;}0 BrivIvKTIN No. :5:5. 



Billings lies near the middle of a broad valley made fertile 

 by irrigation. On three sides the Bad I^ands rise abruptly two 

 or three hundred feet like a fortification wall. The river 

 washes the talus from the east and south wall, crossing the 

 narrowed mouth of tlie valley below the city. 



Eastward t()ward the river, in the fenced cattle ranches, 

 the sage brush and the weeds which grow along the irrigation 

 ditches afforded shelter for innumerable sparrows, while the 

 alkali ponds occupying old river beds fairly swarmed with 

 waders and both Blue and Green- winged Teal. The old birds 

 flew from me and circled as long as I remained in the vicinit}', 

 but the young and many of the females lost themselves com- 

 pletely in the thick growth of rushes. It was at one of these 

 sinks that a Grinnell's Water-Thrush startled and electrified me 

 by perching on a stump not four feet awa}', scolding vocifer- 

 ously. I had started out to climb the higher ea.stern cliff, but 

 the river turned me back to the northern one. In crossing a 

 sheep ranch one could not help noticing the entire lack of birds 

 due to the fact that the sheep had cropped the herbage of every 

 sort except the cactus, to the ground. There was no refuge 

 for the birds. 



The talus of this north cliff has accumulated to the depth 

 of nearly a hundred feet from the level of the valle}', and a 

 convenient crack in the wall of soft stand-stone helped me the 

 rest of the way to the upper level. The sand-stone is capped 

 b}^ a relatively thin stratum of poorlj^ cemented conglomerate. 

 The few stunted trees which cling to the edge of this sand- 

 stone bluff add picturesqueness to the scene. Here it was 

 that a troop of Woodhouse's Jays paid me a visit. The}' 

 worked vig<^rously among the cones in the tree-tops for a few 

 minutes, then passed nervousl}' on down the valley. Here the 

 Rock Wren alternately scolded me in true wren fashion and 

 sang for me when I stood still. In the wind caves and beneath 

 overhanging rocks Cliff Swallows had hung their bottle nests. 

 White-throated Swifts vied with each other in cutting the air 

 into sections about my head, but I could find none of their 

 nests. At the foot of the bluff Arkansas Kingbirds patrolled 

 rocks and bushes, while farther out on the level vallex' King- 

 birds replaced them. Among the outlying hou.sefe Robins and 

 Bluebirds were feeding and singing. 



