A BIRD MISCELLANY 159 



The lazuli finch does not venture very high into the 

 mountains, seldom reaching an altitude of more than 

 seven thousand feet. He is a lover of the plains, the 

 foothills, and the lower ranges of the mountains. In 

 this respect he differs from some other little birds, 

 which seek a summer home in the higher regions. On 

 the southern slope of Pike's Peak, a little below the 

 timber-line, I found a dainty little bird which was a 

 stranger to me. It was Audubon's warbler. At first 

 sight I decided that he must be the myrtle warbler, but 

 was compelled to change my conclusion when I got a 

 glimpse of his throat, which was golden yellow, whereas 

 the throat of Dendroica coronata is pure white. Then, 

 too, the myrtle warbler is only a migrant in Colorado, 

 passing farther north to breed. Audubon's, it must be 

 said, has extremely rich habiliments, his upper parts 

 being bluish-ash, streaked with black, his belly and 

 under tail-coverts white, and his breast in high feather, 

 black, prettily skirted with gray or invaded with white 

 from below ; but his yellow spots, set like gleaming gold 

 in various parts of his plumage, constitute his most 

 marked embellishment, being found on the crown, rump, 

 throat, and each side of the chest. 



hoods then visited. Strangely enough, in the vicinity of Denver 

 in 1901, these birds were abundant and as easily approached and 

 studied as are the indigoes of the East. See the chapter entitled, 

 " Plains and Foothills." 



