble took us down the valley. The first bird noted was a
+familiar one--the warbling vireo, which is very abundant in Colorado in
+its favorite localities, where all day you may be lulled by its "silvery
+converse, just begun and never ended." No description of a bird so well
+known in both the East and the West is required, but the one seen that
+day gave a new performance, which seems to be worthy of more than a
+passing notice. Have other bird students observed it? The bird was first
+seen flitting about in the trees bordering the street; then it flew to
+its little pendent nest in the twigs. I turned my glass upon it, and,
+behold, there it sat in its tiny hammock singing its mercurial tune at
+the top of its voice. It continued its solo during the few minutes I
+stopped to watch it, glancing over the rim of its nest at its auditor
+with a pert gleam in its twinkling eyes. That was the first and only
+time I have ever seen a bird indulging its lyrical whim while it sat on
+its nest. Whether the bird was a male or a female I could not determine,
+but, whatever its sex, its little bosom was bubbling over with
+music.[11]
+
+    [11] After the foregoing was written, I chanced upon the following
+    note in "Bird Lore" for September and October, 1901, written by a
+    lady at Moline, Illinois, who had made an early morning visit to the
+    haunt of a warbling vireo: "Seated on the ground, in a convenient
+    place for watching the vireo, which was on the nest, we were soon
+    attracted by a vireo's song. Search for the singer failed to find
+    it, until we noted that the bird on the nest seemed to be singing.
+    Then, as we watched, over and over again the bird was seen to lift
+    up its head and pour out the long, rich warble--a most delicious
+    sight and sound. Are such ways usual among birds, or did we chance
+    to see and hear an unusual thing?"
+
+It was soon evident that the western robins were abundant about
+Georgetown, as they were on the plains and among the foothills. They
+were principally engaged just now in feeding their young, which had
+already left their nests. Presently I shall have more to say about these
+birds. Just now I was aware of some little strangers darting about in
+the air, uttering a fine, querulous note, and at length descending to
+the ground to feast daintily on the seeds of a low plant. Here I could
+see them plainly with my glass, for they gave me gracious permission to
+go quite near them. Their backs were striped, the predominant color
+being brown or dark gray, while the whitish under parts were streaked
+with dusk, and there were yellow decorations on the wings and tails,
+whether the birds were at rest or in flight. When the wings were spread
+and in motion, the golden ornamentation gave them a filmy appearance.
+On the wing, the birds, as I afterwards observed, often chirped a little
+lay that bore a close resemblance in certain parts to the
+"pe-chick-o-pe" of the American goldfinch. Indeed, a number of their
+notes suggested that bird, as did also their manner of flight, which was
+quite undulatory. The birds were the pine siskins. They are very common
+in the Rockies, ranging from an elevation of eight thousand feet to the
+timber-line. This pert and dainty little bird is the same wherever found
+in North America, having no need of the cognomen "western" prefixed to
+his name when he takes it into his wise little head to make his abode in
+the Rocky Mountains.
+
+_CLEAR CREEK VALLEY_
+
+_A scene near Georgetown. The copses in the valley are the home of
+white-crowned sparrows, willow thrushes, Lincoln's sparrows and Wilson's
+warblers; the steep, bushy acclivities are selected by the spurred and
+green-tailed towhees, Audubon's and Macgillivray's warblers; while the
+western robins, pine siskins, and broad-tailed humming-birds range all
+over the region. The robins and siskins make some of their most
+thrilling plunges over such cliffs as are shown in the picture._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The reader will perhaps recall that a flock of pine siskins were seen,
+two years prior, in a patch of pine scrub a short distance below
+Leadville, at which time I was uncertain as to their identity. Oddly
+enough, that was the only time I saw these birds in my first trip to
+Colorado, but here in the Georgetown region, only seventy-five or a
+hundred miles farther north, no species were more plentiful than they.
+
+The siskins try to sing--I say "try" advisedly. It is one of the oddest
+bits of bird vocalization you ever heard, a wheezy little tune in the
+ascending scale--a kind of crescendo--which sounds as if it were
+produced by inhalation rather than exhalation. It is as labored as the
+alto strain of the clay-colored sparrow of the Kansas and Nebraska
+prairies, although it runs somewhat higher on the staff. The siskins
+seen at Georgetown moved about in good-sized flocks, feeding awhile on
+weed-seeds on the sunny slopes, and then wheeling with a merry chirp up
+to the pine-clad sides of the mountains. As they were still in the
+gregarious frame at Georgetown, I concluded that they had not yet begun
+to mate and build their nests in that locality. Afterwards I paid not a
+little attention to them farther up in the mountains, and saw several
+feeding their young, but, as their nests are built high in the pines,
+they are very difficult to find, or, if found, to examine. Our birdlets
+have superb powers of flight, and actually seem to revel in hurling
+themselves down a precipice or across a chasm with a recklessness that
+makes the observer's blood run cold. Sometimes they will dart out in the
+air from a steep mountain side, sing a ditty much like the goldfinch's,
+then circle back to their native pines on the dizzy cliff.
+
+I must be getting back to my first ramble below Georgetown. Lured by the
+lyrics of the green-tailed towhee, I climbed the western acclivity a few
+hundred feet, but found that few birds choose such dry and eerie places
+for a habitat. Indeed, this was generally my experience in rambling
+among the mountains; the farther up the arid steeps, the fewer the
+birds. If you will follow a mountain brook up a sunny slope or open
+valley, you will be likely to find many birds; but wander away from the
+water courses, and you will look for them, oftentimes, in vain. The
+green-tailed towhees, spurred towhees, Audubon's warblers, and mountain
+hermit thrushes are all partial to acclivities, even very steep ones,
+but they do not select those that are too remote from the babbling brook
+to which they may conveniently resort for drinking and bathing.
+
+A green and bushy spot a half mile below the village was the home of a
+number of white-crowned sparrows. None of them were seen on the plains
+or in the foothills; they had already migrated from the lower altitudes,
+and had sought their summer residences in the upper mountain valleys,
+where they may be found in great abundance from an elevation of eight
+thousand feet to copsy haunts here and there far above the timber-line
+hard by the fields of snow.
+
+The white-crowns in the Georgetown valley seemed to be excessively shy,
+and their singing was a little too reserved to be thoroughly enjoyable,
+for which reason I am disposed to think that mating and nesting had not
+yet begun, or I should have found evidences of it, as their grassy cots
+on the ground and in the bushes are readily discovered. Other birds that
+were seen in this afternoon's ramble were Wilson's and Audubon's
+warblers, the spotted sandpiper, and that past-master in the art of
+whining, the killdeer. Another warbler's trill was heard in the thicket,
+but I was unable to identify the singer that evening, for he kept
+himself conscientiously hidden in the tanglewood. A few days later it
+turned out to be one of the most beautiful feathered midgets of the
+Rockies, Macgillivray's warbler, which was seen in a number of places,
+usually on bushy slopes. He and his mate often set up a great to-do by
+chirping and flitting about, and I spent hours in trying to find their
+nests, but with no other result than to wear out my patience and rubber
+boots. I can recall no other Colorado bird, either large or small,
+except the mountain jay, that made so much ado about nothing, so far as
+I could discover. But I love them still, on account of the beauty of
+their plumage and the gentle rhythm of their trills.
+
+The next morning, chilly as the weather was--and it was cold enough to
+make one shiver even in bed--the western robins opened the day's concert
+with a splendid voluntary, waking me out of my slumbers and forcing me
+out of doors for an early walk. No one but a systematic ornithologist
+would be able to mark the difference between the eastern and western
+types of robins, for their manners, habits, and minstrelsy are alike,
+and their markings, too, so far as ordinary observation goes. The
+carolling of the two varieties is similar, so far as I could
+discern--the same cherry ringing melody, their voices having a like
+propensity to break into falsetto, becoming a veritable squeak,
+especially early in the season before their throat-harps are well tuned.
+With his powerful muscles and wide stretch of wing the robin is
+admirably adapted to the life of a mountaineer. You find him from the
+plains to the timber-line, sometimes even in the deepest canyons and on
+the most precipitous mountain sides, always the same busy, noisy, cheery
+body. One day I saw a robin dart like a meteor from the top of a high
+ridge over the cliffs to the valley below, where he alighted on a
+cultivated field almost as lightly as a flake of snow. He--probably she
+(what a trouble these pronouns are, anyway!)--gathered a mouthful of
+worms for his nestlings, then dashed up to the top of the ridge again,
+which he did, not by flying out into the air, but by keeping close up to
+the steep, cliffy wall, striking a rock here and twig there with his
+agile feet to help him in rising. The swiftness of the robin's movements
+about the gorges, abysses, and precipices of the mountains often
+inspires awe in the beholder's breast, and, on reflection, stirs him
+with envy. Many nests were found in the Georgetown valley, in woodsy and
+bushy places on the route to Gray's Peak as far as the timber-line, in
+the neighborhood of Boulder, in the Platte River Canyon, in South Park,
+and in the Blue River region beyond the Divide. Some of the nests
+contained eggs, others young in various stages of plumage, and still
+others were already deserted. For general ubiquity as a species, commend
+me to the American robin, whether of the eastern or western type.
+Wherever found he is a singer, and it is only to be regretted that--
+
+    "All will not hear thy sweet, out-pouring joy
+    That with morn's stillness blends the voice of song,
+    For over-anxious cares their souls employ,
+    That else, upon thy music borne along
+    And the light wings of heart-ascending prayer,
+    Had learned that Heaven is pleased thy simple joys to share."
+
+[Illustration: _Western Robin_
+
+"_Out-pouring joy_"]
+
+In Georgetown, Silver Plume, and other mountain towns the lovely
+violet-green swallow is frequently seen--a distinctly western species
+and one of the most richly apparelled birds of the Rockies. It nests in
+all sorts of niches and crannies about the houses, often sits calmly on
+a telegraph wire and preens its iridescent plumes, and sometimes utters
+a weak and squeaky little trill, which, no doubt, passes for first-rate
+music in swallowdom, whatever we human critics might think of it. Before
+man came and settled in those valleys, the violet-greens found the
+crevices of rocks well enough adapted to their needs for nesting sites,
+but now they prefer cosey niches and crannies in human dwellings, and
+appear to appreciate the society of human beings.
+
+For over a week we made Georgetown our headquarters, going off every day
+to the regions round about. Among my most treasured finds here was the
+nest of Audubon's warbler--my first. It was saddled in the crotch of a
+small pine a short distance up an acclivity, and was prettily roofed
+over with a thick network of branches and twigs. Four white, daintily
+speckled eggs lay in the bottom of the cup. While I was sitting in the
+shadow of the pine, some motion of mine caused the little owner to
+spring from her nest, and this led to its discovery. As she flitted
+about in the bushes, she uttered a sharp _chip_, sometimes consisting of
+a double note. The nest was about four feet from the ground, its walls
+built of grasses and weed-stems, and its concave little floor carpeted
+with cotton and feathers. A cosey cottage it was, fit for the little
+poets that erected it. Subsequently I made many long and tiresome
+efforts to find nests of the Audubons, but all these efforts were
+futile.
+
+One enchanting day--the twenty-fourth of June--was spent in making a
+trip, with butterfly-net and field-glass, to Green Lake, an emerald gem
+set in the mountains at an altitude of ten thousand feet, a few miles
+from Georgetown. Before leaving the town, our first gray-headed junco
+for this expedition was seen. He had come to town for his breakfast, and
+was flitting about on the lawns and in the trees bordering the street,
+helping himself to such dainties as pleased his palate. It may be said
+here that the gray-headed juncos were observed at various places all
+along the way from Georgetown to Green Lake and far above that body of
+water. Not so with the broad-tailed hummers, which were not seen above
+about eight thousand five hundred feet, while the last warbling vireo of
+the day was seen and heard at an altitude of nine thousand feet,
+possibly a little more, when he decided that the air was as rare as was
+good for his health.
+
+A short distance up the canyon of the west branch of Clear Creek, a new
+kind of flycatcher was first heard, and presently seen with my glass. He
+sat on a cliff or flitted from rock to bush. He uttered a sharp call,
+"Cheep, cheep, cheep"; his under parts were bright yellow, his upper
+parts yellow-olive, growing darker on the crown, and afterwards a nearer
+view revealed dark or dusky wings, yellowish or gray wing-bars, and
+yellow eye-rings. He was the western flycatcher, and bears close
+likeness to our eastern yellow-breasted species. Subsequently he was
+quite frequently met with, but never far above the altitude of
+Georgetown.
+
+In the same canyon a beautiful Macgillivray's warbler was observed, and
+two water-ousels went dashing up the meandering stream, keeping close
+to the seething and roaring waters, but never stopping to sing or bid us
+the time of day. Very few ousels were observed in our rambles in this
+region, and no nests rewarded my search, whereas in the vicinity of
+Colorado Springs, as the reader will recall, these interesting birds
+were quite frequently near at hand. A mother robin holding a worm in her
+bill sped down the gulch with the swiftness of an arrow. We soon reached
+a belt of quaking asps where there were few birds. This was succeeded by
+a zone of pines. The green-tailed towhees did not accompany us farther
+in our climb than to an elevation of about nine thousand three hundred
+feet, but the siskins were chirping and cavorting about and above us all
+the way, many of them evidently having nests in the tops of the tall
+pines on the dizzy cliffs. Likewise the hermit thrushes were seen in
+suitable localities by the way, and also at the highest point we reached
+that day, an elevation of perhaps ten thousand five hundred feet.
+
+While some species were, so to speak, our "companions in travel" the
+entire distance from the town to the lake, and others went with us only
+a part of the way, still other species found habitats only in the higher
+regions clambering far up toward the timber-line. Among these were the
+mountain jays, none of which were found as far down the range as
+Georgetown. They began to proclaim their presence by raucous calls as
+soon as we arrived in the vicinity of Green Lake. A family of them were
+hurtling about in the pine woods, allowing themselves to be inspected at
+short range, and filling the hollows with their uncanny calls. What a
+voice the mountain jay has! Nature did a queer thing when she put a
+"horse-fiddle" into the larynx of this bird--but it is not ours to ask
+the reason why, simply to study her as she is. In marked contrast with
+the harsh calls of these mountain hobos were the roulades of the sweet
+and musical ruby-crowned kinglets, which had absented themselves from
+the lower altitudes, but were abundant in the timber belts about ten
+thousand feet up the range and still higher.
+
+[Illustration: _Red-naped Sapsuckers_
+
+"_Chiselling grubs out of the bark_"]
+
+On the border of the lake, among some gnarly pines, I stumbled upon a
+woodpecker that was entirely new to my eastern eyes--one that I had not
+seen in my previous touring among the heights of the Rockies. He was
+sedulously pursuing his vocation--a divine call, no doubt--of chiselling
+grubs out of the bark of the pine trees, making the chips fly, and
+producing at intervals that musical snare-drumming which always sets
+the poet to dreaming of sylvan solitudes. What was the bird? The
+red-naped sapsucker, a beautifully habited Chesterfield in plumes. He
+presently ambled up the steep mountain side, and buried himself in the
+pine forest, and I saw him no more, and none of his kith.
+
+When I climbed up over a tangle of rocks to a woodsy ravine far above
+the lake, it seemed at first as if there were no birds in the place,
+that it was given up entirely to solitude; but the winged creatures were
+only shy and cautious for the nonce, waiting to learn something about
+the errand and disposition of their uninvited, or, rather, self-invited,
+guest, before they ventured to give him a greeting. Presently they
+discovered that he was not a collector, hunter, nest-robber, or ogre of
+any other kind, and there was the swish of wings around me, and a medley
+of chirps and songs filled the sequestered spot. Away up here the
+gray-headed juncos were trilling like warblers, and hopping about on
+their pine-needle carpet, creeping in and out among the rocks, hunting
+for tidbits. Here also was the mountain chickadee, found at this season
+in the heights hard by the alpine zone, singing his dulcet minor strain,
+"Te-te-re-e-e, te-eet," sometimes adding another "te-eet" by way of
+special emphasis and adornment. Oh, the sweet little piper piping only
+for Pan! The loneliness of the place was accentuated by the sad cadenzas
+of the mountain hermit thrushes. Swallows of some kind--cliff-swallows,
+no doubt--were silently weaving invisible filigree across the sky above
+the tops of the stately pines.
+
+In the afternoon we made our way, with not a little laborious effort, to
+the farther end of the lake, across which a red-shafted flicker would
+occasionally wing its galloping flight; thence through a wilderness of
+large rocks and fallen pines to a beckoning ridge, where, to our
+surprise, another beautiful aqueous sheet greeted our vision in the
+valley beyond. Descending to its shores, we had still another
+surprise--its waters were brown instead of green. Here were two mountain
+lakes not more than a quarter of a mile apart, one of which was green
+and the other brown, each with a beauty all its own. In the brown lake
+near the shore there were glints of gold as the sun shone through its
+ripples on the rocks at the bottom. Afterwards we learned that the name
+of this liquid gem was Clear Lake, and that the western branch of Clear
+Creek flows through it, tarrying a while to sport and dally with the
+sunbeams. While Green Lake was embowered in a forest of pine, its
+companion lay in the open sunlight, unflecked by the shadow of a tree.
+
+At the upper end of Clear Lake we found a green, bosky and bushy corner,
+which formed the summer tryst of white-crowned sparrows, Wilson's
+warblers, and broad-tailed humming-birds, none of which could find a
+suitable habitat on the rocky, forest-locked shores of Green Lake. A
+pigeon hawk, I regretted to note, had settled among the bushes, and was
+watching for quarry, making the only fly in the amber of the enchanted
+spot. A least flycatcher flitted about in the copse some distance up a
+shallow runway. I trudged up the valley about a mile above Clear Lake,
+and found a green, open meadow, with clumps of bushes here and there, in
+which a few white-crowned sparrows and Wilson's warblers had taken up at
+least a temporary dwelling; but the wind was blowing shiveringly from
+the snow-capped mountains not many miles away, and there was still a
+wintry aspect about the vale. The cold evidently affected the birds as
+it did myself, for they lisped only a few bars of song in a half-hearted
+way. Evening was approaching, and the two travellers--the human ones, I
+mean--started on the trail down the valleys and canyons toward
+Georgetown, which they reached at dusk, tired, but thankful for the
+privilege of spending an idyllic day among their winged companions.
+
+[Illustration: _Pigeon Hawk_
+
+"_Watching for quarry_"]
+
+Following a wagon road, the next day, across a pass some distance below
+Georgetown brought us into another valley, whose green meadows and
+cultivated fields lay a little lower, perhaps a couple hundred feet,
+than the valley from which we had come. Here we found many Brewer's
+blackbirds, of which there were very few in the vicinity of Georgetown.
+They were feeding their young, some of which had already left the nest.
+No red-winged blackbirds had been seen in the Georgetown valley, while
+here there was a large colony of them, many carrying food to the
+bantlings in grass and bush. Otherwise there was little difference
+between the avi-fauna of the two valleys.
+
+One morning I climbed the steep mountain just above Georgetown, the one
+that forms the divide between the two branches of Clear Creek. A western
+chipping sparrow sat trilling on the top of a small pine, as unafraid as
+the chippie that rings his silvery peals about your dooryard in the
+East; nor could I distinguish any difference between the minstrelsy of
+this westerner and his well-known cousin of Ohio. He dexterously caught
+an insect on the wing, having learned that trick, perhaps, from his
+neighbor, the little western flycatcher, which also lived on the slope.
+Hermit thrushes, Audubon's warblers, and warbling vireos dwelt on the
+lower part of the acclivity. When I climbed far up the steep wall,
+scarcely able to cling to its gravelly surface, I found very few birds;
+only a flycatcher and an Audubon's warbler, while below me the hermit
+thrushes were chanting a sacred oratorio in the pine woods.
+
+On another day the train bore us around the famous "Loop" to Silver
+Plume. In the beautiful pine grove at the terminus of the railway there
+were many birds--siskins, chipping sparrows, western robins and
+ruby-crowned kinglets; and they were making the place vocal with melody,
+until I began to inspect them with my glass, when they suddenly lapsed
+into a silence that was as trying as it was profound. By and by,
+discretion having had her perfect work, they metaphorically came out of
+their shells and permitted an inspection. Above the railway I saw one of
+the few birds of my entire Rocky Mountain outing that I was unable to
+identify. That little feathered Sphinx--what could he have been? To
+quote from my note-book, "His song, as he sits quietly on a twig in a
+pine tree, is a rich gurgling trill, slightly like that of a house-wren,
+but fuller and more melodious, with an air about it that makes me feel
+almost like writing a poem. The bird is in plain view before me, and I
+may watch him either with or without my glass; he has a short, conical
+bill; his upper parts are gray or olive-gray; cervical patch of a
+greenish tinge; under parts whitish, spotted with dusk or brown. The
+bill is white or horn-color, and is quite heavy, I should say heavier
+than that of any sparrow I know. The bird continued to sing for a long
+time and at frequent intervals, not even stopping when the engine near
+at hand blew off steam, although he turned his head and looked a little
+startled." I saw this species nowhere else in my Colorado rambles, and
+can find no description in the systematic manuals that helps to clear up
+the mystery, and so an _avis incognita_ he must remain for the present.
+
+Has mention been made of a few house-finches that were seen in
+Georgetown? Only a few, however, for they prefer the towns and cities of
+the plain. Several house-wrens were also seen in the vicinity of the
+Georgetown Loop as well as elsewhere in the valley. The "Loop," although
+a monumental work of human genius and daring, has its peculiar
+attractions for the student of natural history, for in the canyon itself,
+which is somewhat open and not without bushy haunts, and on the
+precipitous mountain sides, a few birds set up their Lares and Penates,
+and mingle their songs of domestic felicity with the roar of the torrent
+and the passing trains. Darting like zigzag lightning about the cliffs,
+the broad-tailed humming-bird cuts the air with his sharp, defiant buzz,
+until you exclaim with the poet:
+
+    "Is it a monster bee,
+      Or is it a midget bird,
+    Or yet an air-born mystery
+      That now yon marigold has stirred?"
+
+[Illustration: "_Solo singing in the thrush realm_"]
+
+Among the birds that dwell on the steep mountain sides above the "Loop"
+hollow are the melodious green-tailed towhees, lisping their chansons of
+good-will to breeze and torrent, while in the copse of asps in the
+hollow itself the warbling vireo and the western flycatcher hold sway,
+the former rehearsing his recitative all the day long, and the latter
+chirping his protest at every human intrusion. On a pine-clad shelf
+between the second fold of the "Loop" and what is known as the "Great
+Fill" I settled (at least, to my own satisfaction) a long-disputed
+point in regard to the vocalization of the mountain hermit thrush.
+Again and again I had noticed a peculiarity about the hermit's
+minstrelsy--whenever the music reached my ear, it came in two runs, the
+first quite high in the scale, the second perhaps an octave lower. For a
+long time I supposed that two thrushes were singing responsively, but
+here at the "Loop," after listening for a couple of hours, it occurred
+to me as improbable that there would invariably be a respondent when a
+thrush lifted up his voice in song. Surely there would sometimes, at
+least, be solo singing in the thrush realm. And so the conclusion was
+forced upon me that both strains emanated from the same throat, that
+each vocalist was its own respondent. It was worth while to clamber
+laboriously about the "Loop" to settle a point like that--at all events,
+it was worth while for one admirer of the birds.
