142 Wa-kr^-:^, Bird Notes from Chaffee Co., Col. [.A^f\ 



BIRD NOTES FROM SALIDA, CHAFFEE COUNTY, 

 COLORADO. 



Compiled from the Memoranda of John W. Frey. 



by edward r. warren. 



Most of the matter in the following pages is from notes taken by 

 Frey in 1908, when he did a considerable amount of collecting at 

 Salida, and a small portion is from notes taken by myself in two 

 visits made in January in 1907 and 1908, and when passing through 

 in June, 1909. As Frey has removed from Salida to Oregon, and 

 there is no one else doing bird work in that region at present, I 

 have thought it advisable to put his notes in such shape that they 

 would be available for future workers in that field. 



Salida is situated, as the map shows, near the southeastern border 

 of Chaffee County, and somewhat south and east of the geographical 

 center of the State of Colorado. The town is on the Arkansas 

 River, just above its junction with the South, or as it is usually 

 called in that vicinity, the Little Arkansas; the elevation as given 

 by the railroad is 7,050 feet. To the westward is a wide level 

 valley or park, but immediately to the east the valley narrows, and 

 is not much more than wide enough for the river, wagon road, and 

 railroad. 



This large valley is bounded on the south by the Sangre de Christo 

 Range, and on the west by the Continental Divide, and eastwardly 

 by a range of lower mountains or hills. Not far from the town to 

 the north and south the foothills begin, covered at first with pinons 

 and cedars, and changing as the elevation increases, to Douglas 

 spruce, aspens, yellow pines, Engelmann's spruce, and finally, on 

 the higher peaks, timberline is reached. A number of these peaks 

 in the Continental Divide are over 14,000 feet elevation. Some- 

 time, when either the whole of Chaffee County shall have been 

 studied by ornithologists, or even that portion from Salida to the 

 summits of the ranges in the immediate neighborhood, we will have 

 a very interesting list of birds. To be sure, Colorado contains a 

 number of counties similarly situated, and whose bird life has been 



