VOl Iw H ] General Notes. 317 



specimens of altipetens have actually been collected from the New Mexico 

 Rockies, such evidence gathered from hunters, Indians, and cattle men, 

 shows conclusively not only that the birds were once common in the 

 northern mountains of the territory, but that, although their numbers 

 have been greatly depleted, Ptarmigan are still to be found by careful 

 search on the highest peaks of New Mexico. 



Ptarmigan and Leucosticte australis were the two birds we were mo6t 

 anxious to find in the high Rockies, and on July 20, the first day that we 

 climbed Wheeler Peak we were following up the crest of the ridge at about 

 13,500 feet by the barometer, when a bird flew overhead whose call, undu- 

 lating flight, and emarginate tail proclaimed it a Leucosticte, but hunt as 

 we would we could get no other sight of it or its companions. A week 

 later, however, on July 28, while Mr. Bailey was crossing an adjoining 

 peak, he again heard the chirping of Leucosticte, this time in a cloud 

 below him. When he answered the call a flock of about half a dozen 

 came flying out of the cloud and lit on the stones four or five rods from 

 him. An adult male that lit in sight was secured but the rest scattered 

 among the stones and at the shot disappeared again in the clouds. Two 

 days later Sun-Elk got another adult male near the same place, possibly 

 from the same flock. These birds were both in full adult plumage with 

 the characteristic black bills of the breeding season. The question that 

 arose was, were they birds that had bred on these mountains, or were they 

 from a band that had wandered down from Colorado after the breeding 

 season ? The mountains were about thirty miles from the Colorado line 

 and judging from Mr. Cooke's accounts of the habits of the birds they do 

 not wander much from their breeding grounds. He states, moreover, 

 that the height of the breeding season is the latter part of July, and our 

 first bird was seen July 20, the flocks being seen on July 28 and July 30. 

 In August, as Mr. Cooke says, "Young and old swarm over the summiis 

 of the peaks, picking insects off the snow. By the last of October or early 

 in November they descend to timberline and remain there through the 

 winter except as they are driven a little lower by the severest storms. At 

 the same time a few come into the lower valleys almost to the base of the 

 foothills." 1 Nothing seems to be known of any southward wanderings. 

 It would seem probable, therefore, that the Wheeler Peak birds furnish 

 a breeding record for New Mexico. But however that may be, the only 

 other records of Leucosticte australis from New Mexico are those of two 

 birds taken by Mr. C. E. H. Aiken, reported in the Wheeler Survey, and, 

 as Mr. Henshaw explains above (see p. 315), it now proves that these birds 

 came, not from New Mexico, but from Colorado. The Wheeler Peak 

 specimens therefore afford the first authentic record for New Mexico. 



Another addition to the New Mexico list, presumably also a breeding 

 record, is that of Hylocichla f. salicicola, for we heard one of these 



1 The Birds of Colorado, State Agr. Coll. Bull. No. 37, p. 98. 



