186 Smith, Notes on Colorado Birds. {.Amii 



was taken by the writer at Pagosa Junction, Archuleta Co., August 8, 1904. 

 The plumage would indicate that it was probably reared in the neighbor- 

 hood, but further search was impossible, owing to my leaving the place 

 soon afterward. 



Pica pica hudsonica. Black-billed Magpie. — Col. N. S. Goss, in his 

 'Birds of Kansas.' records this species as "an occasional fall and winter 

 \dsitant in western Kansas." We have records from several points near 

 the eastern State line of Colorado, Mr. Ferril, Curator of this society, hav- 

 ing seen three at Julesburg, Sedgwick Co., Feb. 22, 1907, and later on 

 Sept. 19, saw two in company with Blue Jays. Mr. H. D. Boyes tells me 

 a pair was occasionally seen the past winter, near his ranch on Dry Willow 

 Creek, south of Wray. Yuma Co. Tliis is its first appearance according to 

 his experience during a residence of about 20 years at that place. The 

 writer several times saw half a dozen or more at Holly, Prowers Co., while 

 collecting there the last week in December, 1907, and the remains of others 

 have previously been seen in the brush heaps of wood rats at this locality. 



Cyanocitta cristata. Blue Jay. — Some additional knowledge of tliis 

 species has been gained since the records from Yuma Co., given in 'The 

 Auk' (Vol. XXII, p. 81, 82). The writer has taken other specimens at 

 Wray, and has since found it much more common at Dry Willow Creek, 

 southeast of that place, where specimens were also taken. Several nests 

 were seen in the tall cottonwoods surrounding the home of Mr. H. D. 

 Boyes, and as a matter of fact, half a dozen nests to the mile, usually cov- 

 ered by incubating birds, could be seen up and down the creek, the first 

 week in June, 1905. 



Two sets of eggs were taken June 4, 1905. One nest about seven feet 

 from the ground in a dead black willow, overgrown with grape vines, con- 

 tained five slightly incubated eggs; the other about 25 feet up in a cotton- 

 wood tree, held four eggs in which incubation had progressed about one 

 fourth. The birds were flushed in both instances. Mr. Boyes informs me 

 that the species was not uncommon about the ranch the past winter. 



It is also found in other eastern counties of the State, Mr. Ferril having 

 shot two from a flock of half a dozen at Julesburg, Sept. 19, 1907. He 

 was also told that it bred there. In the southeastern portion of the State, 

 it is apparently less common. The writer saw one southwest of Holly, 

 Colo., in the forenoon of May 24, 1907. In the afternoon of the same 

 day a female was shot about a mile from the same locality near town, 

 possibly the same bird. 



DoUchonyx oryzivorus. Bobolink. — We have a male, taken in Middle 

 Park, near the Troublesome River, by the late Prof. A. M. Collett, on July 

 11, 1897. 



Icterus spurius. Orchard Oriole. — May 28 to June 9, inclusive, 1905, 

 the writer made collections in Yuma County. June 3-9 were spent at 

 Boyes's ranch on Dry Willow Creek, some ten or twelve miles southeast 

 of Wray. Among the surprises met with in this region was the Orchard 

 Oriole, which was found to be quite common and apparently breeding. 



