MiNOT on Colorado Birds. 225 



polar distribution, and to inhabit the Northern interior of this continent, 

 perhaps approaching the coast, as a resident, in Labrador. 



5. Sialia arctica, Sw. Rocky Mountain Bluebird. — Common 

 summer residents througliout wooded country, often inhabiting dead tim- 

 ber. At Denver a pair were nesting in a cornice of the district school- 

 house. Ordinary notes distinct, but not much different, from the Eastern 

 Bluebird's ; song-notes less plaintive, and deeper, with perhaps a richer 

 warble. 



6. Regulus calendula, Licht. Ruby-crowned Kinglet. — A com- 

 mon summer resident from 9,000 feet up to timber line. Locally numerous 

 about Seven Lakes, where I searched unsuccessfully for the nest and eggs, 

 in the last week of June. The males were active, always singing joy- 

 ously, but rarely or never came within fifty feet of the ground, and appar- 

 ently held no communication with their mates, who were hidden, I am 

 convinced, in or near the tops of thick, lofty spruces, which often are, in 

 more than one sense, practically impenetrable. One isolated grove I hunted 

 over tree by tree. In the building season the nest might readily be found. 



7. Parus atricapillus septentrionalis, ylWe/i. Long-tailed Chick- 

 adee. — An inhabitant of the mountain-sides ; in summer from 7,000 feet 

 up, but not numerous. Ordinary notes closely like the Eastern Chick- 

 adee's ; but the clear whistled song-notes different, never falling a whole 

 tone, and sometimes being three syllables (pee-pee, or pee-pee-pee). I 

 observed one bird getting feathers from a hole, as if building a new home 

 from the old. 



8. Salpinctes obsoletus, Cab. Rock Wren. — A summer resident, 

 nowhere abundant, though nowhere rare on rocky hillsides. I have found 

 it out beyond the foot-hills, and one pair above 10,000 feet. In the open 

 it is rather shy, keeping its distance, but may be observed, with its slen- 

 der form and head erect, perched on some rock, and singing, — though, 

 in truth, scarcely any of its peculiar notes are essentially musical. They 

 are very various, suggesting the Carolina Wren perhaps, but scarcely the 

 House Wren at all. There is a chirr, an oft-repeated chirrup, an indefi- 

 nitely prolonged chee, a pe-ee (like a Flycatcher's), various trills, some of 

 them sounding whistled and so somewhat musical, an emphasized chekee'- 

 chekee' -chekee' -chekee' , or else kiwi' -kiwi' -kiwi' -kiwi' , and so on. These are 

 loud and emphatic enough to be very marked in any lonely place. I have 

 heard them from the plains in full force in the intensest heat of noon. 

 The bird frequently lowers the body, ducking it much like Parkman's 

 Wren. 



9. Catherpes mexicanus conspersus, Ridg. Canon Wren. — At 

 Manitou, local about canons and rock formations, dodging, fluttering, and 

 creeping about cliffs and caves. Easily recognized by its white throat and 

 rich yellowish-brown tail, and by its notes, — a peculiar insect-like chirp, 

 and a delightful song of falling whistles, not loud or intense, but somewhat 

 ecstatic, as if the bird hun-ied through till out of breath. After early June 



vol. v. 15 