+
+
+
+
+HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK!
+
+[Illustration: PLATE VI
+
+TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE--_Myiadestes townsendii_]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+By the uninitiated it may be regarded simply as fun and pastime to climb
+a mountain whose summit soars into cloudland; in reality it is serious
+business, not necessarily accompanied with great danger, but always
+accomplished by laborious effort. However, it is better for the
+clamberer to look upon his undertaking as play rather than work. Should
+he come to feel that it is actual toil, he might soon weary of a task
+engaged in so largely for its own sake, and decide to expend his time
+and energy in something that would "pay better." Moreover, if he is
+impelled by a hobby--ornithology, for instance--in addition to the mere
+love of mountaineering, he will find that something very near akin to
+wings has been annexed to the climbing gear of which he is naturally
+possessed.
+
+The morning of June 27 saw my youthful companion and myself mounted each
+upon a shaggy burro, scrambling up the steep hill above Georgetown, en
+route for Gray's Peak, the ascent of which was the chief goal of our
+ambition in coming to the Rockies on the present expedition. The
+distance from Georgetown to the summit of this peak is fourteen miles,
+and the crest itself is fourteen thousand four hundred and forty-one
+feet above sea-level, almost three hundred feet higher than Pike's Peak,
+and cannot be scaled by means of a cog-wheel railway or any other
+contrivance that uses steam or electricity as a motor. Indeed, the only
+motor available at the time of our ascent--that is, for the final
+climb--was "shank's horses," very useful and mostly safe, even if a
+little plebeian. We had been wise enough not to plunge at once among the
+heights, having spent almost a week rambling over the plains, mesas,
+foothills, and lower ranges, then had been occupied for five or six days
+more in exploring the valleys and mountain sides in the vicinity of
+Georgetown, and thus, by gradually approaching them, we had become
+inured to "roughing it" in the higher altitudes when we reached them,
+and suffered no ill effects from the rarefied atmosphere.
+
+We passed the famous "Georgetown Loop," crept at a snail's pace--for
+that is the natural gait of the burro--through the town of Silver Plume,
+and pursued our leisurely journey toward the beckoning, snow-clad
+heights beyond. No, we did not hurry, for two reasons: First, our
+little four-footers would not or could not quicken their pace, urge them
+as we would; second, we desired to name all the birds along the route,
+and that "without a gun," as Emerson mercifully enjoins.
+
+Have you ever ridden a burro? Have you ever been astride of an old one,
+a hirsute, unkempt, snail-paced, obstinate one, which thinks he knows
+better what gait he ought to assume than you do? If you have not, I
+venture to suggest modestly that your education and moral discipline are
+not quite complete. The pair which we had hired were slow and headstrong
+enough to develop the patience of Job in a most satisfactory way, and to
+test it, too. They were as homely as the proverbial "mud fence" is
+supposed to be. Never having seen a fence of that kind, I speak with
+some degree of caution, not wanting to cast any disparagement upon
+something of which I have so little knowledge. If our long-eared
+companions had ever seen a curry-comb, it must have been in the days of
+Noah. You see, we were "tenderfoots," as far as having had any
+experience with burros was concerned, or we might have selected a more
+sprightly pair for our fellow-pilgrims. A fine picture, fit for the
+camera or the artist's brush, we presented as we crept with the speed of
+a tortoise along the steep mountain roads and trails. Our "jacks," as
+Messrs. Longears are called colloquially, were not lazy--oh, no! they
+were simply averse to leaving home! Their domestic ties were so strong
+they bound them with cords of steel and hooks of iron to stall and
+stable-yard! The thought of forsaking friends and kindred even for only
+a few days wrung their loving hearts with anguish! No wonder we had a
+delicate and pathetic task on hand when we attempted to start our
+caravan up the mountain road. From side to side the gentle animals
+wabbled, their load of grief weighing them down tenfold more than the
+loads on their backs, and times without count they were prompted to veer
+about and "turn again home."
+
+Much labor and time and patience were expended in persuading our steeds
+to crawl up the hill, but I am delighted to say that no profane history
+was quoted, as we were a strictly moral crowd. At length we arrived in
+state at the village of Silver Plume. Canter into the town like a gang
+of border ruffians we did not; we entered deliberately, as became a
+dignified company of travellers. But here a new difficulty confronted
+us, stared us blankly in the face. Our little charges could not be
+convinced that there was any occasion for going farther than the town.
+They seemed to have conscientious scruples about the matter; so they
+stopped without any invitation from their riders, sidled off, turned in
+toward the residences, stores, groceries, shoe-shops, drugstores, barns,
+and even the saloons, the while the idlers on the streets and the small
+boys were gawking at us, smiling in a half-suppressed way, and making
+quaint remarks in which we could see no wisdom nor humor. We had not
+come into the town, like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, merely to furnish
+the villagers amusement. Applying our canes and straps forcibly to the
+haunches and rumps of our burros only seemed to embarrass the poor
+creatures, for you can readily see how they would reason the matter out
+from their own premises: If they were to go no farther, as had been
+decided by themselves, why should their riders belabor them in that
+merciless way? For downright dialectics commend me to the Rocky Mountain
+burro.
+
+Finally a providence in the shape of two small boys came to our rescue,
+and in a most interesting and effective way. Seeing the predicament we
+were in, and appreciating the gravity of the situation, those
+nimble-witted lads picked up a couple of clubs from the street, and,
+getting in the rear of our champing steeds, began to pound them over the
+haunches. For small boys they delivered sturdy blows. Now, if there is
+anything that will make a burro move dexterously out of his tracks, it
+is to get behind him with a club and beat a steady tattoo on his hams
+and legs. No sooner did the boys begin to apply their clubs in good
+earnest than our burros began to print tracks in quick succession on the
+dusty road, and we went gayly through the town, the lads making a merry
+din with their shouts and whacks, mingled with the patter of hoofs on
+the street. It was so dramatic that even the women came to their doors
+to witness the pageant. We tried not to laugh, and so did the delicately
+mannered spectators, but I suspect that a good deal of laughing was done
+on the sly, in spite of the canons of etiquette.
+
+At length the obliging lads became a little too accommodating. They used
+their persuasives upon the donkeys so vigorously that they--the
+donkeys--started off on a lope, a sort of awkward, lop-sided gallop.
+Now, if there is anything that is beyond the ability of Master Jack,
+especially if he is old, it is to canter and at the same time preserve
+his equilibrium. It is evident that he is not built to make a
+rocking-chair of his back bone. So a little comedy was enacted, all
+involuntary on the part of the _dramatis personae_. Suddenly
+Turpentine--that was the name of the little gray burro ridden by my boy
+companion--took a header, sending his youthful rider sprawling to the
+ground, where he did not remain a moment longer than good manners
+demanded. Fortunately he succeeded in disengaging his feet from the
+stirrups and directing his movements in such a way that the animal did
+not fall upon him. But poor Turpentine, what of him? He tumbled clean
+over his head upon his back, and I want to confess in all candor that
+one of the most instructive and interesting "animal pictures" I have
+ever seen, including those done by Landseer, Rosa Bonheur, and Ernest
+Thompson Seton, was that little iron-gray, long-eared donkey lying on
+his back on the street and clawing the air with his hoofs. And he clawed
+fast, too--fairly sawed the air. For once in his life Turpentine, the
+snail paced, was in a hurry; for once he moved with more celerity than
+grace. It threw us into spasms of laughter to see him exert himself so
+vigorously to reverse his position--to get his feet down and his back
+up. A cat could not have done it with more celerity. You never would
+have believed him capable of putting so much vim and vigor into his
+easy-going personality. After chopping the air with his hoofs for a
+second or two, he succeeded in righting himself, and was on his feet in
+less time than it takes to tell it. There he stood, as meek as Mary's
+lamb, trying to look as if he had never turned an undignified somersault
+in all his tranquil life.
+
+We started on our journey again, and presently, to our intense relief,
+reached the border of the town, thanked the lads who had expedited our
+march along the street, and proceeded on our way up the valley. We soon
+settled down to taking our burros philosophically, and erelong they were
+going calmly on the even tenor of their way, and afterwards we had
+little trouble with them, and actually became quite attached to the
+gentle creatures before our joint pilgrimage drew to an end.
+
+It is time to pass from quadrupeds to bipeds. While our feathered
+friends were not so abundant in the wilder regions as we might have
+wished, still we had almost constant avian companionship along the way.
+The warbling vireos were especially plentiful, and in full tune, making
+a silvery trail of song beside the dusty road. We had them at our elbow
+as far as Graymont, where we made a sharp detour from the open valley,
+and clambered along a steep mountain side, with a deep, wooded gorge
+below us. Here the vireos suddenly decided that they could escort us no
+farther, as they had no taste for crepuscular canyons and alpine heights.
+Not a vireo was seen above Graymont, which has an altitude of nearly ten
+thousand feet. We left them singing in the valley as we turned from it,
+and did not hear them again until we came back to Graymont.
+
+Almost the same may be said of the broad-tailed humming-birds, whose
+insect-like buzzing we heard at frequent intervals along the route to a
+shoulder of the mountain a little above Graymont, when it suddenly
+ceased and was heard no more until we returned to the same spot a few
+days later. House-wrens, willow thrushes, Brewer's blackbirds, and
+long-crested jays were also last seen at Graymont, which seemed to be a
+kind of territorial limit for a number of species.
+
+However, several species--as species, of course, not as
+individuals--convoyed us all the way from Georgetown to the timber-line
+and, in some instances, beyond. Let me call the roll of these faithful
+"steadies": Mountain hermit thrushes, gray-headed juncos, red-shafted
+flickers, pine siskins, western robins, Audubon's and Wilson's warblers,
+mountain bluebirds and white-crowned sparrows. Of course, it must be
+borne in mind that these birds were not seen everywhere along the upward
+journey, simply in their favorite habitats. The deep, pine-shadowed
+gorges were avoided by the warblers and white-crowned sparrows, whilst
+every open, sunlit, and bushy spot or bosky glen was enlivened by a
+contingent of these merry minnesingers. One little bird added to our
+list in the gorge above Graymont was the mountain chickadee, which was
+found thereafter up to the timber-line.
+
+It was sometime in the afternoon when we reached Graymont, which we
+found to be no "mount" at all, as we had expected, but a hamlet, now
+mostly deserted, in a narrow valley in sight of several gray mountains
+looming in the distance. Straight up the valley were some snow-mantled
+peaks, but none of them was Gray's; they did not beckon to us from the
+right direction. From the upper part of the hamlet, looking to our left,
+we saw a frowning, snow-clad ridge towering like an angry giant in the
+air, and we cried simultaneously, "Gray's Peak!" The terrific aspect of
+that mountain sent a momentary shiver through our veins as we thought of
+scaling it without a guide. We were in error, as we afterwards found,
+for the mountain was Torrey's Peak, not Gray's, which is not visible
+from Graymont, being hidden by two intervening elevations, Mount Kelso
+and Torrey's Peak. There are several points about a mile above Graymont
+from which Gray's serene peak is visible, but of this we were not aware
+until on our return trip, when we had learned to recognize him by his
+calm and magisterial aspect.
+
+As evening drew on, and the westering sun fell below the ridges, and the
+shadows deepened in the gorges, making them doubly weird, we began to
+feel very lonely, and, to add to our misgivings, we were uncertain of
+our way. The prospect of having to spend a cold night out of doors in a
+solitary place like this was not very refreshing, I am free to confess,
+much as one might desire to proclaim himself a brave man. Presently our
+eyes were gladdened by the sight of a miner's shack just across the
+hollow, perhaps the one for which we were anxiously looking. A man at
+Graymont had told us about a miner up this way, saying he was a "nice
+man" and would no doubt give us accommodation for the night. I crossed
+the narrow foot-bridge that spanned the booming torrent, and found the
+miner at home. Would he give two way-worn travellers a place to sleep
+beneath his roof? We had brought plenty of food and some blankets with
+us, and all we required was four walls around us and a roof over our
+heads. Yes, he replied, we were welcome to such accommodation as he had,
+and he could even give us a bed, though it "wasn't very stylish." Those
+were among the sweetest and most musical words that ever fell on my ear.
+
+Having tethered our burros in a grassy cove on the mountain side, and
+cooked our supper in the gloaming among some rocks by the bank of the
+brawling stream, we turned into the cabin for the night, more than
+grateful for a shelter from the chill winds scurrying down from the
+snow-capped mountains. The shack nestled at the foot of Mount Kelso,
+which we had also mistaken for Gray's Peak. As we sat by the light of a
+tallow candle, beguiling the evening with conversation, the miner told
+us that the mountain jays, colloquially called "camp robbers," were
+common around his cabin, especially in winter; but familiar as they
+were, he had never been able to find a nest. The one thing about which
+they insist on the utmost privacy is their nesting places. My friend
+also told me that a couple of gray squirrels made the woods around his
+camp their home. The jays would frequently carry morsels of food up to
+the branches of the pines, and stow them in some crevice for future use,
+whereupon the squirrels, always on the lookout for their own interests,
+would scuttle up the tree and steal the hidden provender, eating it with
+many a chuckle of self-congratulation.
+
+Had not the weather turned so cold during the night, we might have slept
+quite comfortably in the miner's shack, but I must confess that, though
+it was the twenty-eighth of June and I had a small mountain of cover
+over me, I shivered a good deal toward morning. An hour or so after
+daylight four or five mountain jays came to the cabin for their
+breakfast, flitting to the ground and greedily devouring such tidbits as
+they could find. They were not in the least shy. But where were their
+nests? That was the question that most deeply interested me. During the
+next few days I made many a long and toilsome search for them in the
+woods and ravines and on the steep mountain sides, but none of the birds
+invited me to their houses. These birds know how to keep a secret.
+Anything but feathered Apollos, they have a kind of ghoulish aspect,
+making you think of the apparitional as they move in their noiseless way
+among the shadowing pines. There is a look in their dark, deep-set eyes
+and about their thick, clumpy heads which gives you a feeling that they
+might be equal to any imaginable act of cruelty. Yet I cannot say I
+dislike these mountain roustabouts, for some of their talk among
+themselves is very tender and affectionate, proving that, "whatever
+brawls disturb the street," there are love and concord in jay household
+circles. That surely is a virtue to be commended, and cannot be claimed
+for every family, either avian or human.
+
+At 4.30 that morning I crept out of bed and climbed far up one of the
+mountain sides--this was before the jays came to the cabin. The wind
+blew so icy from the snow-clad heights that I was only too glad to wear
+woollen gloves and pin a bandanna handkerchief around my neck, besides
+buttoning up my coat collar. Even then I shivered. But would you believe
+it? The mosquitoes were as lively and active as if a balmy breeze were
+blowing from Arcady, puncturing me wherever they could find a vulnerable
+spot, and even thrusting their sabres through my thick woollen gloves
+into the flesh. They must be extremely hardy insects, for I am sure such
+arctic weather would send the mosquitoes of our lower altitudes into
+their winter hiding-places. People who think there are no mosquitoes in
+the Rockies are reckoning without their hosts. In many places they
+assaulted us by the myriad until life among them became intolerable, and
+some were found even in the neighborhood of perpetual snow.
+
+Raw as the morning was, the hermit thrushes, mountain chickadees,
+Audubon's warblers, gray-headed juncos, and ruby-crowned kinglets were
+giving a lively rehearsal. How shy they were! They preferred being
+heard, not seen. Unexpectedly I found a hermit thrush's nest set in
+plain sight in a pine bush. One would have thought so shy a bird would
+make some attempt at concealment. It was a well-constructed domicile,
+composed of grass, twigs, and moss, but without mortar. The shy owner
+was nowhere to be seen, nor did she make any outcry, even though I stood
+for some minutes close to her nest. What stolidity the mountain birds
+display! You could actually rob the nests of some of them without
+wringing a chirp from them. On two later visits to the place I found
+Madame Thrush on her nest, where she sat until I came quite close, when
+she silently flitted away and ensconced herself among the pines, never
+chirping a syllable of protest or fear. In the bottom of the pretty crib
+lay four deep-blue eggs. Afterwards I found one more hermit's nest,
+which was just in process of construction. In this case, as in the
+first, no effort was made at concealment, the nest being placed in the
+crotch of a quaking asp a rod or so above the trail, from which it could
+be plainly seen. The little madame was carrying a load of timbers to her
+cottage as we went down the trail, and sat in the nest moulding and
+putting her material in place as I climbed up the steep bank to inspect
+her work. Then she flew away, making no demonstration while I examined
+the nest.
+
+Having eaten our breakfast at the miner's cabin, my youthful companion
+and I mounted our "gayly caparisoned steeds," and resumed our journey
+toward Gray's Peak. The birds just mentioned greeted us with their
+salvos as we crept along. It was not until we had almost reached the
+timber-line that Gray's Peak loomed in sight, solemn and majestic,
+photographed against the cobalt sky, with its companion-piece, Torrey's
+Peak, standing sullen beside it. The twin peaks were pointed out to us
+by another miner whom we met at his shack just a little below the
+timber-line, and who obligingly gave us permission to "bunk" in one of
+the cabins of what is known as "Stephen's mine," which is now
+abandoned--or was at the time of our visit. Near the timber-line, where
+the valley opens to the sunlight, we found a mountain bluebird flitting
+about some old, deserted buildings, but, strangely enough, this was the
+last time we saw him, although we looked for him again and again. Nor
+did we see another mountain blue in this alpine eyrie.
+
+Our burros were tethered for the day in a grassy hollow, our effects
+stowed away in the cabin aforesaid, which we had leased for a few days;
+then, with luncheon strapped over our shoulders and butterfly net and
+field-glass in hand, we started happily up the valley afoot toward the
+summit of our aspirations, Gray's Peak, rising fourteen thousand four
+hundred and forty-one feet above the level of the sea. In some scrubby
+pine bushes above timber-line several Audubon's warblers were flitting
+and singing, living hard by the white fields of snow. Still farther up
+the hollow Wilson's warblers were trilling blithely, proclaiming
+themselves yet more venturesome than their gorgeous cousins, the
+Audubons. There is reason for this difference, for Wilson's warblers
+nest in willows and other bushes which thrive on higher ground and
+nearer the snowy zone than do the pines to which Audubon's warblers are
+especially attached. At all events, _Sylvania pusilla_ was one of the
+two species which accompanied us all the way from Georgetown to the foot
+of Gray's Peak, giving us a kind of "personally conducted" journey.
+
+Our other brave escorts were the white-crowned sparrows, which pursued
+the narrowing valleys until they were merged into the snowy gorges that
+rive the sides of the towering twin peaks. In the arctic gulches the
+scrubby copses came to an end, and therefore the white-crowns ascended
+no higher, for they are, in a pre-eminent sense, "birds of the bush."
+Subsequently I found them as far up the sides of Mount Kelso as the
+thickets extended, which was hundreds of feet higher than the snow-bound
+gorges just mentioned, for Kelso receives more sunshine than his taller
+companions, particularly on his eastern side. Brave birds are these
+handsome and musical sparrows. It was interesting to see them hopping
+about on the snow-fields, picking up dainties from the white crystals.
+How lyrical they were in this upper mountain valley! As has been said,
+for some unaccountable reason the white-crowns in the vicinity of
+Georgetown were quite chary of their music. Not so those that dwelt in
+the valley below Gray's and Torrey's peaks, for there they trilled their
+melodious measures with a richness and abandon that were enchanting.
+
+On reaching the snow-belt, though still a little below the limit of
+copsy growths, we saw our first pipits, which, it will be remembered, I
+had encountered on the summit of Pike's Peak two years before. In our
+climb up Gray's Peak we found the pipit realm and that of the
+white-crowned sparrows slightly overlapping. As soon, however, as we
+began the steep climb above the matted copses, the white-crowns
+disappeared and the pipits grew more abundant. At frequent intervals
+these birds would suddenly start up from the ground, utter their
+protesting "Te-cheer! te-cheer!" and hurl themselves recklessly across a
+snowy gulch, or dart high into the air and let their semi-musical calls
+drop and dribble from the turquoise depths of the sky. Did the pipits
+accompany you to the summit of the peak? I half regret to admit that
+they did not, but ceased to appear a good while before the summit was
+attained. This is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that
+these birds were extremely abundant on the crest of Pike's Peak, where
+they behaved in a "very-much-at-home" way.
+
+However, there was ample compensation in the ascent of Gray's Peak. As
+we clambered up the steep and rugged side of the mountain, sometimes
+wading snow up to our knees, then making a short cut straight up the
+acclivity to avoid the snow-banks, unable to follow the trail a large
+part of the way, we were suddenly made aware of the presence of another
+fearless feathered comrade. With a chirp that was the very quintessence
+of good cheer and lightness of heart, he hopped about on the snow,
+picking dainties from his immaculate tablecloth, and permitting us to
+approach him quite close before he thought it worth while to take to
+wing. We were happy indeed to meet so companionable a little friend, one
+that, amid these lonely and awe-inspiring heights, seemed to feel so
+much at ease and exhibited so confiding a disposition. Was it fancy or
+was it really true? He appeared to be giving us a hospitable welcome to
+his alpine home, telling us we might venture upward into cloudland or
+skyland without peril; then, to make good his assurance, he mounted
+upward on resilient wings to prove how little danger there was. We were
+doubly glad for our little seer, for just then we needed someone to
+"prophesy smooth things" to us. The bird was the brown-capped
+leucosticte or rosy finch. Thus far I have used the singular number, but
+the plural would have been more accurate, for there were many of these
+finches on the acclivity and summit, all of them in a most cheerful
+mood, their good will and cordial welcome giving us a pleasant feeling
+of comradery as we journeyed together up the mountain side.
+
+Our climb up Gray's Peak was a somewhat memorable event in our
+experience, and I am disposed to dwell upon it. The valley which we had
+followed terminates in a deep gorge, filled with drift snow the year
+round, no doubt, and wedging itself between Gray's and Torrey's
+shoulders and peaks. Here the melting snows form the head waters of
+Clear Creek, whose sinuous course we had followed by rail, foot, and
+burro from the city of Denver.
+
+The trail, leaving the ravine, meandered up a shoulder of the mountain,
+wheeled to the left and crept along a ridge, with some fine,
+blood-curdling abysses on the eastern side; then went zigzagging back
+and forth on the precipitous wall of Gray's titanic mount, until at
+last, with a long pull and a strong pull, it scaled the backbone of the
+ridge. All this, however, is much more easily told than done. Later in
+the season, when the trail is clear of snow-drifts, sure-footed horses
+and burros are ridden to the summit; but we were too early to follow the
+trail even on foot. Indeed, many persons familiar with the mountains had
+declared that we could not reach the top so early in the season, on
+account of the large snow-banks that still covered the trail. Even the
+old miner, who in the valley below pointed out the peak to us,
+expressed grave doubts about the success and wisdom of our undertaking.
+"See!" he said, "the trail's covered with snow in many places on the
+mountain side. I'm afraid you can't reach the top, sir." I did not see
+as clearly as he did, but said nothing aloud. In my mind I shouted,
+"Excelsior!" and then added, mentally, of course, "Faint heart never won
+fair lady or fairer mountain's crest--hurrah for the peak!" I simply
+felt that if there were birds and butterflies on that sky-aspiring
+tower, I _must_ see them. The die was cast; we had come to Colorado
+expressly to climb Gray's Peak, and climb it we would, or have some good
+reason to give for not doing so.
