Vol. XVIII-] (^^j^Y, Birds of the Black Hills. 2^1 



1901. J -^ ^ 



are in tasajas. This is a species of cactus for which, for the want 

 of a better name, I am obhged to use that of the Mexicans. The 

 word means "dry or jerked beef" which in color and shape the 

 tasaja somewhat resembles. The spines, although innumerable, 

 are short and the branches spreading and open. The cholla is 

 the characteristic cactus of the desert. It is a mass of barbed 

 spines and is the favorite nesting place of H.palmeri, but not of H. 

 be7uiirei. Taking 50 nests in succession 34 of them were placed 

 in tasajas, 11 in choUas, 3 in tesota bushes, i in a mesquite tree 

 and one in a willow tree,' These results are from the Fort Lowell 

 district. In other sections of country less characteristic of the 

 cacti I have found them largely inclined to tree nesting, but 

 never at any great height from the ground. This was Capt. 

 Bendire's experience also. The highest I ever saw one placed 

 was in a willow about 20 feet up. I also saw one in a tasaja the 

 bottom of which was not more than 6 inches from the ground. 



BIRDS OF THE BLACK HILLS. 



BY MERRITT GARY. 



' For several years it had been my desire to take a trip to the 

 western part of the Black Hills — especially to that portion which 

 is bounded on the east by the Timber Reserve, and slopes off 

 gradually to the west and southwest until it merges into the arid 

 sagebrush plains of central Wyoming. In selecting this field I 

 hoped to meet with two distinct faunas, and to be as nearly as 

 possible on the dividing line between the two faunal regions. 



Accordingly, the 29th of May, 1899, found me very pleasantly 

 situated at the ranch of an old friend, fourteen miles southeast 

 of Newcastle, Wyo., in a branch of the beautiful Gillette Canon. 

 The scenery here is picturesque in the extreme, the hills to the 

 eastward being within the Reserve, and clothed with heavy forests 

 of pine ; while to the westward the foothills are almost devoid of 

 timber, but covered with a heavy growth of ' wait-a-bit ' brush, 

 the uniform greenish-gray color of which contrasts strongly with 

 the red sandstone rocks. To the southwest the Elk Mountain 



