190 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



from its base in the canon ; almost as much of a moun- 

 tain, in itself considered, as Gray's Peak. It must be 

 borne in mind that the snowy peaks were from thirty 

 to forty miles away, and that there is a gradual ascent 

 the entire distance to the upper valleys and gorges 

 which creep about the bases of the loftiest peaks and 

 ridges. A mountain rising from the foothills may be 

 almost as bulky and high and precipitous as one of the 

 alpine peaks covered with eternal snow. Its actual alti- 

 tude above sea-level may be less by many thousand feet, 

 while its height from the surrounding canons and valleys 

 may be almost, if not quite, as great. The alpine peaks 

 have the advantage of majesty of situation, because the 

 general level of the country from which they rise is very 

 high. There we stood at a sort of outdoor halfway 

 house between the plains and the towering ridges, and 

 I can only say that the view was superb. 



There were certain kinds of birds which had brought 

 their household gods to the mountain's crest. Lewis's 

 woodpeckers ambled about over the summit and rocky 

 ridges, catching insects on the wing, as is their wont. 

 Some distance below the summit a pair of them had 

 a nest in a dead pine snag, from the orifice of which 

 one was seen to issue. A mother hawk was feeding a 

 couple of youngsters on the snarly branch of a dead 

 pine. Almost on the summit a western nighthawk 

 sprang up from my feet. On the bare ground, without 



