210 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



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 fi\e hundred feet. 



While some species were, so to speak, our " com- 

 panions 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 do^vn the range as Georgetown. They 

 began to proclaim their presence by raucous calls as soon 



