162 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



of the two hind toes are not so sharply decurved, nor so 

 acute at the points, the finger slipping readily over them. 

 Who can deny the evidence of design in nature ? The 

 fore claws are highly specialized for clinging, the very 

 purpose for which they are needed, while the hind claws, 

 being used for a different purpose only that of sup- 

 port are moulded over a different pattern. 



Like our common red-head, this bird has the habit 

 of soaring out into the air and nabbing insects on the 

 wing. The only other pair of these woodpeckers I was 

 so fortunate as to meet with were found in the ravine 

 leading up from Buena Vista to Cottonwood Lake. 1 

 Their nest was in a dead tree by the roadside. While 

 the first couple had been entirely silent, one of the 

 second pair chirped somewhat uneasily when I lingered 

 beneath his tree, suspecting, no doubt, that I had 

 sinister designs upon his nest. Unlike some of their 

 kinsmen, these pickers of wood seem to be quiet and 

 dignified, not given to much demonstration, and are 

 quite leisurely in their movements both on the branch 

 and on the wing. 



One day, when walking up Ute Pass, celebrated both 

 for its magnificent scenery and its Indian history, I first 



1 Two years later a pair were seen on a mountain near Golden, 

 Colorado, and probably twenty individuals were watched a long time 

 from a canon above Boulder as they circled gracefully over the 

 mountains, catching insects on the wing. 



