^*'l9'08^^] Cameron, Birds of Custer & Dawson Counties, Mont. 45 



to the left. When the five nestUngs became full-feathered (on August 2) 

 they were inconveniently crowded, and two contrived by some means 

 to reach the upper nest, remaining there until August 9, when all could fly. 



157. Iridoprocne bicolor. Tree Swallow. — Rare. Dr. J. A. Allen 

 found this swallow: "Common at one locality on the Musselshell, but not 

 seen elsewhere." 



Captain Thorne mentions that some of these swallows nested at Fort 

 Keogh. I never happened to recognize this species in Montana, although 

 I have seen it just across the Hne in Wyoming. Mr. Dan Bowman has 

 observed these birds on the Powder River and recollects a pair having a 

 nest in the roof of an old shed in the eighties. He further informs me 

 that during the end of May, 1894, a pair of Tree Swallows frequented a 

 Martin box on a high pole, placed by a Cottonwood, on his Powder River 

 ranch. The hopes that they would nest there were not fulfilled. 



158. Tachycineta thalassina lepida. Northern Violet-green Swal- 

 low. — Dr. J. A. Allen met with this species "near the mouth of Tongue 

 River, and frequently on the Yellowstone above this point." In his 

 'Birds of Fort Custer' Dr. Edgar A. Mearns gives this swallow as: "Abun- 

 dant along the bluff bank of the Bighorn River." Mr. Dan Bowman has 

 seen it on the Powder River but cannot give dates. I have not observed 

 it. 



159. Riparia riparia. Bank Swallow. — Not common. Dr. J. A. 

 Allen found a "large colony on the banks of the Yellowstone, near the 

 mouth of Custer Creek (Custer County). Here full-fledged young were 

 obtained August 1st." At the present time I only know of one colony, 

 in a cut-bank on a tributary of Whitney Creek, Custer County. Other 

 nesting sites I have come across were deserted, but Mr. Dan Bowman 

 has seen colonies elsewhere. This is the same bird as the Sand Martin in 

 Great Britain. 



160. Ampelis garrulus. Bohemian Waxwing. — Abundant. A most 

 interesting and predominant winter resident. I have met with large flocks 

 everywhere in both counties from the Powder River to the Missouri. 

 "Professor Baird mentioned that Mr. Drexler saw 'millions' on Powder 

 River, in flocks rivalling in extent those of the Wild Pigeon."' 



Bohemian Waxwings arrive about the end of October and leave about 

 the end of March, thus being with us for five months. At my ranch near 

 Terry flocks came to my north window, where the bright-plumaged birds 

 presented a charming sight from within the room as they picked off the 

 remnant of withered cherries amid the snow-weighted cotton of the cle- 

 matis. In Dawson County Waxwings were constant visitors to my water 

 troughs. They are among those species which always try to get water 

 even when deep snow covers the ground. At Knowlton during the severe 

 winter of 1906-07 a flock came regularly to a large open spring at Messrs. 

 Archdale's ranch. When hunting mule deer on Cedar Creek (which 



1 Birds of the Northwest, by Elliot Coiies, p. 92, 1874. 



