62 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



The upper valley was the summer home of that mu- 

 sician ^9«r 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 

 Avith 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. 



