1921 



BIRDS OF MONTANA 



93 



of May, when the first brood is on the wing-, ami the nii(klle of .Tune when the 

 second begins. Very few nests, however, seem to be (hited between the middh' 

 of I\Iay and the niiddk' of June, which would indicate that the few found at that 

 season are late stragglers of the first brood. 



''^y^:'^. 



n i:k Nisr; Di ri( 



183. 



Otocoris alpestris merrilli Dwii 

 DrsKV IIt)RNED Lahk 



Snnnner resident of ]) 

 Breeds at ilissoula and is ; 

 by Sloanaker (.MS) as the 



ains and open grass land in northwestern .Montana. 

 I permanent resident there ( Kitti'edge. .MS). Listed 

 breeding form at Flathead Lake. Silloway (11)0] a, 

 p. 56) considered the subspecies at that point to be h uiohn ma. Li itcohivina is 

 listed as breeding in the Bitterroot Valley also (Bailey. .MS). Li ucahtnua does 

 occui' on the west side of the divide, and has been taken at .Missoula, .March 2"), in 

 a flock of iiurrilli (Kittredge, .MS), but it seems (piite probable that iik rrilli is 

 the prevailing breeding form, though many of the birds in this n'gion an' prob- 

 ably intergrades. 1 secured a Iiri'eding bird at Silver Bow, just west of the di- 

 vide. whi<'h pi'oved to be Ii uidldciiiu. This was to be expected, however, as the 

 grass area where this bird was secured aetiudly crossed the divide a few miles 

 farther south, and the main part of it lay on the east side, forming the north 

 slope of the Big Hole River, Intergrades between iiirrrilli and Jntvohn ma hav 

 been taken in the Gallatin Valle.y in fall migration (liiclimond and Ivnowlton, 

 1S94, p. 304). 



There are no ]iublished accounts of the finding of nests of )iii rrilli in ]\[on- 

 tana. Young were seen out of the nest June (i at .Missoula (Kittredge, MS). 



