^°^- 1^^6^"^] Warren, Birds of the Elk Mountain Region, Colo. 297 



Crested Butte Mountain, a little over two miles due east of the 

 town of the same name, and has an elevation of about 9,200 feet. 

 On the ranch is a lake of some thirty acres, partly natural and partly 

 artificial, having been formed by enlarging by means of a dam a 

 small pond which was fed by springs. This is the lake and ranch 

 referred to as "Decker's" in Sclater's History of the Birds of 

 Colorado, but as the place is now known as Hillside Ranch, I have 

 used that name in these notes. Most of the land is somewhat 

 rolling and hilly, and was covered with sage brush before clearing. 

 On the mountainsides immediately above are Douglas's Spruces 

 and Lodge-pole Pines. About the lake shores and along the outlet 

 from the lake, are many willows, as also on the lower part of the 

 ranch where are a number of streamlets coming from springs on the 

 hillside just above. All these willows are good haunts for birds 

 and many nest among them. In the Douglas's Firs above the lake 

 I found an Audubon's Warbler breeding. Robins nested every- 

 where about the place. In. the open ground Vesper Sparrows and 

 Green-tailed Towhees nested in the grass and about the sage brush. 

 Some water birds come to the lake, especially in migration, but 

 most of my records of these are very unsatisfactory. 



My acknowledgments are due to the U. S. Biological Survey 

 for the identification of certain birds, the insects collected on the 

 snow on Mt. Emmons, and the contents of the stomachs of two 

 Rosy Finches. 



It should perhaps be stated that, unless otherwise mentioned, 

 all spring and autumn dates refer to Crested Butte or the region 

 about there. 



Colymbus nigricollis calif ornicus. Eared Grebe. " Hell- 

 diver." — A common migrant, especially in spring. As many as 21 have 

 been seen in a flock on Hillside Lake. I examined the stomachs of several 

 killed on this lake in the spring of 1899; I was desirous of ascertaining if 

 they were eating trout fry, of which there were many in the lake, but I 

 found no indications that they were destroying the fish. What was in the 

 stomachs was so much digested as to be practically unrecognizable, but 

 I think it was largely Crustacea and aquatic insects, of which there are 

 many in the lake. 



Podilymbus podiceps. Pied-billed Grebe. — I have but one record 

 of this species, a bird seen on Nichols's Lake in October, 1899. 



Mergus aniericanus. American Merganser.— Two were shot on 



