320 Rockwell and Wetmore, Birds of Golden, Colorado. [f^ 



July 18, young were taken in the dull first plumage (Plate XXXII, fig. 2), 

 and adults with the feathers much worn. By the end of the first week in 

 August adults and young were moulting about the head and the old birds 

 had regained most of the rectrices and remiges, and by the first of Septem- 

 ber the adults were in good condition, with the exception of the crest, 

 while the young still showed the first plumage about the head and breast. 

 By October 1 all were in full plumage, though up to this time the crests 

 were still imperfect. In the present series there is a great variation in the 

 number and distinctness of the black bars on the rectrices, apparently 

 irrespective of age or sex, though a large per cent of the adult males appear 

 to have these bars heavier. In one specimen there are only six of these 

 bars, all very indistinct and obsolete on the proximal half of the feathers 

 while another shows eighteen narrow bars, the last three extending under 

 the upper tail coverts. 



The sixteenth of May a pair of these birds evidently had a nest on Look- 

 out Mountain but we could not find it. A week later however the birds 

 were still in fiocks, and not until the first of June were all mated. The 

 first young — noisy and not as wary as the adults — were seen July 18, and 

 after this date they were common. About the middle of August they began 

 moving down the canons, and were occasionally seen below 7,000 feet while 

 two months later — during the latter part of October, they were seen com- 

 monly at the mouths of the canons, and one was noted in Denver the last 

 of September. There were more of these birds in Turkey Creek Canon 

 than anywhere else in the entire region, and here we were rarely out of 

 sight or hearing of them. In September and October many of them fre- 

 quented thickets away from the pines where they were usually found. 



34. Aphelocoma woodhousei. Woodhouse's Jay. — Half a dozen 

 of these birds were seen on Clear Creek April 3 and one taken. They were 

 seen also in Magpie Gulch April 25, and a pair in Chimney Gulch May 16, 

 but were not noted again. 



35. Nucifraga Columbiana. Clarke's Nutcracker. — May 2 we 

 found a flock of a dozen of these birds at the head of Chimney Gulch and 

 took three of them. They were rather wild and hard to approach but 

 when one was taken the others stopped for an instant. The feathers are 

 very long and lax making the birds appear larger in life than they do in the 

 hand. Those taken are much darker colored than fall specimens in fresh 

 plumage, and one had the feathers of the breast smeared with pitch. 



36. Cyanocephalus cyanocephalus. PifJoN Jay.— This bird was 

 heard a number of times in Chimney Gulch in the spring and on September 

 26 one flew over our heads across a canon. None were taken. 



37. Molothrus ater ater. Cowbird. — Only one was seen in the 

 vicinity of Golden, although it is undoubtedly of regular occurrence. An 

 adult male was found about a bunch of horses on July 25, below the mouth 

 of Coon Gulch but was not taken. 



38. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus. Yellow-headed Black- 

 bird. — Seen a few times in April and May along Clear Creek. The first 

 bird of the season was noted on Bear Creek April 14. 



