MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 139 



31. Tyrannus verticalis. Very numerous along the timbered streams. 

 It has much the same habits as the T. carolinensis, nesting in the same 

 manner. The eggs are so much like those of that bird, that they are 

 sometimes actually indistinguishable from them. Nests with fresh eggs 

 obtained June 4th to 10th. 



32. Myiarchus crinitus. One specimen obtained, which was the only 

 one seen. 



No species of Empidonax, Sayomis, or Contopus was observed. 



ALCEDINID^J. 



33. Ceryle alcyon. Common. 



CITCULIDJE. 



34. Coccygus americanus. Common. 



PICIDJE. 



35. Picus pubescens. A single individual seen. 



36. Melanerpss erythrocephalus. Abundant wherever there was 

 timber, and no less inquisitive and irrepressible than at the East. 



37. Colaptes auratus. Rather rare, and very wary. One was several 

 times seen at a distance that seemed nearly red enough to be C. mexicanus. 

 Those taken had red in the cheek-patches, as at Leavenworth. 



CAPRIMULGID^J. 



38. Chordeiles popetue. Abundant. Most of those taken wera very 

 light colored, corresponding with the so-called C. " Henryi," but some 

 were nearly as dark as the average eastern bird.* 



STRIGID^. 



39. Bubo virginianus. Not seen alive, but a dried carcass was found 

 near Fort Hays. 



40. Athene hypogaea. A large colony observed near the post, and sev- 

 eral small colonies elsewhere, living in the burrows of the prairie-dogs 

 (Cynomys ludovicianus). 



Different specimens vary greatly in color and in the amount of feathering 

 on the feet. Some have the tarsi densely feathered, while in other speci- 

 mens the tarsi are nearly bare, a large series presenting every degree of 

 variation between these extremes. The A. hypoga:a, formerly supposed to 

 be confined to the region east of the Rocky Mountains, as distinguished 

 from the A. " cunicidaria " of the western half of the continent, seems to 

 have been based on specimens with the tarsi quite fully clothed, and hence 



* In the synonymy of C- popetue given in Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. II, pnge 300, 

 ">ot-note, C. tcxcnsis was inadvertently included. 



