Chapter 5 

 BIRDS* 



The list of Colorado birds is a very long one, owing to the 

 varied conditions within the State, and the fact that stragglers 

 from other regions, east and west, occasionally cross our borders. 

 Professor W. W. Cooke, in 1897, prepared a very interesting sum- 

 mary of the history of Colorado Ornithology, showing how and 

 by whom the additions to the fauna were made known. Pike, in 

 1810, mentioned the raven, magpie, turkey and "pheasant", the 

 last being the Dusky Grouse. He also referred to a strange new 

 bird, which Aiken and Warren think was the Road Runner. 

 Thomas Say, in his reports on the results of Long's Expedition 

 (1823), recorded eleven species in a definite and scientific manner. 

 Eight of these were described by Say as new to science, and the 

 names are recognized as valid today. These are Dendragapus 

 obscurus (Dusky Grouse), Chloroenas fasciata (Band-tailed Pigeon), 

 Tyr annus verticalis (Arkansas Kingbird), Carpodacus mexicanus 

 frontalis (House Finch), Astragalinus psaltria (Arkansas Goldfinch), 

 Cyanospiza amoena (Lazuli Bunting), Petrochelidon lunifrons**. 

 (Cliff Swallow) and Salpindes obsoletus (Rock Wren). The remain- 

 ing three, the robin, magpie and mocking bird, were representative 

 of new races, as these are understood by the analytical ornitholo- 

 gists of today. The Magpie, Pica pica hudsonica, was named by 

 Sabine in the very same year ( 1 823) in the Appendix to Franklin's 

 Journal. The Western Mocking-bird, Mitnus polyglottus leucop- 

 terus, was named by Vigors in 1839, and the Western Robin, Plan- 

 esticus migratorius propinquus, by Ridgway in 1877. It was in- 

 deed a new world, zoologically speaking, which Say entered a 

 little more than a hundred years ago! After this, there was a 

 very long interval before another bird was added to the Colorado 

 list. Professor S. F. Baird added 19 in 1858 (Pacific Railroad 

 Reports), four in 1859, and one in 1870. But in 1872 Dr. J. A. 

 Allen added no less than 84, and C. E. Aiken, of Colorado Springs, 



*See especially W. W. Cooke, The Birds of Colorado, State Agricultural College Bulletin 37 

 (1897); W. L. Sclater, A History of the Birds of Colorado, 576 pp. (1912): Florence Merriam 

 Bailey, Handbook of Birds of the Western United States, Revised Edition, 590 pp. (1921); 

 Junius Henderson, The Practical Value of Birds, University of Colorado Bulletin, Vol. XIII, 

 No. 4. Aiken and Warren, The Birds of El Paso Ccunty, Colorado, Colorado College Pub- 

 lications, Vol. XII, No. 13 (1914). 



**It is now claimed (Auk. XXXIV, p. 204) that P. albifrons of Rafinesque is an earlier 

 name for this bird. 



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