VOl "l9li VI11 ] Launders, Birds of Gallatin Co., Mont. 29 



Gallatin Valley, in the northeastern part of the county. Beside 

 these there are the Horse-shoe Hills, of much lower elevation, just 

 north of the Gallatin Valley. The elevation of the mountains 

 extends from 5,000 feet in the lower foothills to nearly 11,000 feet 

 in the higher peaks. The}' consist of long slopes clothed with 

 dense evergreen forests, dotted by mountain meadows and small 

 lakes and broken by high rocky ridges and deep canons, the latter 

 containing many swift streams and waterfalls. 



The foothills, lying along the lower slopes next to the valleys, 

 are grown with groves of aspen, thickets of thorn, service berry 

 and wild rose, sagebrush and scattered clumps of Douglas fir. 

 The commoner breeding birds of the foothills are the Canadian 

 Ruffed Grouse, Lewis's Woodpecker, Red-shafted Flicker, Red- 

 naped Sapsucker, Wright's Flycatcher, Magpie, Cassin's Purple 

 Finch, White-crowned Sparrow, Arctic Towhee, Green-tailed 

 Towhee, Lazuli Bunting, Western Yellowthroat, MacGillivray's 

 W'arbler and Catbird. 



The cottonwoods, willows and alders of the valleys extend into 

 the lower mountain canons and form groves and thickets, the 

 latter often as high as 7,500 feet, where such birds as the Desert 

 Sparrow Hawk, Rufous Hummingbird, Hammond's Flycatcher, 

 Pine Siskin, White-crowned Sparrow, Mountain Song Sparrow, 

 Lincoln's Sparrow, Pileolated Warbler, Redstart, Long-tailed 

 Chickadee and Western Robin are breeding birds. Along the 

 mountain streams the Dipper and Spotted Sandpiper are common, 

 while in the limestone cliffs forming the canon walls such species 

 as the Duck Hawk, Violet-green Swallow and Rock Wren breed. 



The mountain forests are composed principally of lodgepole 

 pine (Pinus murrey ana) , Douglas's fir (Pseudotsuga ta.vifolia), and 

 Engelmann's spruce (Picea englemanni) with other species such as 

 limber pine (Pinus flexelis) and alpine fir (Abies laaiocarpa) form- 

 ing alpine forests near timber line. The common breeding birds 

 of the mountain forests are Dusky Grouse, Canadian Ruffed Grouse, 

 Western Red-tailed Hawk, Rocky Mountain Hairy Woodpecker, 

 Batchelder's Woodpecker, Alpine Three-toed Woodpecker, Black- 

 headed Jay, Rocky Mountain Jay, Clark's Nutcracker, Rocky 

 Mountain Pine Grosbeak, Cassin's Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, 

 Western Chipping Sparrow, Pink-sided Junco, Western Tanager, 



