448 Mr. \V. L. Sclater on the 



have frequently seen a small flock in our valley. On brii^lit 

 sunny days they will sit on the top o£ bushes and sing nearly 

 as sweetly as in spring. I know of no more exhilarating and 

 delicious sound than the note of the Western Meadow-Lark. 

 There is something particularly buoyant and joyful in it. 

 It is impossible to reproduce ii in notes or words, as it varies 

 immensely with different individuals. 



A rare resident bird which here reaches perhaps its most 

 northern limits is the lload-Runner or Chaparral-Cock 

 {Geucoccyx calif ornianus) . This is a ground-living Cuckoo, 

 though with its long tail and running habits it looks much 

 more like a small Pheasant than a Cuckoo. Its wings are 

 weak and short, and it seldom flies, but skulks in the low 

 scrub of the foot-hills in sheltered nooks. It is particularly 

 fond of a certain limestone-ridge Avhich forms one of the 

 outermost escarpments of the mountains close to my 

 house. 



We have three resident Woodpeckers, all fairly common : 

 the llock)'^ Mountain [Bryobales villasus ■nionticolu), the 

 iVA\.c\\e\(\Q,\: {D.pubescens humorus), and the Red-winged Flicker 

 [Colaptes cafei-) . The last, a specially characteristic American 

 form, is easily recognised by its undulating flight and by its 

 cliaracteristic sharp, clear, but somewhat cackling note. In 

 Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas most interesting 

 intermediate forms between the very distinct Yellow Flicker 

 of the east and the Red-shafted Flicker of the west are not 

 infrequently met w ith. In some cases the bird has the yellow 

 lining of the tail and wing of C. uuratus with the red 

 moustache-spots of C. cafer, and in others the lining colour 

 of the tail is partially red and partiidly yellow. Hybridization 

 between the two species seems the only reasonable explana- 

 tion of this curious state of things. 



The subject of vertical migration is one of very considerable 

 interest, and one which has not hitherto received so much 

 attention as it deserves. Little advance has been made in 

 tlie study of it since the paper by Drew (' Auk,' ii. pp. 11-18, 

 1885) published many years ago. 



