1C2 Cooke, Summer Ramre of Colorado Birds. F \ ri 



Auk 



1 



among the blooming peach trees of the Colorado Valley, but at 

 the same time there would be found almost as great a variety of 

 birds, and nearly as many individuals, along the edges of the 

 snow banks high up in the mountain sides. When in July we 

 climbed Long's Peak (over 14,000 feet high, almost the highest 

 in the State), having to wade through snow for twenty-five hun- 

 dred feet of the way, we found a Brown Leucosticte (Z. australis) 

 on top waiting to receive us. The snow was covered with bird 

 tracks, showing that our host was not the only inhabitant of the 

 peak. What could be found there for a seed-eating bird to live 

 on is a mystery, for the nearest vegetation was two thousand 

 feet below, and another thousand to the nearest ' trees. Half 

 an hour later we were caught in a terrific hail storm, and 

 we sighed for the wings of our little friend to bear us to the 

 sunlit fields we could occasionally catch glimpses of below us. 



There yet remains an immense amount of work to be done to 

 ascertain the limits of the range of the different species during 

 the breeding season. Each kind seems to be a law unto itself, 

 and it is not safe to judge from one species what will be the 

 breeding range of even closely allied species. The common 

 Raven is found from the foothills to the tops of the highest 

 peaks, while the White-necked Raven, so similar as to be scarcely 

 distinguishable unless in hand, never climbs even to the base of 

 the main range. The Rocky Mountain Bluebird nests indiscrimi- 

 nately from the plains to the uppermost edge of timber, while the 

 western form of the common Bluebird never goes above the 

 lower parks. The Brown Creeper remains throughout the year 

 high up on the mountain sides near the upper limit of timber, 

 while the Canon Wren remains continuously five thousand feet 

 lower in the rocky canons that are the source of its name. The 

 Red-shafted Flicker deserts the mountains in the winter and 

 becomes a common bird of the plains, but with the return of 

 spring it ascends the peaks and sometimes nests even above 

 timber line. The barren wastes near the tops of the tallest 

 peaks are inhabited in summer by birds of widely different 

 characters. The Brown Leucosticte, already mentioned, the 

 Brown Lark {Afithus ludovicianiis) and the White-tailed Ptarmi- 

 gan {Lagopiis leucurus) nest in close proximity two thousand feet 



