1 6 Williams on Uj^per Missouri River Birds. [Junuary 



Gokleii-eye comes flying low down over the water and plunges 

 in. not twenty yards awa}'. This bird is quite cominon here in 

 spiing. I h:ive seen them as late as the 17th of May, but Ijiave never 

 noticed theni in mid-winter. Barrow's Golden-eye is the com- 

 mon winter bird about the falls, etc., mostly leaving by the 

 midtlle of April. Meantime the Grebes have been constantly 

 approaching. Waiting till the one nearest shore dives I run 

 down to the water's edge, while the Golden-eye hastily betakes 

 himself ofl'. The Grebe shortly coming to the surface affords a 

 fair shot, and a single pellet passing through the neck kills him 

 instantly. A second shot at the others simply causes them to drop 

 suddenly out of sight, and they come up far out in the river. 

 Wind and current shortly bringing the prize to land I dispose of 

 it, and soon reach the brush and timber above. Violet-green 

 and White-bellied Swallows occasionally pass overhead. The 

 two species arrive together, within a day or two of the first of 

 May, and are constantly associated throughout the season. Both 

 have the same irregular flight, varying constantly in direction and 

 swiftness, and were it not for the apparently white rump of the 

 Violet-green, the two species would not be so easily distin- 

 guished on the wing. 



Red-shafted Flickers are abundant. They have already paired 

 and are busily arranging their summer homes. Only one other 

 species of this family, a single Downy Woodpecker, was noted 

 during the morning, although six or seven species are more or 

 less common in the mountains. A few Yellow-rumped War- 

 blers are flying about singly here and there in the cotton-woods 

 and willows. The specimen shot proved to be Dendroica coro- 

 «a/a, although in my experience Z^. auduboni'is much the com- 

 moner bird of the two in the Territory, and is the one usually 

 breeding in the mountains. Two Yellow Warblers {D. cestivd) are 

 noted. They have doubtless jiist arrived, and in a short time the 

 species will become common ; also two Brown Thrushes are 

 heard, for the first time this year. Other recent arrivals are the 

 Western House Wren and Towhee {Pipilo macnlatiis ai'cti- 

 cus) . 



Hearing a great noise and stir out in the river I walk to the 

 bank and look across, and there, near a sand bar, two or three 

 hundred yards away, is a large flock of Avocets. They are 

 wheeling about, alighting fii'st on the bar, then in the water, 



