186 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



senger 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 graz- 

 ing. 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 mead- 

 ow-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 