+
+And now we were making the attempt. We had scarcely reached the
+mountain's shoulder before we were obliged to wade snow. For quite a
+distance we were able to creep along the edge of the trail, or skirt the
+snow-beds by making short detours, and then returning to the trail; but
+by and by we came to a wide, gleaming snow-field that stretched right
+athwart our path and brought us to a standstill with the exclamation,
+"What shall we do now?" Having already sunk a number of times into the
+snow over our boot-tops, we felt that it would not be safe to venture
+across so large an area of soft and treacherous crystals melting in the
+afternoon sun and only slightly covering we knew not what deep gorges.
+In some places we had been able to walk on the top of the snow, but
+elsewhere it was quite soft, and we could hear the gurgling of water
+underneath, and sometimes it sounded a little more sepulchral than we
+liked. Looking far up the acclivity, we saw still larger snow-fields
+obliterating the trail. "We can never cross those snow-fields," one of
+us declared, a good deal of doubt in his tones. A moment's reflection
+followed, and then the other exclaimed stoutly, "Let us climb straight
+up, then!" To which his companion replied, "All right, little Corporal!
+Beyond the Alps lies Italy!"
+
+Over rocks and stones and stretches of gravel, sometimes loose,
+sometimes solid, we clambered, half the time on all fours, skirting the
+snow-fields that lay in our unblazed pathway; on and up, each cheering
+the other at frequent intervals by crying lustily, "We can make it! We
+can make it!" ever and anon throwing ourselves on the rocks to recover
+our breath and rest our aching limbs; on and up we scrambled and crept,
+like ants on a wall, until at length, reaching the ridge at the left a
+little below the top, we again struck the trail, when we stopped a few
+minutes to catch breath, made one more mighty effort, and, behold! we
+stood on Gray's summit, looking down triumphantly at the world crouching
+at our feet. Never before had we felt so much like Jupiter on Olympus.
+
+_GRAY'S AND TORREY'S PEAKS_
+
+_Gray's to the left, Torrey's to the right. As the lookout of the
+photographer was nearer Torrey's than Gray's, the former appears the
+higher in the picture, while the reverse is really the case. The trail
+winds through a ravine at the right of the ridge in front; then creeps
+along the farther side of the ridge above the gorge at Torrey's base;
+comes to the crest of the ridge pretty well toward the left; then crawls
+and zigzags back and forth along the titanic wall of Gray's to the
+summit. In the vale, where some of the head waters of Clear Creek will
+be seen, the white-crowned sparrows and Wilson's warblers find homes. A
+little before the ascent of the ridge begins, the first pipits are seen;
+thence the clamberer has pipit company to the point where the ridge
+joins the main bulk of the mountain. Here the pipits stop, and the first
+leucostictes are noted, which, chirping cheerily all the way, escort the
+traveller to the summit._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In making the ascent, some persons, even among those who ride, become
+sick; others suffer with bleeding at the nose, and others are so
+overcome with exhaustion and weakness that they cannot enjoy the superb
+panorama spread out before them. However you may account for it, my
+youthful comrade and I, in spite of our arduous climb, were in excellent
+physical condition when we reached our goal, suffering no pain whatever
+in eyes, head, or lungs. The bracing air, rare as it was, soon
+exhilarated us, our temporary weariness disappeared, and we were in the
+best of trim for scouring the summit, pursuing our natural history
+hobbies, and revelling in the inspiring cyclorama that Nature had reared
+for our delectation.
+
+My pen falters when I think of describing the scene that broke upon our
+vision. I sigh and wish the task were done. The summit itself is a
+narrow ridge on which you may stand and look down the declivities on
+both sides, scarcely having to step out of your tracks to do so. It is
+quite different from the top of Pike's Peak, which is a comparatively
+level plateau several acres in extent, carpeted, if one may so speak,
+with immense granite rocks piled upon one another or laid side by side
+in semi-systematic order; whereas Gray's, as has been said, is a narrow
+ridge, composed chiefly of comparatively small stones, with a sprinkling
+of good-sized boulders. The finer rocks give the impression of having
+been ground down by crushing and attrition to their present dimensions
+in the far-away, prehistoric ages.
+
+A short distance to the northwest frowned Torrey's Peak, Gray's
+companion-piece, the twain being connected by a ridge which dips in an
+arc perhaps a hundred feet below the summits. The ridge was covered with
+a deep drift of snow, looking as frigid and unyielding as a scene in the
+arctic regions. Torrey's is only a few feet lower than Gray's--one of my
+books says five. Mention has been made of its forbidding aspect. It is
+indeed one of the most ferocious-looking mountains in the Rockies, its
+crown pointed and grim, helmeted with snow, its sides, especially east
+and north, seamed and ridged and jagged, the gorges filled with snow,
+the beetling cliffs jutting dark and threatening, bearing huge drifts
+upon their shoulders. Torrey's Peak actually seemed to be calling over
+to us like some boastful Hercules, "Ah, ha! you have climbed my
+mild-tempered brother, but I dare you to climb me!" For reasons of our
+own we declined the challenge.
+
+The panorama from Gray's Peak is one to inspire awe and dwell forever in
+the memory, an alpine wonderland indeed and in truth. To the north,
+northwest, and west there stretches, as far as the eye can reach, a vast
+wilderness of snowy peaks and ranges, many of them with a rosy glow in
+the sunshine, tier upon tier, terrace above terrace, here in serried
+ranks, there in isolated grandeur, some just beyond the dividing
+canyons, others fifty, sixty, a hundred miles away, cyclopean, majestic,
+infinite. Far to the north, Long's Peak lifts his seamed and hoary
+pyramid, almost as high as the crest on which we are standing; in the
+west rise that famous triad of peaks, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton,
+their fanelike towers, sketched against the sky, disputing the palm with
+old Gray himself; while a hundred miles to the south Pike's Peak stands
+solitary and smiling in the sun, seeming to say, "I am sufficient unto
+myself!" Between our viewpoint and the last-named mountain lies South
+Park, like a paradise of green immured by guardian walls of rock and
+snow, and far to the east, beyond the billowing ranges, white, gray, and
+green, stretch the limitless plains, vanishing in the hazy distance. In
+such surroundings one's breast throbs and swells with the thought of
+Nature's omnipotence.
+
+_PANORAMA FROM GRAY'S PEAK--NORTHWEST_
+
+_The picture includes the northern spur of Gray's Peak, with the
+dismantled signal station on its crest. The main ridge of the peak
+extends out to the left of the signal station. The summit is so situated
+as to be exposed to the sun the greater part of the day; hence, although
+it is the highest point in the region, there is less snow upon it in
+summer than upon many of the surrounding elevations. Looking northwest
+from the signal station, the eye falls upon a wilderness of snow-clad
+peaks and ranges, some standing in serried ranks, others in picturesque
+disorder. It is truly an arctic scene, summer or winter. Yet it is the
+summer home of the brown-capped leucosticte and the white-tailed
+ptarmigan, which range in happy freedom over the upper story of our
+country._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The summit of Gray's Peak is a favorable viewpoint from which to study
+the complexion, the idiosyncrasies, if you please, of individual
+mountains, each of which seems to have a personality of its own. Here is
+Gray's Peak itself, calm, smiling, good-natured as a summer morning;
+yonder is Torrey's, next-door neighbor, cruel, relentless, defiant,
+always threatening with cyclone or tornado, or forging the thunder-bolts
+of Vulcan. Some mountains appear grand and dignified, others look like
+spitfires. On one side some bear smooth and green slopes almost to the
+top, while the other is scarred, craggy, and precipitous.
+
+The day was serene and beautiful, the sky a deep indigo, unflecked with
+clouds, save a few filmy wracks here and there, and the breeze as balmy
+as that of a May morning in my native State. So quiet was the alpine
+solitude that on all sides we could hear the solemn roar of the streams
+in the ravines hundreds of feet below, some of them in one key and some
+in another, making almost a symphony. For several hours we tarried, held
+by a spell. "But you have forgotten your ornithology!" some one reminds
+me. No one could blame me if I had. Such, however, is not the case, for
+ornithology, like the poor, is never far from some of us. The genial
+little optimists that had been hopping about on the snow on the
+declivities had acted as our cicerones clear to the summit, and some of
+them remained there while we tarried. Indeed the leucostictes were quite
+plentiful on the mountain's brow. Several perched on the dismantled
+walls of the abandoned government building on the summit, called
+cheerily, then wheeled about over the crest, darted out and went
+careering over the gulches with perfect aplomb, while we watched them
+with envious eyes, wishing we too had wings like a leucosticte, not that
+we "might fly away," as the Psalmist longed to do, but that we might
+scale the mountains at our own sweet will. The favorite occupation of
+our little comrades, besides flying, was hopping about on the snow and
+picking up dainties that were evidently palatable. Afterwards we
+examined the snow, and found several kinds of small beetles and other
+insects creeping up through it or about on its surface. Without doubt
+these were leucosticte's choice morsels. Thus Nature spreads her table
+everywhere with loving care for her feathered children. The general
+habits of the rosy finches are elsewhere depicted in this volume. It
+only remains to be said that they were much more abundant and familiar
+on Gray's Peak than on Pike's Peak,--that is, at the time of my
+respective visits to those summits.
+
+[Illustration: _Thistle Butterfly_]
+
+[Illustration: _Western White_]
+
+To omit all mention of the butterflies seen on this trip would be proof
+of avian monomania with a vengeance. The lad who was with me found a
+number of individuals of two species zigzagging over the summit, and
+occasionally settling upon the rocks right by the fields of snow. What
+kind of nectar they sipped I know not, for there were no flowers or
+verdure on the heights. They were the Painted Lady or Thistle Butterfly
+(_Pyrameis cardui_) and the Western White (_Pieris occidentalis_). He
+captured an individual of the latter species with his net, and to-day it
+graces his collection, a memento of a hard but glorious climb. The
+descent of the mountain was laborious and protracted, including some
+floundering in the snow, but was accomplished without accident. A warm
+supper in the miner's shack which we had leased prepared us for the
+restful slumbers of the night.
+
+Although the weather was so cold that a thin coating of ice was formed
+on still water out of doors, the next morning the white-crowned sparrows
+were singing their sonatas long before dawn, and when at peep of day I
+stepped outside, they were flitting about the cabins as if in search of
+their breakfast. The evening before, I left the stable-door open while I
+went to bring the burros up from their grazing plat. When I returned
+with the animals, a white-crown flew out of the building just as I
+stepped into the entrance, almost fluttering against my feet, and
+chirping sharply at what he seemed to think a narrow escape. He had
+doubtless gone into the stable on a foraging expedition.
+
+The day was spent in exploring the valley and steep mountain sides. A
+robin's nest was found a little below the timber-line on the slope of
+Mount Kelso. In the woods a short distance farther down, a gray-headed
+junco's nest was discovered after a good deal of patient waiting. A
+female was preening her feathers on a small pine-tree, a sure sign that
+she had recently come from brooding her eggs. Presently she began to
+flit about from the tree to the ground and back again, making many
+feints and starts, which proved that she was embarrassed by my
+espionage; but at last she disappeared and did not return. With
+quickened pulse I approached the place where I had last seen her. It was
+not long before she flew up with a nervous chirp, revealing a pretty
+domicile under a roof of green grass, with four daintily speckled eggs
+on the concave floor. I noticed especially that the doorway of the tiny
+cottage was open toward the morning sun.
+
+At the timber-line there were ruby-crowned kinglets, mountain
+chickadees, and gray-headed juncos, while far above this wavering
+boundary a pair of red-shafted flickers were observed ambling about
+among the bushes and watching me as intently as I was watching them. I
+climbed far up the side of Mount Kelso, then around its rocky shoulder,
+following an old trail that led to several abandoned silver mines, but
+no new birds rewarded my toilsome quest, although I was pleased to learn
+that the pipits and leucostictes did not give the "go-by" to this grand
+old mountain, but performed their thrilling calisthenics in the air
+about its slopes and ravines with as much grace as they did on the
+loftier mountain peaks the day before. A beautiful fox and three cubs
+were seen among the large stones, and many mountain rats and a sly mink
+went scuttling about over the rocks.
+
+[Illustration: _Junco_
+
+"_Under a roof of green grass_"]
+
+On the morning of June 30 the white-crowns, as usual, were chanting
+their litanies long before day broke. We left the enchanting valley that
+morning, the trills of the white-crowns ringing in the alpenglow like a
+sad farewell, as if they felt that we should never meet again. On our
+way down the winding road we frequently turned to gaze with longing
+eyes upon the snowy summits of the twin peaks, Gray's all asmile in the
+sunshine, and Torrey's--or did we only imagine it?--relenting a little
+now that he was looking upon us for the last time. Did the mountains and
+the white-crowns call after us, "Auf wiedersehen!" or was that only
+imagination too?
+
+
+
+
+PLEASANT OUTINGS
+
+[Illustration: PLATE VII
+
+RUDDY DUCK--_Erismatura rubida_
+(Lower figure, male; upper, female)]
+
+
+One of our pleasantest trips was taken up South Platte Canyon, across
+South Park, and over the range to Breckenridge. The town lies in the
+valley of the Blue River, the famous Ten Mile Range, with its numerous
+peaks and bold and rugged contour, standing sentinel on the west. Here
+we found many birds, but as few of them were new, I need not stop to
+enter into special detail.
+
+At the border of the town I found my first green-tailed towhee's nest,
+which will be described in the last chapter. A pair of mountain
+bluebirds had snuggled their nest in a cranny of one of the cottages,
+and an entire family of blues were found on the pine-clad slope beyond
+the stream; white-crowned sparrows were plentiful in the copses and far
+up the bushy ravines and mountain sides; western chippies rang their
+silvery peals; violet-green swallows wove their invisible fabrics
+overhead; juncos and Audubon's warblers proclaimed their presence in
+many a remote ingle by their little trills; and Brewer's blackbirds
+"chacked" their remonstrance at every intrusion into their demesnes;
+while in many a woodsy or bushy spot the long-crested jays rent the air
+with their raucous outcries; nor were the broad-tailed hummers wanting
+on this side of the range, and of course their saucy buzzing was heard
+wherever they darted through the air.
+
+An entire day was spent in ascending and descending Peak Number Eight,
+one of the boldest of the jutting crags of the Ten Mile Range; otherwise
+it is called Tillie Ann, in honor of the first white woman known to
+scale its steep and rugged wall to the summit. She must have been a
+brave and hardy woman, and certainly deserves a monument of some kind in
+memory of her achievement, although it falls to the lot of few persons
+to have their deeds celebrated by a towering mountain for a memorial.
+While not as high by at least a thousand feet as Gray's Peak, it was
+fully as difficult of access. A high ridge of snow, which we surmounted
+with not a little pride and exhilaration, lay on its eastern acclivity
+within a few feet of the crest, a white crystalline bank gleaming in the
+sun. The winds hurtling over the summit were as cold and fierce as old
+Boreas himself, so that I was glad to wear woollen gloves and button my
+coat-collar close around my neck; yet it was the Fourth of July, when
+the people of the East were sweltering in the intense heat of their low
+altitudes. It was a surprise to us to find the wind so much colder here
+than it had been on the twenty-eighth of June on the summit of Gray's
+Peak, which is considerably farther north. However, there may be times
+when the meteorological conditions of the two peaks are reversed,
+blowing a gale on Gray's and whispering a zephyr on Tillie Ann.
+
+The usual succession of birds was seen as we toiled up the slopes and
+steep inclines, some stopping at the timber-line and others extending
+their range far up toward the alpine zone. In the pine belt below the
+timber-line a pair of solitaires were observed flitting about on the
+ground and the lower branches of the trees, but vouchsafing no song. In
+the same woodland the mountain jays held carnival--a bacchanalian revel,
+judging from the noise they made; the ruby-crowned kinglets piped their
+galloping roundels; a number of wood-pewees--western species--were
+screeching, thinking themselves musical; siskins were flitting about,
+though not as numerous as they had been in the piny regions below Gray's
+Peak; and here for the first time I saw olive-sided flycatchers among
+the mountains. I find by consulting Professor Cooke that their breeding
+range is from seven thousand to twelve thousand feet. A few juncos and
+ruby-crowned kinglets were seen above the timber-line, while many
+white-crowned sparrows, some of them singing blithely, climbed as far up
+the mountain side as the stunted copses extended.
+
+Oddly enough, no leucostictes were seen on this peak. Why they should
+make their homes on Pike's and Gray's Peaks and neglect Tillie Ann is
+another of those puzzles in featherdom that cannot be solved. Must a
+peak be over fourteen thousand feet above sea-level to meet their
+physiological wants in the summery season? Who can tell? There were
+pipits on this range, but, for some reason that was doubtless
+satisfactory to themselves, they were much shyer than their brothers and
+sisters had been on Gray's Peak and Mount Kelso; more than that, they
+were seen only on the slopes of the range, none of them being observed
+on the crest itself, perhaps on account of the cold, strong gale that
+was blowing across the snowy heights. A nighthawk was sailing in its
+erratic course over the peaks--a bit of information worth noting, none
+of these birds having been seen on any of the summits fourteen thousand
+feet high. These matters are perhaps not of supreme interest, yet they
+have their value as studies in comparative ornithology and are helpful
+in determining the _locale_ of the several species named. In the same
+interest I desire to add that mountain chickadees, hermit thrushes,
+warbling vireos, and red-shafted flickers belong to my Breckenridge
+list. Besides, what I think must have been a Mexican crossbill was seen
+one morning among the pines, and also a large hawk and two kinds of
+woodpeckers, none of which tarried long enough to permit me to make
+sure of their identity. The crossbill--if the individual seen was a bird
+of that species--wore a reddish jacket, explored the pine cones, and
+sang a very respectable song somewhat on the grosbeak order, quite
+blithe, loud, and cheerful.
+
+On our return trip to Denver we stopped for a couple of days at the
+quiet village of Jefferson in South Park, and we shall never cease to be
+thankful that our good fairies led us to do so. What birds, think you,
+find residence in a green, well-watered park over nine thousand feet
+above sea-level, hemmed in by towering, snow-clad mountains? Spread out
+around you like a cyclorama lies the plateau as you descend the mountain
+side from Kenosha Pass; or wheel around a lofty spur of Mount Boreas,
+and you almost feel as if you must be entering Paradise. It was the
+fifth of July, and the park had donned its holiday attire, the meadows
+wearing robes of emerald, dappled here and there with garden spots of
+variegated flowers that brought more than one exclamation of delight
+from our lips.
+
+_SOUTH PARK FROM KENOSHA HILL_
+
+_A paradise of green engirdled by snow-mantled mountains, making a
+summer home for western meadow-larks, Brewer's blackbirds, desert horned
+larks, and western Savanna sparrows._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Before leaving the village, our attention was called to a colony of
+cliff-swallows, the first we had seen in our touring among the
+mountains. Against the bare wall beneath the eaves of a barn they had
+plastered their adobe, bottle-shaped domiciles, hundreds of them, some
+in orderly rows, others in promiscuous clusters. At dusk, when we
+returned to the village, the birds were going to bed, and it was
+interesting to watch their method of retiring. The young were already
+grown, and the entire colony were converting their nests into sleeping
+berths, every one of them occupied, some of the partly demolished ones
+by two and three birds. But there were not enough couches to go round,
+and several of the birds were crowded out, and were clinging to the side
+of the wall on some of the protuberances left from their broken-down
+clay huts. It was a query in my mind whether they could sleep
+comfortably in that strained position, but I left them to settle that
+matter for themselves and in their own way.
+
+Leaving the town, we soon found that the irrigated meadows and
+bush-fringed banks of the stream made habitats precisely to the taste of
+Brewer's blackbirds, which were quite plentiful in the park. My
+companion was "in clover," for numerous butterflies went undulating over
+the meadows, leading him many a headlong chase, but frequently getting
+themselves captured in his net. Thus occupied, he left me to attend to
+the birds. At the border of the village a little bird that was new to me
+flitted into view and permitted me to identify it with my glass. The
+little stranger was the western savanna sparrow. South Park was the only
+place in my Colorado rambles where I found this species, and even his
+eastern representative is known to me very imperfectly and only as a
+migrant. The park was fairly alive with savannas, especially in the
+irrigated portions. I wonder how many millions of them dwelt in this
+vast Eden of green almost twice as large as the State of Connecticut!
+The little cocks were incessant singers, their favorite perches being
+the wire fences, or weeds and grass tufts in the pastures. Their voices
+are weak, but very sweet, and almost as fine as the sibilant buzz of
+certain kinds of insects. The pretty song opens with two or three
+somewhat prolonged syllables, running quite high, followed by a trill
+much lower in the scale, and closes with a very fine, double-toned
+strain, delivered with the rising inflection and a kind of twist or
+jerk--"as if," say my notes, "the little lyrist were trying to tie a
+knot in his aria before letting it go." More will be said about these
+charming birds before the end of this chapter.
+
+The western meadow-larks were abundant in the park, delivering with
+great gusto their queer, percussive chants, which, according to my
+notes, "so often sound as if the birds were trying to crack the whip."
+The park was the only place above the plains and mesas where I found
+these gifted fluters, with the exception of the park about Buena Vista.
+It would appear that the narrow mountain valleys, green and grassy
+though they are, do not appeal to the larks for summer homes; no, they
+seem to crave "ampler realms and spaces" in which to spread their wings
+and chant their dithyrambs.
+
+Where the natural streams and irrigating ditches do not reach the soil
+of the park it is as dry and parched as the plains and mesas. In fact,
+the park is only a smaller and higher edition of the plains, the
+character of the soil and the topography of the land in both regions
+being identical. Never in the wet, fresh meadows, whether of plain or
+park, only on the arid slopes and hillocks, will you find the desert
+horned larks, which are certainly true to their literary cognomen, if
+ever birds were. How they revel in the desert! How scrupulously they
+draw the line on the moist and emerald areas! Surely there are "many
+birds of many kinds," and one might appropriately add, "of many minds,"
+as well; for, while the blackbirds and savanna sparrows eschew the
+desert, the horned larks show the same dislike for the meadow. In
+shallow pits dug by themselves amid the sparse buffalo grass, the larks
+set their nests. The young had already left their nurseries at the time
+of my visit to the park, but were still receiving their rations from the
+beaks of their elders. On a level spot an adult male with an uncommonly
+strong voice for this species was hopping about on the ground and
+reciting his canticles. Seeing I was a stranger and evidently interested
+in all sorts of avian exploits, he decided to give an exhibition of what
+might be called sky-soloing, as well as dirigible ballooning. Starting
+up obliquely from the ground, he continued to ascend in a series of
+upward leaps, making a kind of aerial stairway, up, up, on and up, until
+he was about the size of a humming-bird framed against the blue dome of
+the sky. So far did he plunge into the cerulean depths that I could just
+discern the movement of his wings. While scaling the air he did not
+sing, but having reached the proper altitude, he opened his mandibles
+and let his ditty filtrate through the ether like a shower of spray. It
+could be heard quite plainly, although at best the lark's song is a
+weak, indefinite twitter, its peculiar characteristic being its carrying
+quality, which is indeed remarkable.
