272 Felger, Colorado Water Birds. [f^ 



grisea and said to inhabit the U. States which somewhat resembles the 

 present in its markings, but upon comparison they will be found specifi- 

 cally distinct. 



"John K. Townsend, Philad. 

 Sept. 27th, 1833." 

 [Superscribed] 

 "John James Audubon Esq." 



ANNOTATED LIST OF THE WATER BIRDS OF WELD, 

 MORGAN AND ADAMS COUNTIES, COLORADO, 

 SOUTH TO THE FIRST SECTIONAL LINE BE- 

 LOW THE FORTIETH PARALLEL. 



BY A. H. FELGER. 



With Three Map.,: 



Eastern Colorado has come to rank prominently as a section 

 of our country where water birds, waders, and shore birds may, 

 in suitable localities, be found in abundance. This is attributable 

 in the main to two complementary causes, (1) the close settling of 

 the Mississippi Valley with the attendant drainage of the sloughs 

 and marshes of that region, (2) the construction on the eastern 

 slope of Colorado of great numbers of reservoirs, or artificial lakes, 

 for the purpose of storing water for irrigation . From these reservoirs 

 there extend in all directions through the surrounding farm lands 

 net-works of irrigating ditches, producing luxuriant growths of 

 alfalfa, grains, weeds, and wild grasses, which in turn afford most 

 excellent feeding and breeding grounds for many species. About 

 a great many of the reservoirs, too, has grown dense vegetation con- 

 sisting of deep borders of sedges, cattails, and rushes, which furnish 

 much desired protection both in and out of breeding season. 



This section is, moreover, cut by numerous streams, which collect 

 the melting snow from the eastern mountain slopes and start it on 

 its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Many of the smaller of these 

 streams, it is true, are dry during the summer, but in the spring, 

 when the northern flight of birds is at its height, their banks in many 



