98 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



Whose song was this ringing from one of the larger 

 trees a Httle ferther 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 dwell- 

 ing in the neighborhood of some embowered cottage in 

 Dixie-land. In suitable localities on the plains of Col- 

 orado 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 sev- 

 eral more avian species to my roll. To my surprise, a 



