298 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



you astray. He will leap upon a rock and send forth 

 his bell-like peal, as if he were saying, "Right here, 

 right here, here is our nest ! " but when you go to the 

 spot, he flits off* to another rock and sounds the same 

 challenge. And so you can form no idea of the nest 

 site. My nearest approach to finding a nest was among 

 the rocks and cliffs on the summit of a mountain a few 

 miles from Golden, where an adult bird was seen to feed 

 a youngster that had already flown from the nursery. 

 It was interesting to know that the rock wrens breed at 

 so high an altitude. However, they are not an alpine 

 species, none having been seen by the writer over eight 

 thousand feet above sea-level, although they have been 

 known to ascend to an altitude of twelve thousand feet. 

 The fourth member of our feathered quartette was 

 the oddest of all. On the thirtieth of June my com- 

 panion and I were riding slowly down the mountain 

 side a few miles below Gray's Peak, which we had scaled 

 two days before. My ear was struck by a flicker's call 

 above us, so I dismounted from my burro, and began to 

 clamber up the hillside. Presently I heard a song that 

 seemed one moment to be near at hand, the next far 

 away, now to the right, now to the left, and anon 

 directly above me. To my ear it was a new kind of 

 bird minstrelsy. I climbed higher and higher, and yet 

 the song seemed to be no nearer. It had a grosbeak - 

 like quality, I fancied, and I hoped to find either the 