+
+The soloist circled around and around in the upper air so long that I
+grew dizzy watching him, and my eyes became blinded by the sun and the
+glittering sky. How long he kept up his aerial evolutions, singing all
+the while, I am unprepared to announce, for I was too much engrossed in
+watching him to consult my timepiece; but the performance lasted so long
+that I was finally obliged to throw myself on my back on the ground to
+relieve the strain upon me, so that I might continue to follow his
+movements. I venture the conjecture that the show lasted from fifteen to
+twenty minutes; at least, it seemed that long to me in my tense state of
+body and mind. Finally he shot down like an arrow, making my head fairly
+whirl, and landed lightly on the ground, where he skipped about and
+resumed his roundelay as if he had not performed an extraordinary feat.
+This was certainly skylarking in a most literal sense. With the
+exception of a similar exhibition by Townsend's solitaire--to be
+described in the closing chapter--up in the neighborhood of Gray's Peak,
+it was the most wonderful avian aeronautic exploit, accompanied with
+song, of which I have ever been witness. It is odd, too, that a bird
+which is so much of a groundling--I use the term in a good sense, of
+course--should also be so expert a sky-scraper. I had listened to the
+sky song of the desert horned lark out on the plain, but there he did
+not hover long in the air.
+
+The killdeer plovers are as noisy in the park as they are in an eastern
+pasture-field, and almost as plentiful. In the evening near the village
+a pair of western robins and a thieving magpie had a hard tussle along
+the fence of the road. The freebooter was carrying something in his beak
+which looked sadly like a callow nestling. He tried to hide in the
+fence-corners, to give himself a chance to eat his morsel, but they were
+hot on his trail, and at length he flew off toward the distant ridge.
+Where did the robins build their nests? I saw no trees in the
+neighborhood, but no doubt they built their adobe huts on a fence-rail
+or in a nook about an old building. Not a Say's phoebe had we thus far
+seen on this jaunt to the mountains, but here was a family near the
+village, and, sure enough, they were whistling their likely tunes, the
+first time I had ever heard them. While I had met with these birds at
+Glenwood and in the valley below Leadville, they had not vouchsafed a
+song. What is the tune they whistle? Why, to be sure, it is, "Phe-be-e!
+phe-be-e! phe-e-e-bie!" Their voices are stronger and more mellifluent
+than the eastern phoebe's, but the manner of delivery is not so
+sprightly and gladsome. Indeed, if I mistake not, there is a pensive
+strain in the lay of the western bird.
+
+A few cowbirds, red-winged blackbirds, and spotted sandpipers were seen
+in the park, but they are too familiar to merit more than casual
+mention. However, let us return to Brewer's blackbirds. Closely as they
+resemble the bronzed grackles of the East, there are some marked
+differences between the eastern and western birds; the westerners are
+not so large, and their manners and nesting habits are more like those
+of the red-wings than the grackles. Brewer's blackbirds hover overhead
+as you come into the neighborhood of their nests or young, and the males
+utter their caveats in short squeals or screeches and the females in
+harsh "chacks."
+
+[Illustration: _Magpie and Western Robins_
+
+"_They were hot on his trail_"]
+
+The nests are set in low bushes and even on the ground, while those of
+the grackles are built in trees and sometimes in cavities. To be exact
+and scientific, Brewer's blackbirds belong to the genus _Icolecophagus_,
+and the grackles to the genus _Quiscalus_. In the breeding season the
+western birds remain in the park. That critical period over, in August
+and September large flocks of them, including young and old, ascend to
+favorite feeding haunts far above the timber-line, ranging over the
+slopes of the snowy mountains engirdling their summer home. Then they
+are in the heyday of blackbird life. Silverspot himself, made famous by
+Ernest Thompson Seton, did not lead a more romantic and adventurous
+life, and I hope some day Brewer's blackbird will be honored by a no
+less effective biography.
+
+What a to-do they make when you approach their outdoor hatchery! Yet
+they are sly and diplomatic. One day I tried my best to find a nest with
+eggs or bantlings in it, but failed, although, as a slight compensation,
+I succeeded in discovering three nests from which the young had flown.
+The old birds of both sexes circled overhead, called and pleaded and
+scolded, and sometimes swooped down quite close to my scalp, always
+veering off in time to avoid actual collision. A pair of them held
+choice morsels--choice for Brewer's blackbirds--in their bills, and I
+sat down on a tuft of sod and watched them for a couple of hours, hoping
+they would feed their young in plain sight and divulge their secret to
+me; but the sable strategists flitted here and there, hovered in the
+air, dropped to the ground, visiting every bush and grass-tuft but the
+right one, and finally the worms held in their bills disappeared,
+whether into their own gullets or those of their fledgelings, I could
+not tell. If the latter, the rascals were unconscionably wary, for my
+eyes were bent on them every moment--at least, I thought so. Again and
+again they flew off some distance, never more than a stone's throw,
+strutted about for a few minutes among the tufts of grass and sod, then
+came back with loud objurgations to the place where I sat. They seemed
+to be aware of my inspection the moment my field-glass was turned upon
+them, for they would at once cease their pretended search for insects in
+the grass and fly toward me with a clamorous berating giving me a big
+piece of their mind. At length my patience was worn out; I began to hunt
+for nests, and found the three empty abodes to which allusion has been
+made.
+
+For the most part the female cried, "Chack! chack!" but occasionally she
+tried to screech like her ebon consort, her voice breaking ludicrously
+in the unfeminine effort. The evening before, I had flushed a youngster
+about which a great hubbub was being made, but on the day of my long
+vigil in the meadow, I could not, by the most careful search, find a
+single bantling, either in or out of a nest. It is odd how effectually
+the young are able to conceal themselves in the short grass and
+straggling bushes.
+
+Not a little attention was given to the western savanna sparrows, whose
+songs have already been described. Abundant proof was furnished that the
+breeding season for these little birds was at its height, and I
+determined to find a nest, if within the range of possibility. An entire
+forenoon was spent in discovering three nests. As you approach their
+domiciles, the cocks, which are always on the alert, evidently give the
+alarm to their sitting mates, which thereupon slip surreptitiously from
+the nest; and in that case how are you going to ferret out their
+domestic secrets?
+
+A female--I could distinguish her from her consort by her conduct--was
+sitting on the post of a wire fence, preening her feathers, which was
+sufficient evidence that she had just come from brooding her eggs. To
+watch her until she went back to her nest, then make a bee-line for
+it--that was the plan I resolved to pursue. It is an expedient that
+succeeds with many birds, if the observer is very quiet and tactful. For
+a long time I stood in the blazing sun with my eyes bent on the little
+impostor. Back and forth, hither and yon, she flew, now descending to
+the ground and creeping slyly about in the grass, manifestly to induce
+me to examine the spot; then back to the fence again, chirping
+excitedly; then down at another place, employing every artifice to make
+me think the nest was where it was not; but I steadfastly refused to
+budge from my tracks as long as she came up in a few moments after
+descending, for in that case I knew that she was simply resorting to a
+ruse to lead me astray. Finally she went down at a point which she had
+previously avoided, and, as it was evident she was becoming exceedingly
+anxious to go back upon her eggs, I watched her like a tiger intent on
+his prey. Slyly she crept about in the grass, presently her chirping
+ceased, and she disappeared.
+
+Several minutes passed, and she did not come up, so I felt sure she had
+gone down for good this time, and was sitting on her nest. Her husband
+exerted himself to his utmost to beguile my attention with his choicest
+arias, but no amount of finesse would now turn me from my purpose. I
+made a bee-line for the spot where I had last seen the madame, stopping
+not, nor veering aside for water, mud, bushes, or any other obstacle. A
+search of a couple of minutes brought no find, for she had employed all
+the strategy of which she was mistress in going to the nest, having
+moused along in the grass for some distance after I had last seen her. I
+made my search in an ever-widening circle, and at length espied some dry
+grass spears in a tuft right at my feet; then the little prospective
+mother flitted from her nest and went trailing on the ground, feigning
+to be fatally wounded.
+
+Acquainted with such tactics, I did not follow her, not even with my
+eye, but looked down at my feet. Ah! the water sprites had been kind,
+for there was the dainty crib, set on a high tuft of sod raised by the
+winter's frosts, a little island castle in the wet marsh, cosey and dry.
+It was my first savanna sparrow's nest, whether eastern or western. The
+miniature cottage was placed under a fragment of dried cattle excrement,
+which made a slant roof over it, protecting it from the hot rays of the
+sun. Sunken slightly into the ground, the nest's rim was flush with the
+short grass, while the longer stems rose about it in a green, filmy wall
+or stockade. The holdings of the pretty cup were four pearls of eggs,
+the ground color white, the smaller end and middle peppered finely with
+brown, the larger almost solidly washed with pigment of the same tint.
+
+Two more savannas' nests were found not long afterwards, one of them by
+watching the female until she settled, the other by accidentally
+flushing her as I walked across the marshy pasture; but neither of them
+was placed under a roof as the first one had been, the blue dome being
+their only shelter. These birdlets seem to be especially fond of soggy
+places in pastures, setting their nests on the little sod towers that
+rise above the surrounding water.
+
+All the birds seen in the park have now been mentioned. It was an
+idyllic spot, and I have often regretted that I did not spend a week in
+rambling over it and making excursions to the engirdling ridges and
+peaks. A few suggestive questions arise relative to the migratory habits
+of the feathered tenants of a mountain park like this, for most of those
+that have been named are only summer residents. How do they reach this
+immured Eden at the time of the spring migration? One may conjecture and
+speculate, but one cannot be absolutely sure of the precise course of
+their annual pilgrimage to their summer Mecca. Of course, they come up
+from the plains, where the spring arrives much earlier than it does in
+the higher altitudes. Our nomads may ascend by easy stages along the few
+canyons and valleys leading up from the plains to this mountain-girt
+plateau; or else, rising high in air at eventide--for most birds perform
+their migrations at night--they may fly over the passes and mountain
+tops, and at dawn descend to the park.
+
+Neither of these hypotheses is free from objection, for, on the one
+hand, it is not likely that birds, which cannot see in the dark, would
+take the risk of dashing their brains out against the cliffs and crags
+of the canyons by following them at night; yet they may depart from their
+usual habit of nocturnal migration, and make the journey up the gorges
+and vales by day. On the other hand, the nights are so cold in the
+elevated regions that the little travellers' lives might be jeopardized
+by nocturnal flight over the passes and peaks. There is one thing
+certain about the whole question, perplexing as it may be--the feathered
+pilgrims reach their summer quarters in some way, and seem to be very
+happy while they remain.
+
+We stopped at a number of places in our run down South Platte Canyon,
+adding no new birds to our list, but making some interesting
+observations. At Cassel's a house-wren had built a nest on the veranda
+of the hotel where people were sitting or passing most of the time, and
+was feeding her tiny brood. In the copse of the hollow below the resort,
+the mountain song-sparrows were trilling sweetly--the only ones we had
+encountered in our wanderings since leaving Arvada on the plains. These
+musicians seem to be rather finical in their choice of summer resorts.
+Chaseville is about a mile below Cassel's, and was made memorable to us
+by the discovery of our second green-tailed towhee's nest, a description
+of which I have decided to reserve for the last chapter of this volume.
+Lincoln's sparrows descanted in rich tones at various places in the
+bushy vales, but were always as wild as deer, scuttling into the
+thickets before a fair view of them could be obtained.
+
+The veranda of a boarding-house at Shawnee was the site of another
+house-wren's nest. While I stood quite close watching the little mother,
+she fed her bantlings twice without a quaver of fear, the youngsters
+chirping loudly for more of "that good dinner." At this place barn
+swallows were describing graceful circles and loops in the air, and a
+sheeny violet-green swallow squatted on the dusty road and took a
+sun-bath, which she did by fluffing up all her plumes and spreading out
+her wings and tail, so that the rays could reach every feather with
+their grateful warmth and light. It was a pretty performance.
+
+[Illustration: _Violet-green Swallow_
+
+"_Squatted on the dusty road and took a sun-bath_"]
+
+A stop-over at Bailey's proved satisfactory for several reasons, among
+which was the finding of the Louisiana tanagers, which were the first we
+had seen on this trip, although many of them had been observed in the
+latitude of Colorado Springs. Afterwards we found them abundant in the
+neighborhood of Boulder. The only pigmy nuthatches of this visit were
+seen in a ravine above Bailey's. In the same wooded hollow I took
+occasion to make some special notes on the quaint calls of the
+long-crested jays, a task that I had thus far deferred from time to
+time. There was an entire family of jays in the ravine, the elders
+feeding their strapping youngsters in the customary manner. These birds
+frequently give voice to a strident call that is hard to distinguish
+from the cries of their kinsmen, the mountain jays. When I pursued the
+couple that were attending to the gastronomical wants of their children,
+one of the adults played a yodel on his trombone sounding like this:
+"Ka-ka-ka, k-wilt, k-wilt, k-wilt", the first three short syllables
+enunciated rapidly, and the "k-wilts" in a more measured way, with a
+peculiar guttural intonation, giving the full sound to the _k_ and _w_.
+The birds became very shy when they thought themselves shadowed, not
+understanding what my pursuit might imply, and they gave utterance to
+harsh cries of warning that were different from any that had preceded.
+It was presently followed by a soft and friendly chatter, as if the
+birds were having an interview that was exclusively _inter se_. Then one
+of them startled me by breaking out in a loud, high key, crying, "Quick!
+quick! quick!" as fast as he could fling the syllables from his tongue.
+This, being translated into our human vernacular, obviously meant,
+"Hurry off! danger! danger!" A few minutes of silence followed the
+outburst, while the birds ambled farther away, and then the echoes were
+roused by a most raucous call, "Go-ware! go-ware! go-ware!" in a voice
+that would have been enough to strike terror to the heart of one who was
+not used to uncanny sounds in solitary places. After that outburst the
+family flew off, and I could hear them talking the matter over among
+themselves far up the mountain side, no doubt congratulating one another
+on their hair-breadth escape. The youngsters looked quite stylish with
+their quaint little blue caps and neatly fitting knickerbockers.
+
+At Bailey's I found my first and only white-crowned sparrow's nest for
+this trip, although two years before I was fortunate enough to discover
+several nests in the valleys creeping from the foot of Pike's Peak. At
+dusk one evening I was walking along the railway below the village,
+listening to the sweetly pensive trills of the white-crowns in the
+bushes bordering the creek, when there was a sharp chirp in the willows,
+and a female white-crown darted over to my side of the stream and
+slipped quietly into a thick bush on the bank. I stepped down to the
+spot, and the pretty madame leaped away, uncovering a well-woven nest
+containing four white eggs speckled with dark brown. All the while her
+spouse was trilling with might and main on the other side of the creek,
+to make believe that there was nothing serious happening, no nest that
+any one cared anything about. His mate could not disguise her agitation
+by assuming nonchalance, but flitted about in the willows and chirped
+pitifully. I hurried away to relieve her distress. The cottages on the
+slopes were gay with tourists enjoying their summer outing, and
+beautiful Kiowa Lodge, perched on a shoulder of the mountain among
+embowering pines, glowed with incandescent lights, while its
+blithe-hearted guests pursued their chosen kinds of pastime; but none of
+them, I venture to assert, were happier than the little white-crown in
+her grassy lodge on the bank of the murmuring stream.
+
+On the way down the canyon, as we were going to Denver, I was able to add
+three belted kingfishers to my bird-roll of Colorado species, the only
+ones I saw in the Rockies.
+
+Our jaunt of 1901 included a trip to Boulder and a thrilling swing
+around the far-famed "Switzerland Trail" to Ward, perched on the
+mountain sides among the clouds hard by the timber-line. Almost
+everywhere we met with feathered comrades; in some places, especially
+about Boulder, many of them; but no new species were seen, and no habits
+observed that have not been sufficiently delineated in other parts of
+this book. If one could only observe all the birds all the time in all
+places, what a happy life the bird-lover would live! It is with feelings
+of mingled joy and sadness that one cons Longfellow's melodious lines:--
+
+    "Think every morning when the sun peeps through
+      The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,
+    How jubilant the happy birds renew
+      Their old, melodious madrigals of love!
+    And when you think of this, remember too
+      'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
+    The awakened continents, from shore to shore,
+    Somewhere the birds are singing evermore."
+
+
+
+
+A NOTABLE QUARTETTE[12]
+
+
+On the plains of Colorado there dwells a feathered choralist that
+deserves a place in American bird literature, and the day will perhaps
+come when his merits will have due recognition, and then he shall have
+not only a monograph, but also an ode all to himself.
+
+    [12] The author is under special obligation to Mr. John P. Haines,
+    editor of "Our Animal Friends," and president of the American
+    Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for publishing the
+    contents of this chapter in his magazine in time to be included in
+    this volume. Also for copyright privileges in connection with this
+    and other chapters.
+
+The bird to which I refer is called the lark bunting in plain English,
+or, in scientific terms, _Calamospiza melanocorys_. The male is a trig
+and handsome fellow, giving you the impression of a well-dressed
+gentleman in his Sunday suit of black, "with more or less of a slaty
+cast," as Ridgway puts it, the middle and greater wing-coverts bearing a
+conspicuous white patch which is both a diagnostic marking and a real
+ornament. In flight this patch imparts to the wing a filmy, almost
+semi-transparent, aspect. The bunting is about the size of the eastern
+bobolink, and bears some resemblance to that bird; but bobolink he is
+not, although sometimes mistaken for one, and even called by that name
+in Colorado. The fact is, those wise men, the systematists, have decided
+that the bobolink belongs to the family _Icteridae_, which includes,
+among others, the blackbirds and orioles, while the lark bunting
+occupies a genus all by himself in the family _Fringillidae_--that is,
+the family of finches, sparrows, grosbeaks, and towhees. Therefore, the
+two birds can scarcely be called second cousins. The bunting has no
+white or buff on his upper parts.
+
+Sitting on a sunny slope one June evening, I surrendered myself to the
+spell of the bunting, and endeavored to make an analysis of his
+minstrelsy. First, it must be said that he is as fond as the bobolink of
+rehearsing his arias on the wing, and that is, perhaps, the chief reason
+for his having been mistaken for that bird by careless observers.
+Probably the major part of his solos are recited in flight, although he
+can sit quietly on a weed-stalk or a fence-post and sing as sweetly, if
+not as ecstatically, as if he were curveting in the air. During this
+aerial performance he hovers gracefully, bending his wings downward,
+after the bobolink's manner, as if he were caressing the earth beneath
+him. However, a striking difference between his intermittent
+song-flights and those of the bobolink is to be noted. The latter
+usually rises in the air, soars around in a curve, and returns to the
+perch from which he started, or to one near by, describing something of
+an ellipse. The lark bunting generally rises obliquely to a certain
+point, then descends at about the same angle to another perch opposite
+the starting-point, describing what might be called the upper sides of
+an isosceles triangle, the base being a line near the ground, connecting
+the perch from which he rose and the one on which he alighted. I do not
+mean to say that our bunting never circles, but simply that such is not
+his ordinary habit, while sweeping in a circle or ellipse is the
+favorite pastime of the eastern bobolink. The ascent of neither bird is
+very high. They are far from deserving the name of skylarks.
+
+We must give a detailed account of the bunting's song. Whatever others
+may think of him, I have come under the spell of his lyrical genius.
+True, his voice has not the loud, metallic ring, nor his chanson the
+medley-like, happy-go-lucky execution, that marks the musical
+performances of the bobolink; but his song is more mellow, rhythmic,
+theme-like; for he has a distinct tune to sing, and sing it he will. In
+fine, his song is of a different order from that of the bobolink, and,
+therefore, the comparison need be carried no further.
+
+As one of these minstrels sat on a flowering weed and gave himself up
+to a lyrical transport, I made careful notes, and now give the substance
+of my elaborate entries. The song, which is intermittent, opens with
+three prolonged notes running high in the scale, and is succeeded by a
+quaint, rattling trill of an indescribable character, not without
+musical effect, which is followed by three double-toned long notes quite
+different from the opening phrases; then the whole performance is closed
+by an exceedingly high and fine run like an insect's hum--so fine,
+indeed, that the auditor must be near at hand to notice it at all.
+Sometimes the latter half of the score, including the second triad of
+long notes, is repeated before the soloist stops to take breath. It will
+be seen that the regular song consists of four distinct phrases, two
+triads and two trills. About one-third of the songs are opened in a
+little lower key than the rest, the remainder being correspondingly
+mellowed. The opening syllables, and, indeed, some other parts of the
+melody as well, are very like certain strains of the song-sparrow, both
+in execution and in quality of tone; and thus even the experienced
+ornithologist may sometimes be led astray. When the bunting sails into
+the air, he rehearses the song just described, only he is very likely to
+prolong it by repeating the various parts, though I think he seldom, if
+ever, throws them together in a hodge-podge. He seems to follow a system
+in his recitals, varied as many of them are. As to his voice, it is of
+superb timbre.
+
+Another characteristic noted was that the buntings do not throw back
+their heads while singing, after the manner of the sparrows, but stretch
+their necks forward, and at no time do they open their mouths widely. As
+a rule, or at least very often, when flying, they do not begin their
+songs until they have almost reached the apex of their triangle; then
+the song begins, and it continues over the angle and down the incline
+until another perch is settled upon. What Lowell says of "bobolinkum" is
+just as true of bunting--"He runs down, a brook o' laughter, thru the
+air." As the sun went down behind the snow-clad mountains, a half dozen
+or more of the buntings rolled up the full tide of song, and I left them
+to their vespers and trudged back to the village, satisfied with the
+acquirements of this red-letter day in my ornithological journey.
+
+However, one afternoon's study of such charming birds was not enough to
+satisfy my curiosity, for no females had been seen and no nests
+discovered. About ten days later, more attention was given them. In a
+meadow not far from the hamlet of Arvada, between Denver and the
+mountains, I found a colony of buntings one morning, swinging in the air
+and furnishing their full quota of the matutinal concert, in which many
+other birds had a leading part, among them being western meadow-larks,
+western robins, Bullock's orioles, American and Arkansas goldfinches,
+mountain song-sparrows, lazuli finches, spurred towhees, black-headed
+grosbeaks, summer warblers, western Maryland yellow-throats, and
+Townsend's solitaires. It has seldom been my fortune to listen to a
+finer _pot-pourri_ of avian music.
+
+At first only male buntings were seen. Surely, I thought, there must be
+females in the neighborhood, for when male birds are singing so lustily
+about a place, their spouses are usually sitting quietly on nests
+somewhere in bush or tree or grass. I hunted long for a nest, trudging
+about over the meadow, examining many a grass-tuft and weed-clump,
+hoping to flush a female and discover her secret; but my quest was vain.
