1916 J Warren, Birds of the Elk Mountain Region, Colo. 313 



shape to an oriole's nest. The separate pellets of mud from which it was 

 built could be seen plainly. The next evening I looked up at the nest 

 about dusk and saw one bird in it and the other perched on the wires 

 below. 



Iridoprocne bicolor. Tree Swallow.— Not until 1915 did I succeed 

 in identifying Tree Swallows in the region, in fact I am quite sure I never 

 saw them there before. On June 13 of that year while driving past 

 Nichols's Lake on a road which at one place is sufficiently high above the 

 water so the one could look down upon the swallows flying about I noted 

 several Tree Swallows among the many Violet-green and Cliff Swallows 

 there. I also saw the species at Hillside Ranch, and tried to collect some, 

 but unsuccessfully. The birds flew about erratically and one had to wait 

 for a good view before being able to decide if the bird was a Tree or Violet- 

 green; the Cliff Swallows were easily separated. 



Toward sunset many swallows of the various species were usually flying 

 about the lake, and they changed their beat continually, sometimes out 

 over the lake and above the dam, then away over in another corner some- 

 times flying quite low, and then again they were all to be seen high in 

 the air circling about like a swarm of insects, but at all times evidently 

 hunting. Occasionally they would all seem to disappear for a few minutes, 

 and then return. 



Tachycineta thalassina lepida. Northern Violet-green Swal-^ 

 LOW. — Abundant summer resident and breeder. Earliest spring date 

 May 10, 1900. In common with the other species of swallow is gone by 

 about September first. Often nests in abandoned woodpecker's holes in 

 dead aspens, of which there are a good many. On Muddy Creek it was 

 nesting in holes in the sandstone cliffs along the stream. In 1900 1 saw a 

 dead aspen beside the Irwin road west of Crested Butte in which a Swallow 

 and a House Wren had their nests in separate holes. July 16, 1903, I 

 observed a nest at Hillside Ranch in an aspen about 8 feet above ground. 

 Often the female would enter the nest without first alighting at the entrance, 

 flying directly into the hole. Once I saw the male on the ground, picking 

 at something, possibly ants. The next day I opened the nest by cutting 

 out a section below the hole and found eggs; they seemed to be entirely 

 buried and covered by the nest material. July 29 I found the nest deserted, 

 no eggs left; it seemed a short time for the young to have been raised, 12 

 days. 



At Marble, June 23-25, 1915, this was the only Swallow seen, and was 

 abundant. It was seen in Galena Park 10,300 feet, on the same two days. 

 It is often seen flying higher than timberline about the summits of the 

 mountains, but I cannot say what is the highest elevation at which it 

 breeds. 



Lanius borealis. Northern Shrike. — Visitor in late fall and early 

 winter; I have no spring records. 



Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides. White-rumped Shrike. — A 

 few seen about Crested Butte, late in August and early in September. 



