Drew on Birds of San yuan County, Colorado. 80 



side of the other. I found two of the Violet Green's nests. No. 1 had 

 built her nest on a level with the lower opening. No. 2 had filled the 

 space over the first one's head with twigs, and was just finishing her own 

 nest when I came on the scene. In the lower nest I found four fresh, 

 white eggs. Just before a rain storm they love to huddle together on dead 

 trees, like Cedarbirds, when numbers can be killed at a single shot. Thev 

 leave early in autumn. 



23. Ampelis garrulus. Linn. Bohemian Waxwing. — Small fiocks seen 

 in November. 



24. Vireo gilvus swaiiisoni, Coues. Western Warbling Vireo. — 

 Found, but apparently rare. 



I saw several other Vireos which I could not secure. I think I saw and 

 heard, V. solitarius plumbeus; it is very common at 8,000 feet, and. so 

 far as I could judge from a number of specimens, is onlv a variety of 

 solitarius. 



25. Lanius borealis, Vieill. Great Northern Shrike. — Rare; a 

 fall and winter visitant. Lives by foraging on the little troops of Tit- 

 mice. 



26. Lanius ludovicianus excubitoroides. Cone*. White-rumped 

 Shrike. — Not common; breeds? 



Some ornithologists discredit the " hovering," and singing of this Shrike. 

 In southern Illinois, where they are numerous and resident. I have seen 

 one hover over a mouse's nest for a few minutes, then dart down and seize 

 a new-born mouse which went to adorn a hedge near by. Soon he was 

 back again, hovering as before, but this time a Meadow Lark so bothered 

 him that he left. When hovering he was at times twenty feet high, and 

 again, just above the weed-tops. 



He has quite a variety of notes : some resemble a Blue Jay's, others the 

 whistle of a Cardinal Grosbeak, while others are quite original, and not 

 unmusical. I have also heard them sing here, but in either place, thev 

 only sing during the winter, from October to March. 



A Shrike I shot here in April. 1SS0. is typical ludovicianus. excepting 

 that the bill is black, and the wing, instead of being black, is of a ruddv 

 brown color. 



27. Pinicola enucleator. Cab. Pine Grosbeak. — Rather common 

 in late summer, and through the winter. I think they breed, as I found 

 them the first week in August. A sweet warbler. At one of our camps 

 in the Animas Canon I often heard them singing at daybreak. During 

 severe storms in winter they come down into the willow bushes along the 

 streams. 



28. Carpodacus cassini. Baird. Cassin's Purple Finch. — Not 

 common. Of the several I have taken all have been males. In June thev 

 have a Vireo-like warble: strong, clear and sweet. Not seen after Novem- 

 ber 1. 



29. Loxia leucoptera. Gm. White-winged Crossbill. — Rare. One. 

 from Baker's Park, in the collection of Dr. R. II. Brown of Silverton. 



30. Leucosticte tephrocotis, — var. australis of Allen. I am some- 



