3i6 



General Notes. [^ 



no record to show that Leucosticte australis has ever been taken in New 

 Mexico, Summit Peak, southern Colorado being at present its southern 

 recorded limit. — H. W. Henshaw, Washington, D. C. 



Notes from Northern New Mexico. — The present status of Lagopus I. 

 altipetens in the southern Rocky Mountains has been one of the interest- 

 ing questions of our Biological Survey bird work in New Mexico. In the 

 summer of 1903 we obtained old records of a few Ptarmigan seen in Mora 

 Pass and on the peaks above the Upper Pecos, and in the winter of 1904 

 a specimen was collected in the Taos Mountains above Twining, about 

 thirty miles south of the Colorado line, this being the first skin to sub- 

 stantiate the New Mexico records. 1 On July 19, 1904, we entered the 

 mountains at Twining and proceeded to work the highest parts of the 

 range between Taos and the Colorado line. The crest of the range be- 

 tween Taos and Twining runs far above timberline, by our aneroid read- 

 ings averaging about 13,000 feet, with Taos as a. base station at 7,000 feet. 

 The highest point, known locally as Wheeler Peak, averaged with five 

 readings 13,700 feet, which would make it the highest peak in New Mex- 

 ico. In this group of mountains, although most of the snow melts in 

 summer, Ptarmigan evidently were common before the advent of miners 

 and sheep men. Our Indian camp man told us that twenty years before 

 he had seen ' whole-lot-ta,' and now the birds are still common enough to 

 be familiarly known by the Indians who see a few every year. At the 

 time of our visit, however, large bands of sheep were running over the 

 crest of the range, and although our party made six different trips to 

 the peaks, only four Ptarmigan were seen. Two of these were secured 

 by Sun-Elk, our Indian, who found them among the peaks above 13,000 

 feet, where he had seen them in previous years. Three primaries that he 

 discovered on the trail followed by the sheep men suggested the proba- 

 bility that the sheep scared up the birds and the herders killed them with 

 stones. Large bands of sheep were running over the crest of Costilla 

 Peak just south of the Colorado line when we reached there on August 

 20. On the peak at 13,200 and 13,300 feet by the barometer, Mr. Bailey 

 found evidence of Ptarmigan in piles of winter sign, considerable accu- 

 mulations being found in some places. Two Mexicans he met on the 

 mountain reported killing four of the birds that day, and a hunter from 

 the neighborhood spoke of them familiarly. He generally found them 

 in small flocks, he said, but sometimes saw as many as fifty together. He 

 called them snowbirds, saying that they were usually found sitting around 

 on the little benches near a large snowbank on the northeast side of the 

 peak at about 13,200 feet. He added that the birds were very tame and 

 that the males called in the mornings like a hawk. While only three 



l Additional Notes on the Birds of the Upper Pecos. The Auk, 1904, pp. 

 35 T « 35 2 - 