+It is strange how difficult it is to find nests in Colorado, either on
+the plains or in the mountains. The birds seem to be adepts in the fine
+arts of concealment and secret-keeping. Presently several females were
+seen flying off over the fields and returning, obviously to feed their
+young. There was now some colorable prospect of finding a nest. A mother
+bird appeared with a worm in her bill, and you may rely upon it I did
+not permit her to slip from my sight until I saw her drop to the ground,
+hop about stealthily for a few moments, then disappear, and presently
+fly up minus the worm. Scarcely daring to breathe, I followed a direct
+course to the weed-clump from which she had risen. And there was a nest,
+sure enough--my first lark bunting's--set in a shallow pit of the
+ground, prettily concealed and partly roofed over by the flat and
+spreading weed-stalk. Four half-fledged youngsters lay panting in the
+little cradle, the day being very warm. I lifted one of them from the
+nest, and held it in my hand for a minute or two, and even touched it
+with my lips, my first view of lark-bunting babies being something of an
+event--I had almost said an epoch--in my experience. Replacing the
+youngster in its crib, I stepped back a short distance and watched the
+mother bird returning with another mouthful of "goodies," and feeding
+her bantlings four. She was not very shy, and simply uttered a fine
+chirp when I went too close to her nestlings, while her gallant consort
+did not even chirp, but tried to divert my attention by repeatedly
+curveting in the air and singing his choicest measures. This was the
+only bunting's nest I found, although I made long and diligent search
+for others, as you may well believe when I state that a half day was
+spent in gathering the facts recorded in the last two paragraphs.
+
+In the afternoon I watched a female in another field for a long time,
+but she was too wary to betray her secret. In this case the male,
+instead of beguiling me with song, flitted about and mingled his fine
+chirps with those of his anxious mate. On my way across the plains,
+some two weeks later, I discovered that the lark buntings do not dwell
+only in well-watered meadows, but also in the most arid localities.
+Still, I am inclined to think they do not build their nests far from
+refreshing streams. When the breeding season is over, they range far and
+wide over the plains in search of insects that are to their taste. From
+the car window many of them were observed all along the way to a
+distance of over sixty miles east of Denver. At that time the males,
+females, and young were moving from place to place, mostly in scattering
+flocks, the breeding season being past. A problem that puzzled me a
+little was where they obtain water for drinking and bathing purposes,
+but no doubt such blithe and active birds are able to "look out for
+number one."
+
+The second member of our lyrical quartette is the elegant green-tailed
+towhee, known scientifically as _Pipilo chlorurus_. The pretty
+green-tails are quite wary about divulging their domestic secrets, and
+for a time I was almost in despair of finding even one of their nests.
+In vain I explored with exhausting toil many a steep mountain side,
+examining every bush and beating every copse within a radius of many
+rods.
+
+My purpose was to flush the female from her nest, a plan that succeeds
+with many birds; but in this instance I was disappointed. It is possible
+that, when an intruder appears in their nesting haunts, the males,
+which are ever on the lookout, call their spouses from the nests, and
+then "snap their fingers," so to speak, at the puzzled searcher.
+
+However, by watching the mother birds carrying worms in their bills I
+succeeded in finding two nests. The first was at Breckenridge, and,
+curiously enough, in a vacant lot at the border of the town, not on a
+steep slope, but on a level spot near the bank of Blue River. The mother
+bird had slyly crept to her nest while I watched, and remained firmly
+seated until I bent directly over her, when she fluttered away, trailing
+a few feet to draw my attention to herself. It was a cosey nest site--in
+a low, thick bush, beneath a rusty but well-preserved piece of
+sheet-iron which made a slant roof over the cradle. It contained three
+callow bantlings, which innocently opened their carmine-lined mouths
+when I stirred the leaves above them. It seemed to be an odd location
+for the nest of a bird that had always appeared so wild and shy. The
+altitude of the place is nine thousand five hundred and twenty feet.
+
+My second green-tail's nest was in South Platte Canyon, near a station
+called Chaseville, its elevation being about eight thousand five hundred
+feet. I was walking along the dusty wagon road winding about the base of
+the mountain, when a little bird with a worm in her bill flitted up the
+steep bank a short distance and disappeared among the bushes. The tidbit
+in her bill gave me a clew to the situation; so I scrambled up the steep
+place, and presently espied a nest in a bush, about a foot and a half
+from the ground. As had been anticipated, it turned out to be a
+green-tailed towhee's domicile, as was proved by the presence and uneasy
+chirping of a pair of those birds. While the nest at Breckenridge was
+set on the ground, this one was placed on the twigs of thick bushes,
+showing that these birds, like their eastern relatives, are fond of
+diversity in selecting nesting places.
+
+This nest contained four bantlings, already well fledged. My notes say
+that their mouths were yellow-lined, and that the fleshy growths at the
+corners of their bills were yellow. Does the lining of the juvenile
+green-tail's mouth change from red to yellow as he advances in age? My
+notes certainly declare that the nestlings at Breckenridge had
+carmine-lined mouths. For the present I cannot settle the question
+either affirmatively or negatively.
+
+Here I perpetrated a trick which I have ever since regretted. The
+temptation to hold a baby green-tail in my hand and examine it closely
+was so strong that, as carefully as I could, I drew one from its grassy
+crib and held it in my palm, noting the green tinting already beginning
+to show on its wings and back. Its tail was still too stubby to display
+the ornamentation that gives the species its popular name. So much was
+learned, but at the expense of the little family's peace of mind. As I
+held the bantling in my hand, the frightened mamma uttered a series of
+pitiful calls that were new to my ears, consisting of two notes in a
+low, complaining tone; it was more of an entreaty than a protest.
+Afterwards I heard the green-tails also give voice to a fine chirp
+almost like that of a chipping sparrow.
+
+The mother's call seemed to strike terror to the hearts of her infant
+brood, for, as I attempted to put the baby back into its crib, all four
+youngsters set up a loud to-do, and sprang, panic stricken, over the
+rim, tumbling, fluttering, and falling through the network of twigs to
+the ground, a couple of them rolling a few feet down the dusty bank.
+Again and again I caught them and put them back into the nest, but they
+would not remain there, so I was compelled to leave them scrambling
+about among the bushes and rocks. I felt like a buccaneer, a veritable
+Captain Kidd. My sincere hope is that none of the birdkins came to grief
+on account of their premature flight from the nest. The next morning old
+and young were chirping about the place as I passed, and I hurried away,
+feeling sad that science and sentiment must sometimes come into
+conflict.
+
+One day in the latter part of June, as I was climbing the steep side of
+a mesa in the neighborhood of Golden, my ear was greeted by a new style
+of bird music, which came lilting sweetly down to me from the height. It
+had a kind of wild, challenging ring about it, as if the singer were
+daring me to venture upon his demesne at my peril. A hard climb brought
+me at length within range of the little performer, who was blowing his
+Huon's horn from the pointed top of a large stone on the mesa's side. My
+field-glass was soon fixed upon him, revealing a little bird with a long
+beak, decurved at the end, a grayish-brown coat quite thickly barred and
+mottled on the wings and tail, and a vest of warm white finely sprinkled
+with a dusky gray. A queer, shy, timid little thing he was. Afterwards I
+met him often, but never succeeded in gaining his confidence or winning
+a single concession from him. He was the rock wren (_Salpinctes
+obsoletus_)--a species that is unknown east of the Great Plains, one
+well deserving a place in literature.
+
+I was especially impressed with his peculiar style of minstrelsy, so
+different from anything I had ever heard in the bird realm. While the
+song was characterized by much variety, it usually opened with two or
+three loud, clear syllables, somewhat prolonged, sounding, as has been
+said, like a challenge, followed by a peculiar bubbling trill that
+seemed fairly to roll from the piper's tongue. Early one morning a few
+days later I heard a brilliant vocalist descanting from the top of a
+pump in a wide field among the foothills. How wildly his tones rang out
+on the crisp morning air! I seemed to be suddenly transported to another
+part of the world, his style of music was so new, so foreign to my ear.
+My pencilled notes say of this particular minstrel: "Very musical--great
+variety of notes--clear, loud, ringing--several runs slightly like
+Carolina's--others suggest Bewick's--but most of them _sui generis_."
+
+Let us return to the first rock wren I saw. He was exceedingly shy,
+scurrying off to a more distant perch--another stone--as I approached.
+Sometimes he would run down among the bushes and rocks like a mouse,
+then glide to the top of another stone, and fling his pert little aria
+at the intruder. It was interesting to note that he most frequently
+selected for a singing perch the top of a high, pointed rock where he
+could command a view of his surroundings and pipe a note of warning to
+his mate at the approach of a supposed enemy. Almost every conspicuous
+rock on the acclivity bore evidence of having been used as a lookout by
+the little sentinel.
+
+This wren is well named, for his home is among the rocks, in the
+crannies and niches of which his mate hides her nest so effectually that
+you must look long for it, and even after the most painstaking search
+you may not be able to find it. The little husband helps to lead you
+astray. He will leap upon a rock and send forth his bell-like peal, as
+if he were saying, "Right here, right here, here is our nest!" but when
+you go to the spot, he flits off to another rock and sounds the same
+challenge. And so you can form no idea of the nest site. My nearest
+approach to finding a nest was among the rocks and cliffs on the summit
+of a mountain a few miles from Golden, where an adult bird was seen to
+feed a youngster that had already flown from the nursery. It was
+interesting to know that the rock wrens breed at so high an altitude.
+However, they are not an alpine species, none having been seen by the
+writer over eight thousand feet above sea-level, although they have been
+known to ascend to an altitude of twelve thousand feet.
+
+The fourth member of our feathered quartette was the oddest of all. On
+the thirtieth of June my companion and I were riding slowly down the
+mountain side a few miles below Gray's Peak, which we had scaled two
+days before. My ear was struck by a flicker's call above us, so I
+dismounted from my burro, and began to clamber up the hillside.
+Presently I heard a song that seemed one moment to be near at hand, the
+next far away, now to the right, now to the left, and anon directly
+above me. To my ear it was a new kind of bird minstrelsy. I climbed
+higher and higher, and yet the song seemed to be no nearer. It had a
+grosbeak-like quality, I fancied, and I hoped to find either the pine
+or the evening grosbeak, for both of which I had been making anxious
+search. The shifting of the song from point to point struck me as odd,
+and it was very mystifying.
+
+Higher and higher I climbed, the mountain side being so steep that my
+breath came in gasps, and I was often compelled to throw myself on the
+ground to recover strength. At length a bird darted out from the pines
+several hundred feet above me, rose high into the air, circled and swung
+this way and that for a long time, breaking at intervals into a song
+which sifted down to me faintly through the blue distance. How long it
+remained on the wing I do not know, but it was too long for my eyes to
+endure the strain of watching it. Through my glass a large part of the
+wings showed white or yellowish-white, and seemed to be almost
+translucent in the blaze of the sunlight. What could this wonderful
+haunter of the sky be? It was scarcely possible that so roly-poly a bird
+as a grosbeak could perform so marvellous an exploit on the wing.
+
+I never worked harder to earn my salary than I did to climb that steep
+and rugged mountain side; but at last I reached and penetrated the zone
+of pines, and finally, in an area covered with dead timber, standing and
+fallen, two feathered strangers sprang in sight, now flitting among the
+lower branches and now sweeping to the ground. They were not grosbeaks,
+that was sure; their bills were quite slender, their bodies lithe and
+graceful, and their tails of well-proportioned length. Save in color,
+they presented a decidedly thrush-like appearance, and their manners
+were also thrush-like.
+
+Indeed, the colors and markings puzzled me not a little. The upper parts
+were brownish-gray of various shades, the wings and tail for the most
+part dusky, the wing-coverts, tertials, and some of the quills bordered
+and tipped with white, also the tail. The white of both wings and tail
+became quite conspicuous when they were spread. This was the feathered
+conundrum that flitted about before me. The birds were about the size of
+the hermit thrushes, but lither and suppler. They ambled about
+gracefully, and did not seem to be very shy, and presently one of them
+broke into a song--the song that I had previously heard, only it was
+loud and ringing and well articulated, now that I was near the singer.
+Again and again they lifted their rich voices in song. When they
+wandered a little distance from each other, they called in affectionate
+tones, giving their "All's well."
+
+Then one of them, no doubt the male, darted from a pine branch obliquely
+into the air, and mounted up and up and up, in a series of graceful
+leaps, until he was a mere speck against the blue dome, gyrating to and
+fro in zigzag lines, or wheeling in graceful circles, his song dribbling
+faintly down to me at frequent intervals. A thing of buoyancy and grace,
+more angel than bird, that wonderful winged creature floated about in
+the cerulean sky; how long I do not know, whether five minutes, or ten,
+or twenty, but so long that at last I flung myself upon my back and
+watched him until my eyes ached. He kept his wings in constant motion,
+the white portions making them appear filmy as the sun shone upon them.
+Suddenly he bent his head, partly folded his wings, and swept down
+almost vertically like an arrow, alighting safe somewhere among the
+pines. I have seen other birds performing aerial evolutions accompanied
+with song, but have never known one to continue so long on the wing.
+
+What was this wonderful bird? It was Townsend's solitaire (_Myadestes
+townsendii_)--a bird which is peculiar to the West, especially to the
+Rocky Mountains, and which belongs to the same family as the thrushes
+and bluebirds. No literature in my possession contains any reference to
+this bird's astonishing aerial flight and song, and I cannot help
+wondering whether other bird-students have witnessed the interesting
+exploit.
+
+Subsequently I found a pair of solitaires on the plains near Arvada. The
+male was a powerful singer. Many of his outbursts were worthy of the
+mocking-bird, to some of whose runs they bore a close resemblance. He
+sang almost incessantly during the half day I spent in the neighborhood,
+my presence seeming to inspire him to the most prodigious lyrical
+efforts of which he was master. Sometimes he would sit on the top of a
+bush or a fence-post, but his favorite perches were several ridges of
+sand and gravel. His flight was the picture of grace, and he had a habit
+of lifting his wings, now one, now the other, and often both, after the
+manner of the mocking-bird on a chimney-top. He and his mate did not
+utter a chirp, but made a great to-do by singing, and finally I
+discovered that all the fuss was not about a nest, but about a hulking
+youngster that had outgrown his kilts and looked very like a brown
+thrasher. Neither of this second pair of solitaires performed any
+evolutions in the upper air; nor did another pair that I found far up a
+snow-clad mountain near Breckenridge, on the other side of the
+Continental Divide.
+
+The scientific status of this unique bird is interesting. He is a
+species of the genus _Myadestes_, which belongs to the family _Turdidae_,
+including the thrushes, stone-chats, and bluebirds, as well as the
+solitaires. He is therefore not a thrush, but is closely related to the
+genus _Turdus_, occupying the same relative position in the avi-faunal
+system. According to Doctor Coues the genus includes about twenty
+species, only one of which--the one just described--is native to the
+United States, the rest being found in the West Indies and Central and
+South America. Formerly the solitaires comprised a subfamily among the
+chatterers, but a later and more scientific classification places
+them in a genus under the head of _Turdidae_.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE VIII
+
+BROWN-CAPPED LEUCOSTICTE--_Leucosticte australis_
+(Lower figure, male; upper, female)]
+
+The range of Townsend's solitaire is from the plains of Colorado to the
+Pacific coast and north to British Columbia. According to Robert
+Ridgway, he has even been met with "casually" in Illinois. In Colorado
+many of the solitaires are permanent residents in the mountains,
+remaining there throughout the winter. Some of them, however, visit the
+plains during the fall, winter, and spring. In the winter they may be
+found from the lower valleys to an elevation of ten thousand feet, while
+they are known to breed as high as twelve thousand feet. The nests are
+placed on the ground among rocks, fallen branches and logs, and are
+loosely constructed of sticks and grass. From three to six eggs compose
+a set, the ground color being white, speckled with reddish brown. Doctor
+Coues says the birds feed on insects and berries, and are "capable of
+musical expression in an exalted degree." With this verdict the writer
+is in full accord.
+
+
+
+
+CHECK-LIST OF COLORADO BIRDS
+
+
+The following list includes all the species and varieties, so far as
+known to naturalists, occurring in the State of Colorado. Of course,
+these birds as families are not restricted to that State, and therefore
+the catalogue comprehends many of the species to be found in adjacent
+and even more remote parts of the country. Aside from the author's own
+observations, he is indebted for a large part of the matter comprised in
+this list to Professor Wells W. Cooke's pamphlet, entitled, "The Birds
+of Colorado," with the several appendixes, and to the invaluable manuals
+of Mr. Ridgway and Dr. Coues.
+
+According to the latest information accessible to the writer, 389
+species and varieties occur in Colorado, of which 243 are known to
+breed. This is a superb record, and is excelled by only two other States
+in the Union, namely, Texas and California. Colorado's splendid list is
+to be explained on the ground of its wonderful variety of climate,
+altitude, soil, and topographical features, such as its plains,
+foothills, lower mountains, and towering peaks and ranges, bringing
+within its boundaries many eastern, boreal, middle western, and far
+western forms.
+
+The author's preference would have been to begin the roll with the most
+interesting birds, those to which he gave the largest share of his
+attention, namely, the oscines, but he has decided to follow the order
+and nomenclature of the Check-List of North American birds as arranged
+by the American Ornithologists' Union. In deference to the general
+reader, however, he has placed the English name of each bird first, then
+the scientific designation. The numbers correspond to the American
+Check-List. By noting those omitted, the reader will readily discover
+what species have not been found in Colorado.
+
+1. =Western grebe.= AECHMOPHORUS OCCIDENTALIS. Rare migrant; western
+species, chiefly interior regions of North America.
+
+2. =Holboell's grebe.= COLYMBUS HOLBOELLII. Rare migrant; breeds far
+north; range, all of North America.
+
+3. =Horned grebe.= COLYMBUS AURITUS. Rare migrant; range, almost the
+same as the last.
+
+4. =American eared grebe.= COLYMBUS NIGRICOLLIS CALIFORNICUS. Summer
+resident; rare in eastern, common in western Colorado; breeds from
+plains to 8,000 feet; partial to alkali lakes; western species.
+
+6. =Pied-billed grebe.= PODILYMBUS PODICEPS. Summer resident, rare;
+common in migration; breeds in northern part of State; sometimes winters
+in southern part.
+
+7. =Loon.= GAVIA IMBER. Migrant; occasionally winter resident; not known
+to breed in State.
+
+8. =Yellow-billed loon.= GAVIA ADAMSII. Migrant; rare or accidental.
+
+9. =Black-throated loon.= GAVIA ARCTICA. Rare fall and winter visitant.
+
+37. =Parasitic jaeger.= STERCORARIUS PARASITICUS. Fall and winter
+resident; rare.
+
+40. =Kittiwake.= RISSA TRIDACTYLA. Rare or accidental in winter.
+
+49. =Western gull.= LARUS OCCIDENTALIS. Pacific Coast bird; accidental
+in Colorado; only one record.
+
+51a. =American herring gull.= LARUS ARGENTATUS SMITHSONIANUS. Rare
+migrant; range, the whole of North America.
+
+53. =California gull.= LARUS CALIFORNICUS. Western species; breeds
+abundantly in Utah; only three records for Colorado.
+
+54. =Ring-billed gull.= LARUS DELAWARENSIS. Not uncommon summer
+resident; common in migration; breeds as high as 7,500 feet; range,
+whole of North America.
+
+58. =Laughing gull.= LARUS ATRICILLA. Bird of South Atlantic and Gulf
+States; once accidental in Colorado.
+
+59. =Franklin's gull.= LARUS FRANKLINII. Rare migrant; range, interior
+of North America.
+
+60. =Bonaparte's gull.= LARUS PHILADELPHIA. Rare migrant; not uncommon
+in a few localities; range, whole of North America.
+
+62. =Sabine's gull.= XEMA SABINII. Rare winter visitant; breeds in the
+arctic regions.
+
+69. =Forster's tern.= STERNA FORSTERI. Rare summer resident; common
+migrant; habitat, temperate North America.
+
+71. =Arctic tern.= STERNA PARADISAEA. Very rare migrant; but two records;
+breeding habitat, circumpolar regions.
+
+77. =Black tern.= HYDROCHELIDON NIGRA SURINAMENSIS. Common summer
+resident; both sides of range; habitat, temperate North America; in
+winter south as far as Brazil and Chili.
+
+120. =Double-crested cormorant.= PHALACROCORAX DILOPHUS. Perhaps breeds
+in Colorado, as it breeds abundantly in Utah; all present records from
+eastern foothills.
+
+125. =American white pelican.= PELECANUS ERYTHRORHYNCHOS. Once a common
+migrant; a few remained to breed; now rare; still noted on both sides of
+the range.
+
+129. =American merganser.= MERGANSER AMERICANUS. Resident; common
+migrant and winter sojourner; a few breed in mountains and parks;
+generally distributed in North America.
+
+130. =Red-breasted merganser.= MERGANSER SERRATOR. Rare winter
+sojourner; common migrant; breeds far north.
+
+131. =Hooded merganser.= LOPHODYTES CUCULLATUS. Rare resident both
+summer and winter; breeds in eastern part and in the mountains; general
+range, North America.
+
+132. =Mallard.= ANAS BOSCHAS. Very common in migration; common in
+winter; breeds below 9,000 feet, on plains as well as in mountains;
+general range, whole northern hemisphere.
+
+134a. =Mottled duck.= ANAS FULVIGULA MACULOSA. Rare migrant; an eastern
+species, sometimes wandering west to plains.
+
+135. =Gadwall.= CHAULELASMUS STREPERUS. Summer resident; common in
+migration; breeds on plains; also in sloughs and small lakes at an
+elevation of 11,000 feet in southern part of State; breeds abundantly at
+San Luis Lakes.
+
+137. =Baldpate.= MARECA AMERICANA. Summer resident; breeds from plains
+to 8,000 feet.
+
+139. =Green-winged teal.= NETTION CAROLINENSIS. Common summer resident;
+abundant in migration; a few breed on the plains; more in mountains and
+upper parks.
+
+140. =Blue-winged teal.= QUERQUEDULA DISCORS. Same records as preceding.
+
+141. =Cinnamon teal.= QUERQUEDULA CYANOPTERA. Common summer resident;
+breeds both east and west of the range; a western species; in winter
+south to Chili, Argentina, and Falkland Islands; sometimes strays east
+as far as Illinois and Louisiana.
+
+142. =Shoveller.= SPATULA CLYPEATA. Summer resident; abundant in
+migration; breeds in suitable localities, but prefers mountain parks
+8,000 feet in altitude; breeds throughout its range, which is the whole
+of North America.
+
+143. =Pintail=. DAFILA ACUTA. Rare summer and winter resident; common
+migrant; mostly breeds in the North.
+
+144. =Wood duck.= AIX SPONSA. Rare summer resident.
+
+146. =Redhead.= AYTHYA AMERICANA. Common migrant; breeds far north;
+migrates early in spring.
+
+147. =Canvas-back.= AYTHYA VALLISNERIA. Migrant; not common; breeds far
+north.
+
+148. =Scaup duck.= AYTHYA MARILA. Rare migrant; both sides of the range;
+breeds far north.
+
+149. =Lesser scaup duck.= AYTHYA AFFINIS. Migrant; not common; a little
+more common than preceding.
+
+150. =Ring-necked duck.= AYTHYA COLLARIS. Rare migrant, though common in
+Kansas; breeds in far North.
+
+151. =American golden-eye.= CLANGULA CLANGULA AMERICANA. Rare migrant;
+breeds far north.
+
+152. =Barrow's golden-eye.= CLANGULA ISLANDICA. Summer and winter
+resident; a northern species, but breeds in mountains of Colorado,
+sometimes as high as 10,000 feet; rare on plains.
+
+153. =Buffle-head.= CHARITONETTA ALBEOLA. Common migrant throughout
+State; breeds in the North.
