114 The Wilson Bulletin— No. 100 



Eastern, Northern, Western or Southern Faunae, the City 

 of Denver being at the overlapping edges of these four char- 

 acteristic bird regions. 



When the writer first came to Denver (1881) its corporate 

 limits were much smaller than at present, it had no large 

 parks, and its then rather infrequent trees were nearly all 

 native " cottonwoods," which were watered by small irri- 

 gating ditches running as gutters on either side of practically 

 everv street. The complexion of its bird life was then very 

 different from what it is now ; there were no English spar- 

 rows, fewer house finches, but more swallows (of several 

 species) and many ravens and turkey buzzards. The imme- 

 diately surrounding country had much of its native bird pop- 

 ulation unchanged ; the small ponds and sloughs were all 

 frequented by many curlews, avocets, plovers , and other 

 forms now relatively scarce, even in districts of the State 

 still uninhabited and uncultivated. 



In the intervening thirty-six years vast changes have been 

 wrought by nuan, not only in the upbuilding of a modern 

 city, but even in the very topography of the area now under 

 consideration ; what was then virgin prairie dotted with an 

 occasional pond, and slightly marshy area, and with perhaps 

 a Cottonwood tree here and there, is now well wooded and 

 watered park and residential districts. 



If in the summer one view Denver from the summit of 

 Genesee Mountain (air line distance about 18 miles), it 

 seems mainly to be, not a multitude of houses, and other 

 buildings, but a dense green forest, stretching out towards, 

 and gradually melting into, the prairie on the distant eastern 

 horizon. This appearance is due to the great abundance of 

 tall shade trees growing on each side of all the residence 

 streets, and the deception is enhanced by the many trees in 

 the extensive park system which adds so much to the beauty 

 of the city. This park system embraces some thirty-five 

 parks, varying in size from one to nearly five hundred acres, 

 some of which are more or less inter-connected by wide and 

 partly wooded boulevards; forty years ago the ground cov- 



