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AND OOLOGIST. 



101 



coast, like certain other species of its local 

 itv. tinds its way around the Alleghany 

 Moiuituins for a short distance, and is very 

 common throiiffhout the Summer in west- 

 ern New York. Indeed it is not uncom- 

 mon as a Summer resident in the • central 

 parts of the State. I have had every op- 

 portunity of observing its habits ; and, as 

 no writer has given it a full record, I bear 

 it a special accountabilitj'. 



It is a bii-d of the woods, everywhere as- 

 sociated with the beautiful tall forests of 

 the more northern counties of Western 

 New York, sometimes found in the open 

 woods of pastiu-e-lands. and qtiite partial 

 to hardwood trees. In its flitting motions 

 in search of insect^prey. and in the jerking 

 curves of its more prolonged flight, as also 

 in structiu'e, it is a genuine Wood War- 

 bler, and keeps, for the most jiart, to what 

 Thoreau calls '• the upper story" of its syl- 

 van domain. Its song, which is frequent, 

 and may be heard for some distance, may 

 be imitated Viy the syllables rheet, rheet, 

 rheet, rheet, ridi, idi, e-e-e-e-e-e-e ; begin- 

 ning -n-ith several -soft, warbling notes, and 

 ending in a rather prolonged but quite mu- 

 sical squeak. The latter and more rajiid 

 f)art of the strain, which is given in the up- 

 ward slide, ajiproaches an insect quality of 

 tone which is more or less peculiar to all 

 blue Warblers. This song is so common 

 here as to be a universal characteristic of 

 our tall forests. 



The bird is shy when started from the 

 nest, and has the sharp chipping alarm 

 note common to the family. The nest is 

 saddled on a horizontal limb of considera- 

 ble size, some distance from the tree, and 

 some forty or fifty feet from the ground. 

 Small, and very neatly and compactly built, 

 somewhat after the style of the Redstart, 

 it consists outwartUy of fine dried grasses, 

 bits of wasp's nests and gray lichen, and 

 more especially of old and weathered 

 woody fibres, making it look quite gray 

 and waspy ; while the lining is fine dried 

 grasses, or shreds of tlae wild gi-ape- 



vine, thus giving the inside a rich brown 

 appearance in contrast with the gray exte- 

 rior. 



The eggs, 4 or 5, some .60x47, are 

 grayish or greenisli white, pretty well spot- 

 ted, or sj)6cked, or even blotched, espe- 

 ciallj' about the large end, with browTi and 

 deep lilac. They do not possess that deli- 

 cate appearance common to the oological 

 gems of most of the Warblers. — J". H. 

 Langille, Buffalo, N. Y. 



Notes from Colorado. 



My time to devote to birds is very lim- 

 ited, but I send you a few notes taken 

 about camp, at an elevation of about 11,4:00 

 feet. Canada Jays are plentiful and make 

 themselves as much at home as tame Pig- 

 eons, coming at meal time for bits of food 

 that I throw to them, sometimes alighting 

 within two or three feet of me. At other 

 times they busy themselves hopping about 

 the trees, either singly or in snrall flocks 

 of four or five, pecking off insects and 

 crooning to themselves like an old woman 

 at her spinning wheel. They have as great 

 a variety of notes as the Mocking Bird, of- 

 ten uttering shrOl screams that would 

 easily be mistaken for those of a Hawk. 



Stellar's .Jay, Ai-ctic Blue Bird, and 

 Black-billed Magpies are abundant up to 

 an elevation of O.-'jflO feet. Have never seen 

 but one pair of Louisiana Tanagers higher 

 than 10,000 feet. They are quite common 

 from 9,.500 feet down to tlie Plains. 



Audubon's Warblers are quite plenty 

 500 or 600 feet lower down, and Hummers 

 are aViimdant and are occasionally seen 

 about camjo, l)ut as all of my shooting irons 

 are forty-five calibre I cannot take any 

 specimens to identify them. Eed-shafted 

 Flicker and Robins are common. 



July 17 I saw for the first and only time 

 one male and two female Pine Grosbeaks. 

 Pui-jjle Finches are occasionally seen. 



Yellow-crowned Kinglets and Brown 

 Creepers are quite plentiful, and Titmice 

 — "The woods are full of 'em." WTiite- 