+
+154. =Old squaw.= HARELDA HYEMALIS. Rare winter visitor; a northern
+species.
+
+155. =Harlequin duck.= HISTRIONICUS HISTRIONICUS. Resident; not common;
+a northern species, but a few breed in mountains at an altitude of 7,000
+to 10,000 feet.
+
+160. =American eider.= SOMATERIA DRESSERI. Very rare; only two
+records--one somewhat uncertain.
+
+163. =American scoter.= OIDEMIA AMERICANA. Rare winter visitor; northern
+bird, in winter principally along the sea-coast, but a few visit the
+larger inland lakes.
+
+165. =White-winged scoter.= OIDEMIA DEGLANDI. Same habits as preceding;
+perhaps rarer.
+
+166. =Surf scoter.= OIDEMIA PERSPICILLATA. Same as preceding.
+
+167. =Ruddy duck.= ERISMATURA JAMAICENSIS. Common summer resident; both
+sides of the range; breeds from plains to 10,000 feet; a beautiful bird;
+author's observations given in Chapter VII.
+
+169. =Lesser snow goose.= CHEN HYPERBOREA. Migrant and winter resident;
+not common; breeds far north.
+
+169a. =Greater snow goose.= CHEN HYPERBOREA NIVALIS. Rare migrant; only
+two records; the eastern form, which does not come regularly as far west
+as Colorado.
+
+171a. =American white-fronted goose.= ANSER ALBIFRONS GAMBELI. Rare
+migrant; breeds far northward.
+
+172. =Canada goose.= BRANTA CANADENSIS. Summer and winter resident;
+rare, except locally; common in migration; breeds about secluded lakes
+at 10,000 feet.
+
+172a. =Hutchins's goose.= BRANTA CANADENSIS HUTCHINSII. Common migrant;
+breeds in the North; a few may winter in the State.
+
+172c. =Cackling goose.= BRANTA CANADENSIS MINIMA. One record; Pacific
+coast bird; breeds in Alaska.
+
+173. =Brant.= BRANTA BERNICLA. Rare or accidental migrant; an eastern
+species seldom coming west; breeds only within the Arctic Circle.
+
+180. =Whistling swan.= OLOR COLUMBIANUS. Migrant; not common; formerly
+fairly plentiful; breeds far northward.
+
+181. =Trumpeter swan.= OLOR BUCCINATOR. Rare migrant; not so common as
+preceding; breeds from Iowa and Dakota northward.
+
+183. =Roseate spoonbill.= AJAJA AJAJA. Accidental; two instances;
+habitat, tropical and subtropical America.
+
+184. =White ibis.= GUARA ALBA. Rare migrant; one taken on plains;
+habitat, tropical and subtropical America, coming north as far as Great
+Salt Lake and South Dakota.
+
+[185.] =Scarlet ibis.= GUARA RUBRA. Accidental; one specimen taken; a
+wonderful record for this tropical species.
+
+186. =Glossy ibis.= PLEGADIS AUTUMNALIS. Accidental; two fine specimens
+taken in the State; this is far out of its ordinary tropical range.
+
+187. =White-faced glossy ibis.= PLEGADIS GUARAUNA. Summer visitor; rare;
+fairly common in New Mexico and Arizona; sometimes wanders into
+Colorado; Aiken found it breeding at San Luis Lakes.
+
+188. =Wood ibis.= TANTALUS LOCULATOR. Rare summer visitor; southern
+range.
+
+190. =American bittern.= BOTAURUS LENTIGINOSUS. Common summer resident;
+breeds throughout the State, from plains to about 7,000 feet.
+
+191. =Least bittern.= ARDETTA EXILIS. Rare summer visitor; a few records
+east of mountains; one specimen seen west of the divide.
+
+194. =Great blue heron.= ARDEA HERODIAS. Summer resident; common in
+migration; seldom goes far up in the mountains, though Mr. Aiken found
+one at an altitude of 9,000 feet.
+
+196. =American egret.= ARDEA EGRETTA. Rare or accidental; one seen;
+general range, the whole of the United States; in winter south to Chili
+and Patagonia.
+
+197. =Snowy heron.= ARDEA CANDIDISSIMA. Summer visitor; not known to
+breed; the highest altitude is the one taken near Leadville, 10,000
+feet.
+
+198. =Reddish egret.= ARDEA RUFESCENS. Rare or accidental; only two
+specimens secured; southern range.
+
+202. =Black-crowned night heron.= NYCTICORAX NYCTICORAX NAEVIUS. Summer
+resident; not common; local; more plentiful in migration.
+
+203. =Yellow-crowned night heron.= NYCTICORAX VIOLACEUS. Rare summer
+visitor; southern species; not known to breed in State.
+
+204. =Whooping crane.= GRUS AMERICANA. Rare migrant; more common east of
+Colorado.
+
+205. =Little brown crane.= GRUS CANADENSIS. Migrant; few taken; northern
+breeder.
+
+206. =Sandhill crane.= GRUS MEXICANA. Summer resident; not uncommon
+locally; in migration common; breeds as high as 8,000 feet; has been
+seen in autumn passing over the highest peaks.
+
+212. =Virginia rail.= RALLUS VIRGINIANUS. Summer resident; not uncommon;
+breeds on plains and in mountains to at least 7,500 feet.
+
+214. =Sora.= PORZANA CAROLINA. Common summer resident; breeds from
+plains to 9,000 feet.
+
+216. =Black rail.= PORZANA JAMAICENSIS. Rare migrant; one specimen
+secured.
+
+219. =Florida gallinule.= GALLINULA GALEATA. Summer visitor, not known
+to breed.
+
+221. =American coot.= FULICA AMERICANA. Common summer resident; breeds
+on plains and in mountain parks.
+
+222. =Red phalarope.= CRYMOPHILUS FULICARIUS. Migrant; rare; once taken
+at Loveland by Edw. A. Preble, July 25, 1895. Breeds far north.
+
+223. =Northern phalarope.= PHALAROPUS LOBATUS. Migrant; not uncommon;
+breeds far northward.
+
+224. =Wilson's phalarope.= STEGANOPUS TRICOLOR. Common summer resident;
+more common in migration; breeds below 6,000 feet.
+
+225. =American avocet.= RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA. Common summer resident;
+occurs frequently on the plains; less frequent in mountains.
+
+226. =Black-necked stilt.= HIMANTOPUS MEXICANUS. Summer resident; most
+common in the mountains, going as high as 8,000 feet; more common west
+of range than east.
+
+228. =American woodcock.= PHILOHELA MINOR. Rare summer resident;
+Colorado the extreme western limit of its range, going only to
+foothills.
+
+230. =Wilson's snipe.= GALLINAGO DELICATA. Rare summer resident; common
+migrant; winter resident, rare; found as high as 10,000 feet.
+
+232. =Long-billed dowitcher.= MACRORHAMPHUS SCOLOPACEUS. Somewhat common
+migrant; all records restricted to plains; breeds far northward.
+
+233. =Stilt sandpiper.= MICROPALAMA HIMANTOPUS. Rare migrant; breeds
+north of United States.
+
+239. =Pectoral sandpiper.= TRINGA MACULTA. Common migrant; occurs from
+the plains to the great height of 13,000 feet.
+
+240. =White-rumped sandpiper.= TRINGA FUSCICOLLIS. Not uncommon migrant;
+a bird of the plains, its western limit being the base of the Rockies;
+breeds in the far North.
+
+241. =Baird's sandpiper.= TRINGA BAIRDII. Abundant migrant; breeds far
+north; returns in August and ranges over mountains sometimes at height
+of 13,000 to 14,000 feet, feeding on grasshoppers.
+
+242. =Least sandpiper.= TRINGA MINUTILLA. Common migrant; found from
+plains to 7,000 feet.
+
+243a. =Red-backed sandpiper.= TRINGA ALPINA PACIFICA. Rare migrant; only
+three records; range, throughout North America.
+
+246. =Semipalmated sandpiper.= EREUNETES PUSILLUS. Common migrant; from
+the plains to 8,000 feet.
+
+247. =Western sandpiper.= EREUNETES OCCIDENTALIS. Rare migrant; breeds
+in the remote North; western species, but in migration occurs regularly
+along the Atlantic coast.
+
+248. =Sanderling.= CALIDRIS ARENARIA. Rare migrant, on plains; range
+nearly cosmopolitan; breeds only in northern part of northern
+hemisphere.
+
+249. =Marbled godwit.= LIMOSA FEDOA. Migrant; not common; a bird of the
+plains, but seldom seen; occasionally found in the mountains.
+
+254. =Greater yellow-legs.= TOTANUS MELANOLEUCUS. Common migrant; in
+favorable localities below 8,000 feet.
+
+255. =Yellow-legs.= TOTANUS FLAVIPES. Common migrant; distribution same
+as preceding.
+
+256. =Solitary sandpiper.= HELODROMAS SOLITARIUS. Summer resident; not
+common; in migration, common; breeds from plains to 10,000 feet.
+
+258a. =Western willet.= SYMPHEMIA SEMIPALMATA INORNATA. Summer resident;
+not common; common migrant, especially in the fall; breeds from plains
+to 7,000 feet.
+
+261. =Bartramian sandpiper.= BARTRAMIA LONGICAUDA. Common summer
+resident; abundant in migration; a bird of the plains; rare west of
+mountains.
+
+263. =Spotted sandpiper.= ACTITIS MACULARIA. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds on the plains and at all intermediate altitudes to 12,000 feet,
+even on top of mountains of that height, if a lake or pond can be found;
+in fall, ranges above timber-line to 14,000 feet; some may remain
+throughout winter.
+
+264. =Long-billed curlew.= NUMENIUS LONGIROSTRIS. Common summer
+resident; breeds on the plains; also in Middle and South Parks; found
+on both sides of the range.
+
+265. =Hudsonian curlew.= NUMENIUS HUDSONICUS. Rare migrant; all records
+thus far from the plains; general range, North America.
+
+270. =Black-bellied plover.= SQUATAROLA SQUATAROLA. Migrant, not common;
+bird of plains below 5,000 feet; breeds far north.
+
+272. =American golden plover.= CHARADRIUS DOMINICUS. Migrant, not
+common; same record as preceding.
+
+273. =Killdeer.= AEGIALITIS VOCIFERA. Abundant summer resident; arrives
+early in spring; breeds most abundantly on plains and at base of
+foothills, but is far from rare at an altitude of 10,000 feet.
+
+274. =Semipalmated plover.= AEGIALITIS SEMIPALMATA. Migrant, not common;
+breeds near the Arctic Circle.
+
+281. =Mountain plover.= AEGIALITIS MONTANA. Common summer resident; in
+spite of its name, a bird of the plains rather than the mountains; yet
+sometimes found in parks at an altitude of 8,000 and even 9,000 feet.
+Its numbers may be estimated from the fact that in one day of August a
+sportsman shot one hundred and twenty-six birds, though why he should
+indulge in such wholesale slaughter the author does not understand.
+
+283. =Turnstone.= ARENARIA INTERPRES. Rare migrant; breeding grounds in
+the north; cosmopolitan in range, but chiefly along sea-coasts.
+
+289. =Bob-white.= COLINUS VIRGINIANUS. Resident; somewhat common
+locally; good reason to believe that all the quails of the foothills are
+descendants of introduced birds, while those of the eastern border of
+the plains are native. A few were introduced some years ago into Estes
+Park, and are still occasionally noticed.
+
+293. =Scaled partridge.= CALLIPEPLA SQUAMATA. Resident; common locally;
+southern species, but more common than the bob-white at Rocky Ford, Col.
+
+294. =California partridge.= LOPHORTYX CALIFORNICUS. Resident, local;
+introduced at Grand Junction, Col., and have flourished so abundantly as
+to become troublesome to gardeners.
+
+295. =Gambel's partridge.= LOPHORTYX GAMBELII. Resident, rare; known
+only in southwestern part of the State; a western species.
+
+297. =Dusky grouse.= DENDRAGAPUS OBSCURUS. Resident; mountain dwellers;
+breed from 7,000 feet to timber-line; in September wander above
+timber-line to 12,500 feet, feeding on grasshoppers; remain in thick
+woods in winter.
+
+300b. =Gray ruffed grouse.= BONASA UMBELLUS UMBELLOIDES. Rare resident;
+a more northern species, but a few breed in Colorado just below
+timber-line; winters in higher foothills.
+
+304. =White-tailed ptarmigan.= LAGOPUS LEUCURUS. Common resident; one of
+the most strictly alpine species; breeds entirely above timber-line from
+11,500 to 13,500 feet; thence ranging to the summits of the highest
+peaks. Only in severest winter weather do they come down to timber-line;
+rarely to 8,000 feet. In winter they are white; in summer fulvous or
+dull grayish-buff, barred and spotted with black. This bird is
+colloquially called the "mountain quail." The brown-capped leucosticte
+is the only other Colorado species that has so high a range.
+
+305. =Prairie hen.= TYMPANUCHUS AMERICANUS. Resident; uncommon and
+local.
+
+308b. =Prairie sharp-tailed grouse.= PEDIOECETES PHASIANELLUS
+CAMPESTRIS. Resident, not common; once common, but killed and driven out
+by pothunters; some breed in Middle Park; noted in winter at 9,500 feet.
+
+309. =Sage grouse.= CENTROCERCUS UROPHASIANUS. Common resident. "As its
+name implies, it is an inhabitant of the artemisia or sage-brush plains,
+and is scarcely found elsewhere." Ranges from plains to 9,500 feet.
+
+310. =Mexican turkey.= MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO. Rare local resident;
+southern part of the State.
+
+310a. =Wild turkey.= MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO FERA. Resident; rare; once
+abundant, but will probably soon be exterminated; not certain whether
+Colorado birds are eastern or western forms.
+
+312. =Band-tailed pigeon.= COLUMBA FASCIATA. Summer resident; local;
+breeds from 5,000 to 7,000 feet and occasionally higher.
+
+316. =Mourning dove.= ZENAIDURA MACROURA. Summer resident; very
+abundant; breeds everywhere below the pine region up to 10,000 feet,
+though usually a little lower; in fall ranges up to 12,000 feet.
+
+319. =White-winged dove.= MELOPELIA LEUCOPTERA. Four records of this
+straggler in Colorado; its usual range is subtropical, though not
+uncommon as far north as the southern border of the United States.
+
+325. =Turkey vulture.= CATHARTES AURA. Common summer resident; breeds
+from plains to 10,000 and even 12,000 feet.
+
+327. =Swallow-tailed kite.= ELANOIDES FORFICATUS. Summer visitor; rare
+or accidental; bird of the plains, not regularly west of central Kansas.
+
+329. =Mississippi kite.= ICTINIA MISSISSIPPIENSIS. Accidental; two
+records; a bird of eastern and southern United States, and southward.
+
+331. =Marsh hawk.= CIRCUS HUDSONIUS. Common resident; most common in
+migration; a few remain throughout winter; breeds on plains, and in
+mountains to 10,000 feet; in fall may be seen at 14,000 feet.
+
+332. =Sharp-shinned hawk.= ACCIPITER VELOX. Common resident; much more
+common in mountains than on plains; breeds up to 10,000 feet.
+
+333. COOPER'S HAWK. ACCIPITER COOPERI. Common resident; breeds from
+plains to 9,000 feet.
+
+334. =American goshawk.= ACCIPITER ATRICAPILLUS. Resident; not uncommon;
+breeds from 9,000 to 10,000 feet; more common in winter than summer.
+
+334a. =Western goshawk.= ACCIPITER ATRICAPILLUS STRIATULUS. Winter
+visitor; rare, if not accidental; Pacific Coast form; comes regularly as
+far east as Idaho.
+
+337a. =Krider's hawk.= BUTEO BOREALIS KRIDERII. Resident; not uncommon;
+nests on the plains; no certain record for the mountains.
+
+337b. =Western red-tail.= BUTEO BOREALIS CALURUS. Abundant resident;
+this is the Rocky Mountain form, of which Krider's hawk is the eastern
+analogue; the ranges of the two forms overlap on the Colorado plains;
+_calurus_ breeds from plains to 12,000 feet; not a few winter in the
+State.
+
+337d. =Harlan's hawk.= BUTEO BOREALIS HARLANI. Rare winter visitor; one
+specimen; natural habitat, Gulf States and lower Mississippi Valley.
+
+339b. =Red-bellied hawk.= BUTEO LINEATUS ELEGANS. Rare migrant; Pacific
+coast species.
+
+342. =Swainson's hawk.= BUTEO SWAINSONI. Common resident; breeds
+everywhere below 11,000 feet.
+
+347a. =American rough-legged hawk.= ARCHIBUTEO LAGOPUS SANCTI-JOHANNIS.
+Somewhat common winter resident; arrives from the north in November and
+remains till March.
+
+348. =Ferruginous rough-leg.= ARCHIBUTEO FERRUGINEUS. Rather common
+resident; breeds on plains and in mountains; winters mostly on plains
+and along lower streams.
+
+349. =Golden eagle.= AQUILA CHRYSAETOS. Resident; common in favorable
+localities; breeds from foothills to 12,500 feet; in winter on plains
+and also in mountains, often at 11,000 feet.
+
+352. =Bald eagle.= HALLAEETUS LEUCOCEPHALUS. Fairly common resident;
+mostly in mountains in summer; on plains in winter.
+
+355. =Prairie falcon.= FALCO MEXICANUS. Not uncommon resident; breeds
+from plains to 10,000 feet; quite numerous in more open portions of
+western Colorado.
+
+356. =Duck hawk.= FALCO PEREGRINUS ANATUM. Resident; not uncommon
+locally; breeds up to 10,000 feet.
+
+357. =Pigeon hawk.= FALCO COLUMBARIUS. Summer resident; not common;
+usual breeding grounds 8,000 to 9,000 feet; some breed on the plains.
+
+358. =Richardson's merlin.= FALCO RICHARDSONII. Rare summer resident;
+not uncommon in migration; naturalists not quite sure that it breeds in
+the State; has been taken in summer at an altitude of 11,000 feet.
+
+360. =American sparrow hawk.= FALCO SPARVERIUS. Abundant resident; the
+most common hawk from the plains to 11,000 feet; some winter in State;
+breeds throughout its range.
+
+360a. =Desert sparrow hawk.= FALCO SPARVERIUS DESERTICOLUS. Resident,
+though rare; taken in Middle and South Parks.
+
+364. =American osprey.= PANDION HALIAETUS CAROLINENSIS. Summer resident;
+not uncommon locally; breeds as high as 9,000 feet; has been taken in
+fall at an altitude of 10,500 feet.
+
+365. =American barn owl.= STRIX PRATINCOLA. Resident; quite rare; a
+southern species rarely coming so far north as Colorado.
+
+366. =American long-eared owl.= ASIO WILSONIANUS. Common resident;
+winters from plains to 10,000 feet; breeds from plains to 11,000 feet;
+eggs laid early in April.
+
+367. =Short-eared owl.= ASIO ACCIPITRINUS. Resident, but not common;
+highest record 9,500 feet.
+
+368. =Barred owl.= SYRNIUM NEBULOSUM. Resident; few records; one
+breeding pair found in the northeastern part of the State.
+
+369. =Spotted owl.= SYRNIUM OCCIDENTALE. Resident; not common; a little
+doubt as to its identity; but Mr. Aiken vouches for its presence in the
+State.
+
+371. =Richardson's owl.= NYCTALA TENGMALMI RICHARDSONI. Rare winter
+visitor; a northern species.
+
+372. =Saw-whet owl.= NYCTALA ACADICA. Resident; not uncommon; occurs
+throughout the State below 8,000 feet.
+
+373. =Screech owl.= MAGASCOPS ASIO. Rare resident; the eastern analogue
+of the next.
+
+373e. =Rocky Mountain screech owl.= MAGASCOPS ASIO MAXWELLIAE. Common
+resident; found from plains and foothills to about 6,000 feet; rare
+visitant at nearly 9,000 feet.
+
+373g. =Aiken's screech owl.= MEGASCOPS ASIO AIKENI. Resident; limited to
+from 5,000 to 9,000 feet.
+
+374. =Flammulated screech owl.= MEGASCOPS FLAMMEOLA. Rare resident;
+rarest owl in Colorado, if not in the United States; ten instances of
+breeding, all in Colorado; twenty-three records in all for the State.
+
+375a. =Western horned owl.= BUBO VIRGINIANUS PALLESCENS. Common
+resident; breeds on the plains and in the mountains.
+
+375b. =Arctic horned owl.= BUBO VIRGINIANUS ARCTICUS. Winter visitor;
+not uncommon; breeds in arctic America.
+
+376. =Snowy owl.= NYCTEA NYCTEA. Rare winter visitor; occurs on the
+plains and in the lower foothills; range in summer, extreme northern
+portions of northern hemisphere.
+
+378. =Burrowing owl.= SPEOTYTO CUNICULARIA HYPOGAEA. Resident; abundant
+locally; breeds on plains and up to 9,000 feet.
+
+379. =Pygmy owl.= GLAUCIDIUM GNOMA. Resident; rare; favorite home in the
+mountains; breeds as high as 10,000 feet.
+
+382. =Carolina paroquet.= CONURUS CAROLINENSIS. Formerly resident; few
+records; general range, east and south; now almost exterminated.
+
+385. =Road-runner.= GEOCOCCYX CALIFORNIANUS. Resident; not common;
+restricted to southern portion of the State; breeds throughout its
+range; rare above 5,000 feet, though one was found in the Wet Mountains
+at an altitude of 8,000 feet.
+
+387. =Yellow-billed cuckoo.= COCCYZUS AMERICANUS. Rare summer visitor,
+on the authority of Major Bendire.
+
+387a. =California cuckoo.= COCCYZUS AMERICANUS OCCIDENTALIS. Summer
+resident; not uncommon locally; mostly found on the edge of the plains,
+but occasionally up to 8,000 feet in mountains.
+
+388. =Black-billed cuckoo.= COCCYZUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS. Rare migrant;
+only two records.
+
+390. =Belted kingfisher.= CERYLE ALCYON. Common resident; breeds from
+plains to 10,000 feet; a few remain in winter.
+
+393e. =Rocky Mountain hairy woodpecker.= DRYOBATES VILLOSUS MONTICOLA.
+Common resident; breeds from plains to 11,000 feet; winter range almost
+the same.
+
+394c. =Downy woodpecker.= DRYOBATES PUBESCENS MEDIANUS. Visitor; rare,
+if not accidental.
+
+394b. =Batchelder's woodpecker.= DRYOBATES PUBESCENS HOMORUS. Common
+resident; breeding range from plains to 11,500 feet; winter range from
+plains to 10,000 feet.
+
+396. =Texan woodpecker.= DRYOBATES SCALARIS BAIRDI. Resident; rare and
+local; southern range generally.
+
+401b. =Alpine three-toed woodpecker.= PICOIDES AMERICANUS DORSALIS.
+Resident; not common; a mountain bird; range, 8,000 to 12,000 feet; even
+in winter remains in the pine belt at about 10,000 feet.
+
+402. =Yellow-bellied sapsucker.= SPHYRAPICUS VARIUS. Rare migrant;
+eastern form, scarcely reaching the base of the Rockies.
