"1895 J Cooke, Summer Rans^c of Colorado Birds. I C -5 



above the nearest trees. But how different the winter range of 

 these three species. The Ptarmigan remains as high up as it can 

 get food, being slowly forced downward by the autumnal gales, 

 but finding a precarious living through the winter on the spruce 

 buds along the upper edge of the timber, 11,000 feet above the 

 sea. The Sparrow is found from timber line to the lower part 

 of the foothills ; while the Lark deserts the mountains and even 

 the whole State to seek warmer quarters in the south. 



The surface of Colorado can be divided into several distinct 

 areas. In the eastern part is a wide stretch of plain from 4000 

 to 5000 feet elevation above the sea; then come ranges of 

 foothills, 5000 to 7000 feet high. The 'parks' are broad areas 

 of rolling prairie at an elevation of 7000 to 9000 feet, lying 

 between the main ranges of mountains. Around them are the 

 mountain sides clothed with timber to about 11,000 feet, while 

 higher up are the treeless summits. Thus we have in Colorado, 

 the plains, the foothills, the parks, the timbered mountain sides and 

 the barren summits. Each of these during summer has its own 

 peculiar bird-life. The number of individual birds on the plains 

 is much greater than elsewhere. But bird-life in Colorado at best 

 is not nearly so numerous as in the Mississippi Valley at the 

 same latitude. There is a greater variety of birds among the 

 foothills, but not so many individuals as on the plains. The 

 great bulk of these plains birds is made up of a few species. 

 The most common are the Western Meadowlark, the Mourning 

 Dove, Red-winged Blackbird, Say's Phcebe, Bullock's Oriole, 

 Killdeer, American Goldfinch, Shore Lark, Western Lark Finch, 

 Lark Bunting, Eave Swallow, Rocky Mountain IJluebird, and 

 Black-headed Grosbeak. 



These all extend up on the foothills and have added to them 

 many species of timber birds, such as the Rock Wren, Magpie, 

 Long-crested Jay, and Lewis's Woodpecker. Most of the birds of 

 the plains occur also in the parks, but their numbers are greatly 

 decreased. These parks seem especially adapted to support bird- 

 life, but there are probably not one-fourth as many individuals 

 per square mile as on the plains near the foothills. The most 

 common birds of the plains become rare in the parks, noticeably 

 the Western Meadowlark, Mourning Dove, Say's Phoebe and 



