266 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



going to bed, and it was interesting to watch their 

 method of retiring. The young were already grown, 

 and the entire colony were converting their nests into 

 sleeping berths, every one of them occupied, some of the 

 partly demolished ones by two and three birds. But 

 there were not enough couches to go round, and several 

 of the birds were crowded out, and were clinging to the 

 side of the wall on some of the protuberances left from 

 their broken-down clay huts. It was a query in my 

 mind whether they could sleep comfortably in that 

 strained position, but I left them to settle that matter 

 for themselves and in their own way. 



Leaving the town, we soon found that the irrigated 

 meadows and bush-fringed banks of the stream made 

 habitats precisely to the taste of Brewer's blackbirds, 

 which were quite plentiful in the park. My companion 

 was " in clover," for numerous butterflies went undulat^ 

 ing over the meadows, leading him many a headlong 

 chase, but frequently getting themselves captured in his 

 net. Thus occupied, he left me to attend to the birds. 

 At the border of the village a little bird that was new 

 to me flitted into view and permitted me to identify it 

 with my glass. The little stranger was the western 

 savanna sparrow. South Park was the only place in 

 my Colorado rambles where I found this species, and 

 even his eastern representative is known to me very im- 

 perfectly and only as a migrant. The park was fairly 