+
+402a. =Red-naped sapsucker.= SPHYRAPICUS VARIUS NUCHALIS. Common summer
+resident; breeds from plains to 12,000 feet, but partial to the
+mountains. Author saw one at Green Lake.
+
+404. =Williamson's sapsucker.= SPHYRAPICUS THYROIDEUS. Common summer
+resident; breeds from 5,000 feet to upper limits of the pines; range
+higher in the southern part of the State than in the northern.
+
+405a. =Northern pileated woodpecker.= CEOPHLOEUS PILEATUS ABIETICOLA.
+Resident; very rare; only probably identified.
+
+406. =Red-headed woodpecker.= MELANERPES ERYTHROCEPHALUS. Common summer
+resident; breeds from plains to 10,000 feet; late spring arrival; same
+form in the East and West.
+
+408. =Lewis's woodpecker.= MELANERPES TORQUATUS. Common resident;
+characteristic bird of the foothills; sometimes seen as high as 10,000
+feet in southern Colorado; probably does not breed above 9,000 feet.
+
+409. =Red-bellied woodpecker.= MELANERPES CAROLINUS. Summer visitor;
+rare, if not accidental; eastern and southern species, not occurring
+regularly west of central Kansas.
+
+412a. =Northern flicker.= COLAPTES AURATUS LUTEUS. Rare migrant; range
+extends only to foothills; no record of its breeding.
+
+413. =Red-shafted flicker.= COLAPTES CAFER. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds from plains to 12,000 feet; almost as plentiful at its highest
+range as on the plains; early spring arrival; a few winter in the State.
+
+418. =Poor-will.= PHALAENOPTILUS NUTTALLII. Common summer resident;
+breeds from plains to 8,000 feet; has been noted up to 10,000 feet.
+
+418a. =Frosted poor-will.= PHALAENOPTILUS NUTTALLII NITIDUS. Rare summer
+resident; few typical _nitidus_ taken; a more southern variety.
+
+420a. =Western nighthawk.= CHORDEILES VIRGINIANUS HENRYI. Abundant
+summer resident; breeds on the plains and up to about 11,000 feet; in
+fall ranges up to 12,000 feet; most common on plains and in foothills.
+
+422. =Black swift.= CYPSELOIDES NIGER BOREALIS. Summer resident;
+abundant locally; southwestern part of the State; breeds from 10,000 to
+12,000 feet, and ranges up to 13,000 feet.
+
+425. =White-throated swift.= AERONAUTES MELANOLEUCUS. Summer resident;
+not uncommon locally; breeds in inaccessible rocks from 6,000 to 12,000
+feet, if not higher; most common in southern part of the State.
+
+429. =Black-chinned humming-bird.= TROCHILUS ALEXANDRI. Summer resident;
+local; only in southwestern part of the State, and below 6,000 feet.
+
+432. =Broad-tailed humming-bird.= SELASPHORUS PLATYCERCUS. Common summer
+resident; Colorado's most common hummer; breeds from foothills to 11,000
+feet; ranges 2,000 feet above timber-line in summer.
+
+433. =Rufous humming-bird.= SELASPHORUS RUFUS. Summer resident; local; a
+western species, coming into southwestern Colorado, where it breeds from
+7,000 to 10,000 feet, and ranges in summer several thousand feet higher;
+a few records east of the range.
+
+436. =Calliope humming-bird.= STELLULA CALLIOPE. Summer visitor; rare or
+accidental; but two records, one near Breckenridge at an altitude of
+9,500 feet; western species.
+
+443. =Scissor-tailed flycatcher.= MILVULUS FORFICATUS. Summer visitor;
+rare or accidental; but one record; southern range, and more eastern.
+
+444. =Kingbird.= TYRANNUS TYRANNUS. Common summer resident; occurs only
+on plains and in foothills up to 6,000 feet; same form as the eastern
+kingbird.
+
+447. =Arkansas kingbird.= TYRANNUS VERTICALIS. Common summer resident;
+more common in eastern than western part of the State; fond of the
+plains and foothills, yet breeds as high as 8,000 feet.
+
+448. =Cassin's kingbird.= TYRANNUS VOCIFERANS. Common summer resident;
+breeds on plains and up to 9,000 feet in mountains; occurs throughout
+the State.
+
+454. =Ash-throated flycatcher.= MYIARCHUS CINERASCENS. Rare summer
+resident; western species, coming east to western edge of plains.
+
+455a. =Olivaceous flycatcher.= MYIARCHUS LAWRENCEI OLIVASCENS. Summer
+visitor, rare, if not accidental; a southern species; taken once in
+Colorado.
+
+456. =Phoebe.= SAYORNIS PHOEBE. Rare summer visitor; comes west to
+eastern border of the State.
+
+457. =Say's phoebe.= SAYORNIS SAYA. Common summer resident; most
+common on the plains; occurs on both sides of the range; the author
+found it a little above Malta, at Glenwood, and in South Park.
+
+459. =Olive-sided flycatcher.= CONTOPUS BOREALIS. Common summer
+resident; breeds only in the mountains, from 7,000 to 12,000 feet.
+
+462. =Western wood pewee.= CONTOPUS RICHARDSONII. Common summer
+resident; most common in breeding season from 7,000 to 11,000 feet.
+
+464. =Western flycatcher.= EMPIDONAX DIFFICILIS. Common summer resident;
+breeds from plains to 10,000 feet, but most common in upper part of its
+range.
+
+466. =Traill's flycatcher.= EMPIDONAX TRAILLII. Fairly common summer
+resident; most common on the plains, but occurs in mountains up to 8,000
+feet; breeds throughout its Colorado range.
+
+467. =Least flycatcher.= EMPIDONAX MINIMUS. Rare migrant; west to
+eastern foothills; probably breeds, but no nests have been found.
+
+468. =Hammond's flycatcher.= EMPIDONAX HAMMONDI. Common summer resident;
+comes east only to the western edge of the plains; breeds as high as
+9,000 feet.
+
+469. =Wright's flycatcher.= EMPIDONAX WRIGHTII. Abundant summer
+resident; breeds from 7,500 feet to 10,000.
+
+474a. =Pallid horned lark.= OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS LEUCOLAEMA. Abundant
+winter resident; literature on this bird somewhat confused on account,
+no doubt, of its close resemblance to the next; winters on the plains
+abundantly, and sparsely in the mountains.
+
+474c. =Desert horned lark.= OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS ARENICOLA. Abundant
+resident; winters on plains and in mountains up to 9,000 feet; breeds
+from plains to 13,000 feet; raises two broods.
+
+475. =American magpie.= PICA PICA HUDSONICA. Common resident; breeds
+commonly on the plains and in the foothills and lower mountains; a few
+breed as high as 11,000 feet.
+
+478b. =Long-crested jay.= CYANOCITTA STELLERI DIADEMATA. Common
+resident; seldom strays far east of the foothills; breeds from base of
+foothills to timber-line; winter range from edge of plains almost to
+10,000 feet.
+
+480. =Woodhouse's jay.= APHELOCOMA WOODHOUSEI. Common resident; most
+common along the base of foothills and lower wooded mountains; sometimes
+breeds as high as 8,000 feet; in fall roams up to 9,500 in special
+instances.
+
+484a. =Rocky Mountain jay.= PERISOREUS CANADENSIS CAPITALIS. Common
+resident; remains near timber-line throughout the year.
+
+486. =American raven.= CORVUS CORAX SINUATUS. Resident; common locally;
+breeds; rather of western Colorado, but visitant among eastern
+mountains.
+
+487. =White-necked raven.= CORVUS CRYPTOLEUCUS. Rare resident now;
+formerly abundant along eastern base of the front range and a hundred
+miles out on the plains; now driven out by advent of white man.
+
+488. =American crow.= CORVUS AMERICANUS. Resident; common in
+northeastern Colorado; rare in the rest of the State.
+
+491. =Clark's nutcracker.= NUCIFRAGA COLUMBIANA. Abundant resident; a
+mountain bird; breeds from 7,000 to 12,000 feet; sometimes in fall
+gathers in "enormous flocks"; at that season wanders up to at least
+13,000 feet; most remain in the mountains through the winter, though a
+few descend to the plains.
+
+492. =Pinon jay.= CYANOCEPHALUS CYANOCEPHALUS. Resident; abundant
+locally; breeds almost exclusively among the pinon pines; keeps in small
+parties during breeding season; then gathers in large flocks; wandering
+up to 10,000 feet.
+
+494. =Bobolink.= DOLICHONYX ORYZIVORUS. Rare summer visitor.
+
+495. =Cowbird.= MOLOTHRUS ATER. Common summer resident; breeds from
+plains to about 8,000 feet; author saw several in South Park.
+
+497. =Yellow-headed blackbird.= XANTHOCEPHALUS XANTHOCEPHALUS. Common
+summer resident; breeds in suitable places on the plains and in mountain
+parks.
+
+498. =Red-winged blackbird.= AGELAIUS PHOENICEUS. Common summer
+resident; breeds mostly below 7,500 feet, though occasionally ascends to
+9,000.
+
+501b. =Western meadow-lark.= STURNELLA MAGNA NEGLECTA. Abundant summer
+resident.
+
+506. =Orchard oriole.= ICTERUS SPURIUS. Summer visitor; rare, if not
+accidental.
+
+507. =Baltimore oriole.= ICTERUS GALBULA. Marked as a rare summer
+resident, though no record of nesting.
+
+508. =Bullock's oriole.= ICTERUS BULLOCKI. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds on plains and in mountain regions below 10,000 feet.
+
+509. =Rusty blackbird.= SCOLECOPHAGUS CAROLINUS. Migrant; rare, if not
+accidental; two records.
+
+510. =Brewer's blackbird.= SCOLECOPHAGUS CYANOCEPHALUS. Abundant summer
+resident.
+
+511b. =Bronzed grackle.= QUISCALUS QUISCULA AENEUS. Summer resident; not
+uncommon locally; comes only to eastern base of mountains.
+
+514a. =Western evening grosbeak.= COCCOTHRAUSTES VESPERTINUS MONTANUS.
+Resident; found every month of the year; no nests found, but evidently
+breeds.
+
+515a. =Rocky Mountain pine grosbeak.= PINICOLA ENUCLEATOR MONTANA.
+Resident; not uncommon; most common in late summer and fall when most of
+them are just below timber-line; stragglers descend to foothills and
+plains.
+
+517. =Purple finch.= CARPODACUS PURPUREUS. Migrant; rare, if not
+accidental; only one specimen, and that a female.
+
+518. =Cassin's purple finch.= CARPODACUS CASSINI. Common resident;
+winters from plains to 7,000 feet; breeds from that altitude to 10,000
+feet.
+
+519. =House finch.= CARPODACUS MEXICANUS FRONTALIS. Abundant resident.
+
+521a. =Mexican crossbill.= LOXIA CURVIROSTRA STRICKLANDI. Resident; not
+uncommon; has been seen in summer at 11,000 feet; breeds in mountains,
+perhaps in winter like its eastern antitype.
+
+522. =White-winged crossbill.= LOXIA LEUCOPTERA. Rare winter visitor;
+one record.
+
+524. =Gray-crowned leucosticte.= LEUCOSTICTE TEPHROCOTIS. Rare winter
+visitor; western species.
+
+524a. =Hepburn's leucosticte.= LEUCOSTICTE TEPHROCOTIS LITTORALIS. Rare
+winter visitor; summers in the North.
+
+525. =Black leucosticte.= LEUCOSTICTE ATRATA. Rare winter visitor;
+summer range unknown; winters in the Rockies.
+
+526. =Brown-capped leucosticte.= LEUCOSTICTE AUSTRALIS. This little bird
+and the white-tailed ptarmigan have the highest summer range of any
+Colorado birds.
+
+528. =Redpoll.= ACANTHIS LINARIA. Common winter resident; lives from
+plains to 10,000 feet.
+
+528b. =Greater redpoll.= ACANTHIS LINARIA ROSTRATA. Rare or accidental
+winter visitor; one record.
+
+529. =American goldfinch.= ASTRAGALINUS TRISTIS. Resident; quite common
+in summer; sometimes reaches 10,000 feet.
+
+529a. =Western goldfinch.= ASTRAGALINUS TRISTIS PALLIDUS. Migrant;
+probably common; added by Mr. Aiken.
+
+530. =Arkansas goldfinch.= ASTRAGALINUS PSALTRIA. Common summer
+resident; breeds from plains to over 9,000 feet.
+
+530a. =Arizona goldfinch.= ASTRAGALINUS PSALTRIA ARIZONAE. Summer
+resident; not common.
+
+530b. =Mexican goldfinch.= ASTRAGALINUS PSALTRIA MEXICANUS. Rare, but
+believed to be a summer resident at Trinidad.
+
+533. =Pine siskin.= SPINUS PINUS. Common resident; breeding range from
+plains to timber-line.
+
+000. =English sparrow.= PASSER DOMESTICUS. Rapidly increasing in
+numbers; has settled at points west of the range.
+
+534. =Snowflake.= PASSERINA NIVALIS. Rare winter visitor; one record
+west of the range; several east.
+
+536a. =Alaskan longspur.= CALCARIUS LAPPONICUS ALASCENSIS. Common winter
+resident; breeds far north.
+
+538. =Chestnut-collared longspur.= CALCARIUS ORNATUS. Rare summer
+resident; winter resident, not common; common in migration.
+
+539. =McCown's longspur.= RHYNCOPHANES MCCOWNII. Common winter resident,
+dwelling on the plains.
+
+540a. =Western vesper sparrow.= POOCAETES GRAMINEUS CONFINIS. Abundant
+summer resident; breeds from plains to 12,000 feet.
+
+542b. =Western savanna sparrow.= AMMODRAMUS SANDWICHENSIS ALAUDINUS.
+Common summer resident; breeds from base of foothills to almost 12,000
+feet.
+
+545. =Baird's sparrow.= AMMODRAMUS BAIRDII. Migrant; not common; a
+number taken east of the range, and one west.
+
+546a. =Western grasshopper sparrow.= AMMODRAMUS SAVANNARUM PERPALLIDUS.
+Not uncommon summer resident; breeds on plains and in lower foothills.
+
+552a. =Western lark sparrow.= CHONDESTES GRAMMACUS STRIGATUS. Common
+summer resident; breeds on plains and in mountain parks to 10,000 feet.
+
+553. =Harris's sparrow.= ZONOTRICHIA QUERULA. Rare migrant; abundant
+migrant in Kansas.
+
+554. =White-crowned sparrow.= ZONOTRICHIA LEUCOPHRYS. Abundant summer
+resident.
+
+554a. =Intermediate sparrow.= ZONOTRICHIA LEUCOPHRYS GAMBELII. Common
+migrant, both east and west of the range; breeds north of the United
+States.
+
+557. =Golden-crowned sparrow.= ZONOTRICHIA CORONATA. Accidental winter
+visitor; Pacific Coast species; breeds in Alaska.
+
+558. =White-throated sparrow.= ZONOTRICHIA ALBICOLLIS. Rare migrant; but
+three records.
+
+559a. =Western tree sparrow.= SPIZELLA MONTICOLA OCHRACEA. Common winter
+resident; mostly on plains and in lower mountains.
+
+560. =Chipping sparrow.= SPIZELLA SOCIALIS. Rare summer resident;
+common in migration; goes as far west as base of the mountains.
+
+560a. =Western chipping sparrow.= SPIZELLA SOCIALIS ARIZONAE. Abundant
+summer resident; breeds from base of foothills to 10,000 feet.
+
+561. =Clay-colored sparrow.= SPIZELLA PALLIDA. Summer resident; not
+uncommon; scattered over State east of mountains.
+
+562. =Brewer's sparrow.= SPIZELLA BREWERI. Summer resident; not
+uncommon; breeds from plains to 8,000 feet.
+
+566. =White-winged junco.= JUNCO AIKENI. Common winter resident; on
+plains and 8,000 feet up in the mountains.
+
+567. =Slate-colored junco.= JUNCO HYEMALIS. Winter resident; not common;
+not found above 8,000 feet.
+
+567b. =Shufeldt's junco.= JUNCO HYEMALIS CONNECTENS. Abundant winter
+resident; most common in southern part of the State; not uncommon
+elsewhere.
+
+567.1. =Montana junco.= JUNCO MONTANUS. Winter visitor; not uncommon.
+
+568. =Pink-sided junco.= JUNCO MEARNSI. Common winter resident;
+plentiful at base of foothills in winter; in spring ascend to 10,000
+feet; then leaves the State for the North.
+
+568.1. =Ridgway's junco.= JUNCO ANNECTENS. Rare winter visitor; one
+record.
+
+569. =Gray-headed junco.= JUNCO CANICEPS. Abundant resident; breeds from
+7,500 to 12,000 feet; sometimes rears three broods.
+
+570a. =Red-backed junco.= JUNCO PHAEONOTUS DORSALIS. Rare migrant;
+abundant just south of State.
+
+573a. =Desert sparrow.= AMPHISPIZA BILINEATA DESERTICOLA. Summer
+resident; not uncommon locally; found only in southwestern part of the
+State.
+
+574a. =Sage sparrow.= AMPHISPIZA BELLI NEVADENSIS. Abundant summer
+resident; common on sage-brush plains of western and southwestern
+Colorado; ranges as far east as San Luis Park and north to Cheyenne,
+Wyoming.
+
+581. =Song-sparrow.= MELOSPIZA FASCIATA. Rare migrant; found only at
+eastern border of State.
+
+581b. =Mountain song-sparrow.= MELOSPIZA FASCIATA MONTANA. Common summer
+resident; a few remain on plains in mild winters; breeds from plains to
+8,000 feet.
+
+583. =Lincoln's sparrow.= MELOSPIZA LINCOLNI. Common summer resident;
+abundant in migration; breeds from base of foothills to timber-line.
+
+584. =Swamp sparrow.= MELOSPIZA GEORGIANA. Accidental summer visitor;
+one record.
+
+585c. =Slate-colored sparrow.= PASSERELLA ILIACA SCHISTACEA. Rare summer
+resident; only three records.
+
+588. =Arctic towhee.= PIPILO MACULATUS ARCTICUS. Winter resident; not
+uncommon; comes to base of Rocky Mountains in winter; breeds in the
+North, as far as the Saskatchewan River.
+
+588a. =Spurred towhee.= PIPILO MACULATUS MEGALONYX. Common summer
+resident; upper limit, 9,000 feet.
+
+591. =Canyon towhee.= PIPILO FUSCUS MESOLEUCUS. Resident; common locally;
+all records from Arkansas Valley; rare at an altitude of 10,000 feet.
+
+592. =Abert's towhee.= PIPILO ABERTI. Rare summer resident; species
+abundant in New Mexico and Arizona.
+
+592.1. =Green-tailed towhee.= OREOSPIZA CHLORURA. Common summer
+resident; melodious songster.
+
+593. =Cardinal.= CARDINALIS CARDINALIS. Winter visitor; rare, if not
+accidental; two records.
+
+595. =Rose-breasted grosbeak.= ZAMELODIA LUDOVICIANA. Accidental summer
+resident; one record.
+
+596. =Black-headed grosbeak.= ZAMELODIA MELANOCEPHALA. Common summer
+resident; breeds from plains to 8,500 feet; has been seen at 10,000
+feet.
+
+597a. =Western blue grosbeak.= GUIRACA CAERULEA LAZULA. Summer resident;
+not uncommon locally; southern part of State; author saw one pair at
+Colorado Springs.
+
+598. =Indigo bunting.= CYANOSPIZA CYANEA. Rare summer visitor; range,
+farther east.
+
+599. =Lazuli bunting.= CYANOSPIZA AMOENA. Abundant summer resident;
+does not breed far up in the mountains, but has been taken at 9,100
+feet.
+
+604. =Dickcissel.= SPIZA AMERICANA. Rare summer resident; only on plains
+and in foothills.
+
+605. =Lark bunting.= CALAMOSPIZA MELANOCORYS. Abundant summer resident;
+very plentiful on the plains; sometimes breeds as far up in mountains as
+9,000 feet.
+
+607. =Louisiana tanager.= PIRANGA LUDOVICIANA. Common summer resident;
+in migration common on the plains, but breeds from 6,000 to 10,000 feet.
+
+608. =Scarlet tanager.= PIRANGA ERYTHROMELAS. Rare migrant.
+
+610a. =Cooper's tanager.= PIRANGA RUBRA COOPERI. Rare or accidental
+summer visitor; abundant in New Mexico and Arizona; only one record for
+Colorado.
+
+611. =Purple martin.= PROGNE SUBIS. Summer resident; local; rare in
+eastern, quite common in western part of the State.
+
+612. =Cliff-swallow.= PETROCHELIDON LUNIFRONS. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds everywhere from plains to 10,000 feet; nests on cliffs and
+beneath eaves.
+
+613. =Barn swallow.= HIRUNDO ERYTHROGASTER. Common summer resident;
+breeds from plains to 10,000 feet.
+
+614. =Tree swallow.= TACHYCINETA BICOLOR. Summer resident; not uncommon;
+breeds occasionally on the plains; more frequently in mountains up to
+10,000 feet.
+
+615. =Violet-green swallow.= TACHYCINETA THALASSINA. Summer resident;
+abundant locally; a few breed on plains; more commonly from 6,000 to
+10,500 feet.
+
+616. =Bank swallow.= CLIVICOLA RIPARIA. Rare summer resident; rarest
+Colorado swallow; from plains to foothills.
+
+617. =Rough-winged swallow.= STELGIDOPTERYX SERRIPENNIS. Summer
+resident; not uncommon; breeds below 7,500 feet.
+
+618. =Bohemian waxwing.= AMPELIS GARRULUS. Winter resident; not
+uncommon; breeds north of the United States.
+
+619. =Cedar waxwing.= AMPELIS CEDRORUM. Resident; not common; breeds
+from plains to about 9,000 feet.
+
+621. =Northern shrike.= LANIUS BOREALIS. Common winter resident; on its
+return from the North in October it first appears above timber-line,
+then descends to the plains.
+
+622a. =White-rumped shrike.= LANIUS LUDOVICIANUS EXCUBITORIDES. Common
+summer resident; breeds mostly on the plains; sometimes in mountains up
+to 9,500 feet.
+
+624. =Red-eyed vireo.= VIREO OLIVACEUS. Rare summer resident; an eastern
+species, coming only to base of foothills; still, one was taken at
+11,000 feet.
+
+627. =Warbling vireo.= VIREO GILVUS. Common summer resident; breeds
+sparingly on the plains; commonly in mountains up to 10,000.
+
+629a. =Cassin's vireo.= VIREO SOLITARIUS CASSINII. Rare or accidental
+summer visitor; not known to breed; a southwestern species.
+
+629b. =Plumbeous vireo.= VIREO SOLITARIUS PLUMBEUS. Summer resident;
+common; breeds in foothills and mountains up to over 9,000 feet.
+
+636. =Black and white warbler.= MNIOTILTA VARIA. Rare summer visitor;
+two records.
+
+644. =Virginia's warbler.= HELMINTHOPHILA VIRGINIAE. Common summer
+resident; western bird, but breeds along eastern base of foothills.
+
+646. =Orange-crowned warbler.= HELMINTHOPHILA CELATA. Summer resident;
+not uncommon; common migrant; breeds from 6,000 to 9,000 feet.
