Vol. XXIV 

 1907 



1 Cameron, Birds of Custer & Davenport Counties, Mont. 243 



ordinary sense of the term, even as between prairie and pine-hills, 

 do not admit of precise definition, although the lists made in the 

 two regions plainly indicate a marked diversity in the species 

 inhabiting them. 



There are few indigenous birds in eastern Montana, and those 

 of necessity are such as can support great extremes of temperature. 

 In my own list of 190 species only 19 are permanent residents. 

 They include the Sharp-tailed Grouse, Sage Grouse, Ferruginous 

 Rough-leg, Golden Eagle, Prairie Falcon, Duck Hawk, Long- 

 eared Owl, Western Horned Owl, Burrowing Owl, Hairy Wood- 

 pecker, Batchelder's Woodpecker, Desert Horned Lark, American 

 Magpie, Pinon Jay, American Crossbill, English Sparrow, North- 

 ern Shrike, Slender-billed Nuthatch, and Long-tailed Chickadee. 

 The remaining 171 species are either transient spring and fall 

 migrants, summer visitors which nest here, or winter visitors which 

 leave in the spring. Exhausted migrants are met with in most 

 unusual situations. Mr. Lance Irvine, for example, has picked 

 up a Coot on the open prairie, and seen a flock of Great Blue 

 Herons resting in a like situation, while I have flushed a Sora from 

 creeping cedar in the pine-hills. Warbling and Red-eyed Vireos 

 have been caught on my veranda, and Pintail Ducks have alighted 

 just outside of it. Many other instances might be cited. 



Both our counties belong to the so called 'plains' region of 

 the west where ranching, or the raising of cattle, sheep, and horses, 

 is the only industry. Rolling prairie is therefore the predominant 

 type of country, sage-brush the characteristic plant, and the Sage 

 Grouse, which everywhere follows the plant, the characteristic 

 bird. This species finds a permanent home in the wilderness 

 of pale green bushes which, albeit they wither to yellow brown in 

 winter, retain their foliage, and thus afford both food and shelter 

 to the bird throughout the year. Icy winds in winter sweep over 

 the khaki-colored expanse, the sage tops thinly veiling the deep 

 snow beneath; and, while under such conditions Sharp-tailed 

 Grouse burrow into the drifts, the more hardy Sage Grouse seems 

 quite comfortable — even in a temperature of 40° below zero 

 (Fahrenheit). 



Many flowering plants adorn the prairie in summer, the most 

 conspicuous being the triennial soapweed, whose tall stalks, cov- 



