APPENDIX TO OSCINES. 

 A. 



[^'OTE. — A portion of Mr. T. M. Trippe's series of interesting observations upon the 

 birds of Colorado, liaving failed to reach me in time for insertion iu the earlier pages 

 of this work, they are here iutroduced, together with various additional data respect- 

 ing the species thus far treated. The remainder of Mr. Trippe's notes is '.n substance 

 incorporated, j)«^sim, in the work.] 



The period during which my notes were made, extends from January, 1873, to the 

 early part of December of the same year; the tield of observation. Clear (Jreek County, 

 Colorado, with two or three adjacent townships of Gilpin and Jetiersou counties. Dur- 

 ing different parts of the year, excursious were made throughout the whole of this 

 region ; and although these were not as fre(pient as coukl have beeu desired for a com- 

 plete account of the avi-fauua, yet they were so often repeated that I believe very 

 few birds escaped me, except such as are rare visitors or mere stragglers. 



Clear Creek County lies on the eastern slope of the Kocky Mountains, extending 

 from the summit of the main range some twenty to twenty-five miles eastward, and 

 about the same distance north and south, the centre line being iu latitude 39^ 40' 

 nearly. It is traversed by a number of streams, whose valleys lie from 300 to 1,500 or 

 2,000 "feet below the surrounding ridges and peaks. The general course of the main 

 stream. South Clear Creek, is nearly due east ; but, the smaller tributaries, running at 

 various angles to this course, so cut up and divide the surface as to present a confused 

 assemWage of isolated peaks and ridges, disposed in no regular order or system, and 

 divided by deep valleys and ravines, which, toward the range, become in many instan- 

 ces, precipitous, rocky canons. Bordering the country on the east, lies Bergen's Park ; 

 an open park-like tract of rolling, grassy prairie, interspersed with groves of pines, 

 low hills, and wet, marshy swales, a. miniature of the great parks lying to the west- 

 ward of the range. The elevation of the western edge of the county, — the dividing 

 ridge of Atlantic and Pacific waters, — is between 11,000 and 12,000 leet, isolated peaks 

 rising 1,500 or 2,000 feet higher ; from this the general surfact) slopes eastward at the 

 average of about 300 feet per mile, the slope being much greater nearer the range 

 however, and diminishing as the distance from it increases, to the eastern border of 

 the county, which has an elevation, in its lowest part, of between {),."AIO and ;,000 leet 

 above the sea. Bergen's Park, lying for the most part in Jeli'ersou County, has an 

 elevation varying between 7,000 and 7,500 feet. 



TJie streams are for the most part monntainons torrents, rarely with a fall less than 

 one hundred feet per mile, and, near the range, three or four times that, being fre- 

 quently a simple succession of cascades and waterlalis for miles. These waters, save 

 when muddied by the placer workings, are always clear and cold, and abound with 

 the black-speckled trout and two or three siecies of chub and sucker, tlu; latter, how- 

 ever, being only found in the lower valleys, where thecunent is less iai)id than higher 

 np toward tlu^ range. Near timber-line, nestled under the very shadows of the main 

 divide, most freciuently faced by i)erpendicnlar clills of rock, or abrupt, precipitous 

 and craggy slopes, are nnmbers of small, deep lakes, varying from mere pools to ono 

 hundred acres or more in size, and usually bordered on one or more sides by deep, cold 

 bogs, wherein grow various species of arctic willows and other alpine plants. Their 

 suriace is covered with ice from the end of October till early in .Inly, some with north- 

 ern exjjosure not being free from ict^ till late in Augustj and their waters are always 

 of an icy coldness, owing to their depth and the melted snow which is constanly 

 liouring into them. Some few of the deepest are tenanted by trout ; but the miijoriiy 

 are void of life, save various forms of insects which i)ass the larva .state in them. One 

 or two lakes at a lower elevation, near 10,000 feet, swarm with the curious Sindoiiv or 

 Amblyxlomd. Under these conditions, the absence of a([uatie birds will not bo sui- 

 prising ; and with a single exception no wader or swimmer can be said to be charac- 

 teristic of the region. 



Great as is the. diversity of the snrlace, the climate is perhai)s still more variable. 

 The season of lr<73 was in no w.-iy a reiiiarUable (uie ; there was less snow 'haii usual, 

 but otherwise it was a fair average of the weather since the settlement of the country. 

 During January, February, ami the first half of >Ma:ch, the weather was (Klightliil 

 beyond comparison. No snow nor rain fell, with the exception of three or four days in 

 February; th' mercury never sank below zero ; ihednys were bright, cloudless, and 

 mild, even warm, 20- or 25 Fahrenheit hi ing a cnniiiKMi temperature at 7 a. m., while 

 at midday it rose to ,50- or (iO- . On the 7ih Hf February the niereury stood at 71^ iu 

 the shade at noon, at an elevation of H.dCd feet. Alter the middle of March wintry 

 weather .set in ; there was a constant sucei-^sion of snow-storms, violent winds a:ul 

 biting frosts, continuing till May. On the lirst of June, at an elevation of 7,SI0 feet, 