+
+646a. =Lutescent warbler.= HELMINTHOPHILA CELATA LUTESCENS. Summer
+resident; not uncommon: western form of the orange-crowned warbler;
+ranges to eastern base of mountains.
+
+647. =Tennessee warbler.= HELMINTHOPHILA PEREGRINA. Rare migrant;
+eastern Colorado to base of mountains.
+
+648. =Parula warbler.= COMPSOTHLYPIS AMERICANA. Rare summer resident;
+comes to base of foothills.
+
+652. =Yellow warbler.= DENDROICA AESTIVA. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds up to 8,000 feet.
+
+652a. =Sonora yellow warbler.= DENDROICA AESTIVA SONORANA. Summer
+resident; probably common; to the southwest _aestiva_ shades into
+_sonorana_.
+
+654. =Black-throated blue warbler.= DENDROICA CAERULESCENS. Rare migrant;
+one record.
+
+655. =Myrtle warbler.= DENDROICA CORONATA. Common migrant; scarcely
+known west of the range.
+
+656. =Audubon's warbler.= DENDROICA AUDUBONI. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds from 7,000 to 11,000 feet.
+
+657. =Magnolia warbler.= DENDROICA MACULOSA. Rare migrant; breeds
+northward.
+
+658. =Cerulean warbler.= DENDROICA RARA. Rare migrant; one record.
+
+661. =Black-poll warbler.= DENDROICA STRIATA. Rare summer resident;
+sometimes common in migration; one breeding record for the State--at
+Seven Lakes; altitude, 11,000 feet.
+
+664. =Grace's warbler.= DENDROICA GRACIAE. Summer resident; common in
+extreme southwestern part of the State.
+
+665. =Black-throated gray warbler.= DENDROICA NIGRESCENS. Summer
+resident; not infrequent; breeds in pinon hills near Canyon City.
+
+668. =Townsend's warbler.= DENDROICA TOWNSENDI. Summer resident; not
+uncommon; western species, coming east to base of foothills and a few
+miles out on plains; breeds from 5,500 to 8,000 feet in western
+Colorado; in fall it is found as high as 10,000 feet.
+
+672. =Palm warbler.= DENDROICA PALMARUM. Rare or accidental migrant; one
+specimen seen.
+
+674. =Oven-bird.= SEIURUS AUROCAPILLUS. Rare breeder, on Mr. Aiken's
+authority.
+
+675a. =Grinnell's water thrush.= SEIURUS NOVEBORACENSIS NOTABILIS. Rare
+migrant; appearing from plains to 8,000 feet.
+
+678. =Connecticut warbler.= GEOTHLYPIS AGILIS. Rare or accidental
+migrant; one record by Mr. Aiken.
+
+680. =Macgillivray's warbler.= GEOTHLYPIS TOLMIEI. Common summer
+resident; breeds from base of foothills to 9,000 feet.
+
+681. =Maryland yellow-throat.= GEOTHLYPIS TRICHAS. One taken at Colorado
+Springs by Mr. Aiken.
+
+681a. =Western yellow-throat.= GEOTHLYPIS TRICHAS OCCIDENTALIS. Common
+summer resident, almost restricted to the plains; both sides of the
+range.
+
+683. =Yellow-breasted chat.= ICTERIA VIRENS. Accidental summer visitor.
+
+683a. =Long-tailed chat.= ICTERIA VIRENS LONGICAUDA. Common summer
+resident; scarcely found in the mountains, but frequent in the lower
+foothills and on the plains; never seen above 8,000 feet.
+
+685. =Wilson's warbler.= WILSONIA PUSILLA. Abundant summer resident;
+centre of abundance in breeding season, 11,000 feet; known to breed at
+12,000 feet; also as low as 6,000.
+
+685a. =Pileolated warbler.= WILSONIA PUSILLA PILEOLATA. Summer resident;
+not uncommon; Mr. Aiken thinks it as plentiful as preceding.
+
+686. =Canadian warbler.= WILSONIA CANADENSIS. Rare or accidental
+migrant; one record by Mr. Aiken.
+
+687. =American redstart.= SETOPHAGA RUTICILLA. Summer resident; not
+uncommon in eastern, rare in western, Colorado; breeds below 8,000
+feet.
+
+697. =American pipit.= ANTHUS PENSILVANICUS. Common summer resident;
+breeds only on summits of the mountains.
+
+701. =American dipper.= CINCLUS MEXICANUS. Resident; common in favorite
+localities; one seen above timber-line in October.
+
+702. =Sage thrasher.= OROSCOPTES MONTANUS. Summer resident; breeds from
+plains to nearly 10,000 feet; western species, coming east to mountain
+slopes.
+
+703. =Mocking-bird.= MIMUS POLYGLOTTOS. Summer resident; common locally;
+mostly on plains, but sometimes reaches 8,000 feet.
+
+704. =Catbird.= GALEOSCOPTES CAROLINENSIS. Common summer resident; from
+plains to 8,000 feet.
+
+705. =Brown thrasher.= HARPORHYNCHUS RUFUS. Not uncommon as summer
+resident; almost restricted to the plains.
+
+708. =Bendire's thrasher.= HARPORHYNCHUS BENDIREI. Summer resident; rare
+and local; south central part of State.
+
+715. =Rock wren.= SALPINCTES OBSOLETUS. Common summer resident; breeds
+from plains to 12,000 feet.
+
+717a. =Canyon wren.= CATHERPES MEXICANUS CONSPERSUS. Rare resident; one
+nest recorded.
+
+719b. =Baird's wren.= THRYOMANES BEWICKII LEUCOGASTER. Rare summer
+resident.
+
+721b. =Western house wren.= TROGLODYTES AEDON AZTECUS. Common summer
+resident; from plains to 10,000 feet; raises two broods, sometimes
+three.
+
+722. =Winter wren.= ANORTHURA HIEMALIS. Rare resident; no nest found.
+
+725a. =Tule wren.= CISTOTHORUS PALUDICOLA. Summer resident; not
+uncommon; breeds from plains to 8,000 feet; some remain all winter in
+hot-water swamps.
+
+725c. =Western marsh wren.= CISTOTHORUS PALUSTRIS PLESIUS. Summer
+resident; not uncommon locally.
+
+726b. =Rocky Mountain creeper.= CERTHIA FAMILIARIS MONTANA. Common
+resident; in breeding season confined to the immediate vicinity of
+timber-line, where some remain the year round.
+
+727. =White-breasted nuthatch.= SITTA CAROLINENSIS. Resident; not
+common.
+
+727a. =Slender-billed nuthatch.= SITTA CAROLINENSIS ACULEATA. Common
+resident; western form; commonly breeds from 7,500 feet to timber-line.
+
+728. =Red-breasted nuthatch.= SITTA CANADENSIS. Not uncommon resident;
+migrant on the plains; resident in the mountains to about 8,000 feet,
+sometimes 10,000.
+
+730. =Pigmy nuthatch.= SITTA PYGMAEA. Abundant resident; mountain bird;
+makes scarcely any migration; most common from 7,000 to 10,000 feet.
+
+733a. =Gray titmouse.= PARUS INORNATUS GRISEUS. Resident; not common;
+southern species, coming to eastern foothills.
+
+735a. =Long-tailed chickadee.= PARUS ATRICAPILLUS SEPTENTRIONALIS. Not
+uncommon resident; winters on plains and in foothills; breeds from 7,000
+to 10,000 feet; sometimes on plains.
+
+738. =Mountain chickadee.= PARUS GAMBELI. Abundant resident; nests from
+8,000 feet to timber-line; ranges in the fall to the tops of the
+loftiest peaks.
+
+744. =Lead-colored bush-tit.= PSALTRIPARUS PLUMBEUS. Resident; not
+common; western species, coming to eastern foothills.
+
+748. =Golden-crowned kinglet.= REGULUS SATRAPA. Rare summer resident;
+rather common in migration; breeds only near timber-line at about
+11,000.
+
+749. =Ruby-crowned kinglet.= REGULUS CALENDULA. Abundant summer
+resident; breeds from 9,000 feet to timber-line.
+
+751. =Blue-gray gnatcatcher.= POLIOPTILA CAERULEA. Rare summer resident;
+breeds on the plains and in the foothills.
+
+754. =Townsend's solitaire.= MYADESTES TOWNSENDII. Common resident;
+breeds from 8,000 to 12,000 feet; winters in mountains, though
+stragglers are sometimes seen on the plains. The author saw a pair on
+plains near Arvada, in company with a young, well-fledged bird.
+
+756a. =Willow thrush.= HYLOCICHLA FUSCESCENS SALICICOLA. Summer
+resident; rather common; breeds in foothills and parks up to about 8,000
+feet.
+
+758a. =Olive-backed thrush.= HYLOCICHLA USTULATA SWAINSONII. Rare
+migrant.
+
+758c. =Alma's thrush.= HYLOCICHLA USTULATA ALAMAE. Rare summer resident;
+in migration common.
+
+759. =Dwarf hermit thrush.= HYLOCICHLA AONALASCHKAE. Rare migrant.
+
+759a. =Audubon's hermit thrush.= HYLOCICHLA AONALASCHKAE AUDUBONI. Common
+summer resident; breeds from 8,000 feet to timber-line.
+
+759b. =Hermit thrush.= HYLOCICHLA AONALASCHKAE PALLASII. Rare migrant;
+comes to the eastern edge of Colorado, just touching range of
+_auduboni_.
+
+761. =American robin.= MERULA MIGRATORIA. Summer resident, but not
+common; some interesting questions arise in connection with intermediate
+forms.
+
+761a. =Western robin.= MERULA MIGRATORIA PROPINQUA. Abundant summer
+resident; breeds from plains to timber-line.
+
+765a. =Greenland wheatear.= SAXICOLA OENANTHE LEUCORHOA. European
+species; a straggler taken at Boulder by Minot.
+
+766. =Bluebird.= SIALIA SIALIS. Rare summer resident; west to base of
+Rockies.
+
+767a. =Chestnut-backed bluebird.= SIALIA MEXICANA BAIRDI. Summer
+resident; not common; western form, coming east as far as Pueblo.
+
+768. =Mountain bluebird.= SIALIA ARCTICA. Abundant summer resident;
+breeds from plains to timber-line; in autumn roams up to at least 13,000
+feet.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+ Aerial song, 50, 51, 86, 87, 239, 268-270, 286, 287, 299-301.
+
+ Aiken, Charles E., xiii, 50, 63, 67, 118, 134, 136, 157, 161.
+
+ Arvada, 193, 194, 278, 289, 301.
+
+
+ Blackbird, Brewer's, 25, 98, 125, 126, 133, 139, 140, 141, 187, 215,
+     230, 259, 264, 266, 268, 271-274.
+   red-winged, 98, 142, 215, 271.
+   yellow-headed, 141, 142.
+
+ Bluebird, mountain, 22, 55, 67, 99, 128, 192, 231, 237, 259.
+
+ Bobolink, 286, 287, 289.
+
+ Boulder, 162, 178, 184, 186, 206, 279, 282.
+
+ Breckenridge, 259, 293, 294, 302.
+
+ Buena Vista, 32, 38, 112, 127, 132-136, 139, 146, 162, 193, 267.
+
+ Bunting, lark, 187, 285-292.
+   lazuli (also called finch), 25, 121, 154-159, 178, 187, 290.
+
+ Burro ride, 223-256.
+
+ Butterflies, 177, 252, 253, 266.
+
+
+ Canary, 127.
+
+ Canyon, Arkansas River, 43, 117.
+   Cheyenne, 109, 170.
+   Clear Creek, 184, 187, 197.
+   Eagle River, 117, 125.
+   Engleman's, 40.
+   Grand River, 44, 125.
+   South Platte, 206, 259, 278-282, 293.
+
+ Catbird, 31, 36, 121, 133, 189.
+
+ Chat, yellow-breasted, 186.
+   long-tailed, 186.
+
+ Chatterers, 302.
+
+ Cheyenne Mountain, 91.
+
+ Chewink, 36.
+
+ Chickadee, black-capped, 66, 67, 76, 119.
+   mountain, 66, 67, 73, 76, 77, 119, 212, 231, 235, 254, 262.
+
+ Colorado Springs, 38, 42, 50, 68, 83, 89, 90, 117, 121, 155, 157, 160,
+     177, 178, 183, 187, 193, 210, 279.
+
+ Cooke, Wells W., 24, 51, 67, 76, 134, 184, 261.
+
+ Coot, American, 145, 146.
+
+ Cottonwood Lake, 112, 146, 162.
+
+ Coues, Dr. Elliott, 24, 76, 302, 303.
+
+ Cowbird, 271.
+
+ Coyote, 99, 100.
+
+ Crane, 146.
+
+ Crossbill, Mexican, 262, 263.
+
+ Crow, 25.
+
+
+ Denver, 26, 159, 177, 178, 179, 181, 183, 187, 193, 241, 263, 282, 289,
+     292.
+
+ Dickcissel, 36.
+
+ Dipper (_see_ water-ousel), 163-174, 209, 210.
+
+ Dove, turtle, 43, 44, 97, 122, 126, 129, 186.
+
+ Ducks, 72, 143, 146.
+   ruddy, 143-145.
+
+
+ East and West, birds of, compared, 19, 21, 23-27, 31-40, 43, 44, 54,
+     55, 62, 67, 69, 76, 90-95, 106, 119, 121, 125, 129-131, 133-136,
+     149-159, 186, 191-193, 198, 205, 215, 266, 270, 272, 286, 287.
+
+
+ Flicker, red-shafted, 25, 55, 73, 119, 126, 213, 231, 254, 262, 298.
+   yellow-shafted, 25, 55.
+
+ Flycatchers, 25, 151.
+   Arkansas, 95-97, 99.
+   crested, 95.
+   least, 214.
+   olive-sided, 73, 261.
+   western, 209, 215, 218.
+
+
+ Georgetown, 193, 197-219, 224, 238.
+
+ Glenwood, 38, 40, 109, 120-125, 129, 158, 183, 271.
+
+ Golden, 162, 184, 193, 296, 298.
+
+ Goldfinch, American, 33, 121, 202, 203, 290.
+   Arkansas, 32, 33, 121, 133, 290.
+
+ Grackle, bronzed, 25, 140, 271, 272.
+   purple, 25, 140.
+
+ Grassfinch, eastern, 99, 129.
+   western, 92, 99, 121, 129, 186, 192.
+
+ Graymont, 183, 230, 232.
+
+ Gray's Peak, 26, 178, 190, 193, 206, 224-256, 260, 261, 262, 270, 298.
+   ascent of, 241-243.
+   summit, 243-251.
+
+ Green Lake, 208-214.
+
+ Grosbeak, 25, 298, 299.
+   black-headed, 39, 290.
+   cardinal, 39, 127.
+   rose-breasted, 39.
+   western blue, 39, 157.
+
+
+ Halfway House, 47, 74, 75, 76.
+
+ Harrier, marsh, 99.
+
+ Herbert, George, 59.
+
+ Hawk, pigeon, 214.
+
+ House-finch, 119, 127, 133, 181-183, 217.
+
+ Humming-bird, 25.
+   broad-tailed, 73, 103-109, 112-114, 200, 209, 213, 217, 230, 260.
+   ruby-throated, 106.
+   rufous, 113.
+
+
+ Indigo-bird, 25, 154, 155, 178.
+
+
+ Jack-rabbit, 99.
+
+ Jay, blue, 24, 25, 26, 27, 149, 151, 153.
+   long-crested, 25, 119, 133, 149-151, 154, 189, 230, 260, 279-281.
+   mountain, 71, 119, 151-154, 205, 210, 233, 234, 261.
+   Woodhouse's, 154.
+
+ Junco, slate-colored, 75.
+   gray-headed, 67, 74, 75, 119, 209, 212, 231, 235, 254, 255, 259, 261.
+
+
+ Kelso, Mount, 232, 233, 238, 253, 254, 262.
+
+ Killdeer, 205, 270.
+
+ Kingbird, 97.
+
+ Kingfisher, 119, 282.
+
+ Kinglet, ruby-crowned, 64-66, 72, 119, 211, 216, 235, 254, 261.
+
+
+ Lark, desert horned, 49, 84-89, 186, 264, 268-270.
+   horned, 85.
+   pallid horned, 86.
+   prairie horned, 86.
+
+ Leadville, 38, 126, 127, 183, 202, 271.
+
+ Leucosticte, brown-capped, 22, 27, 59, 60, 125, 240, 241, 244, 248,
+     251, 252, 254, 262.
+
+ Lowell, James Russell, 59, 289.
+
+
+ Magpie, 25, 40-43, 72, 119, 122, 133, 188, 270.
+
+ Manitou, 31, 32, 36, 38, 47, 75, 76, 79, 140, 178.
+
+ Martin, purple, 90.
+
+ Meadow-lark, eastern, 26, 90-95.
+   western, 22, 26, 90-95, 133, 160, 186, 187, 192, 264, 267, 290.
+
+ Merriam, Dr. C. Hart, 113.
+
+ Migration, 19-23, 51, 52, 63, 65, 66, 124, 277, 278.
+
+ Mocking-bird, 98, 301, 302.
+
+ Moraine Lake, 61, 66-73, 146.
+
+ Muir, John, 172, 173.
+
+
+ Nighthawk, eastern, 191.
+   western, 24, 119, 129, 190, 191, 262.
+
+ Nutcracker (also crow) Clark's, 25, 67, 71, 72, 119, 122.
+
+ Nuthatch, pygmy, 119, 174, 279.
+   white-breasted, 119.
+
+
+ Ohio, 21, 65, 141, 215.
+
+ Oriole, 25.
+   Baltimore, 33-35.
+   Bullock's 33-35, 97, 121, 192, 290.
+   orchard, 34.
+
+ Owl, burrowing, 178-180.
+
+ Phoebe, 125.
+   Say's, 125, 131, 270, 271.
+
+ Pike's Peak, 21, 26, 31, 38, 66, 71, 73, 83, 103, 104, 110, 129, 134,
+     146, 152, 159, 224, 239, 250, 252, 262, 281.
+   ascent of, 47, 56-58.
+   descent of, 49-56, 58-79.
+   summit, 47-49, 58, 59, 60.
+
+ Pipit, American, 27, 49-52, 125, 239, 244, 254, 262.
+
+ Ptarmigan, white-tailed, 60, 248.
+
+ Pueblo, 117, 183.
+
+
+ Raven, 25, 53, 125.
+
+ Red Cliff, 38, 40, 109, 117, 120, 183.
+
+ Redstart, 184.
+
+ Rexford, Eben E., 192.
+
+ Ridgway, Robert, 24, 94, 136, 285, 303.
+
+ Roberts, Charles G. D., 69.
+
+ Robin, eastern, 32, 73, 95, 127, 205, 206.
+   western, 22, 24, 31, 32, 55, 68, 70, 72, 73, 106, 121, 127, 129, 151,
+     192, 199, 200, 205-207, 210, 216, 231, 253, 270, 290.
+
+ Royal Gorge, 43, 117, 122.
+
+
+ Sandpiper, spotted, 51, 73, 163, 204, 271.
+
+ Sapsucker, red-naped, 211, 212.
+   Williamson's, 75-79, 160, 161.
+
+ Seton, Ernest Thompson, 194, 229, 272.
+
+ Seven Lakes, 55, 61, 70, 71, 72, 104, 146.
+
+ Shrike, white-rumped, 98.
+
+ Silver Plume, 183, 207, 216, 224, 226.
+
+ Siskin, pine, 128, 200, 202, 203, 210, 216, 231, 261.
+
+ Skylark, European, 87.
+
+ Solitaire, Townsend's, 261, 270, 290, 298-303.
+
+ South Park, 131, 206, 250, 259, 263-278.
+
+ Sparrow, 25.
+   Brewer's, 186.
+   chipping, western, 24, 130, 215, 216, 259.
+   clay-colored, 128, 203.
+   English, 127, 181-183.
+   lark, western, 24, 192.
+   Lincoln's, 70, 71, 73, 99, 106, 134, 187, 200, 278.
+   mountain song, 126, 133-135, 193, 278, 290.
+   savanna, western, 264, 266, 267, 274-276.
+   song, 92, 126, 133-135, 193, 288.
+   white-crowned, 21, 22, 52-55, 60, 61, 68, 72-74, 103, 126, 129, 200,
+     204, 213, 214, 231, 238, 239, 244, 253, 255, 256, 259, 261, 281,
+     282.
+
+ Swallows, 131.
+   barn, 279.
+   cliff, 99, 118, 213, 263, 266.
+   violet-green, 207, 208, 259, 279.
+
+
+ Tabb, John B., 192.
+
+ Tanager, 25, 151.
+   Louisiana, 39, 40, 119, 279.
+   scarlet, 39, 40.
+   summer, 39.
+
+ Thompson, Maurice, 35.
+
+ Thrasher, brown, 37, 302.
+
+ Thrush, 37, 302.
+   hermit, 69.
+   mountain hermit, 38, 68-70, 72, 73, 204, 210, 212, 215, 218, 219,
+     231, 235, 236, 262.
+   veery, 135, 136.
+   willow, 135, 136, 200, 230.
+   wood, 69.
+
+ Tillie Ann, Mount, 260-262.
+
+ Torrey's Peak, 232, 237, 239, 241, 244, 245, 250, 256.
+
+ Towhee, 36, 37.
+   green-tailed, 37-39, 62, 72, 98, 126, 130, 133, 185, 191, 200, 203,
+     204, 210, 218, 259, 278, 292-295.
+   spurred, 36, 37, 185, 189, 191, 200, 204, 290.
+
+
+ Vireo, 151.
+   warbling, 31, 73, 118, 198, 199, 209, 215, 218, 230, 262.
+
+
+ Warbler, Audubon's, 62-64, 68, 70, 126, 159, 200, 204, 208, 215, 216,
+     231, 235, 237, 238, 259.
+   Macgillivray's, 200, 205, 209.
+   mountain, 157.
+   myrtle, 62, 159.
+   pileolated, 63.
+   summer, 31, 119, 133, 157, 158, 192, 290.
+   Wilson's, 63, 64, 70, 72, 126, 200, 204, 213, 214, 231, 238, 244.
+
+ Water-ousel (_see_ dipper), 163-174, 185, 209, 210.
+
+ Woodpeckers, 24, 75, 160, 211, 262.
+   Batchelder's, 67, 72.
+   downy, 67.
+   Lewis's, 160-162, 190.
+   red-headed, 162.
+
+ Wood-pewee, eastern, 32.
+   western, 32, 119, 121, 132, 192, 261.
+
+ Wren, Bewick's, 297.
+   Carolina, 64, 297.
+   rock, 185, 186, 189, 191, 296-298.
+   western house, 73, 106, 117, 118, 217, 230, 278, 279.
+
+
+ Yellow-throat, western, 193, 290.
+
+
+
+PRINTED FOR A. C. McCLURG & CO. BY
+THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, JOHN WILSON
+& SON (INC.) CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+   Page 140
+   The illustration entitled "Brewer's Blackbirds" appears to be
+   one of Yellow-headed Blackbirds.
+   Unchanged.
+
+   Page 333
+   000. =English sparrow.= PASSER DOMESTICUS.
+   This item falls between item 533 and 534. Unchanged from original.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 25973.txt or 25973.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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