.AN EARLY COLORADO NATURALIST—DENIS GALE 29 
The foregoing species are definitely noted by him in such a way as to 
show clearly that he had seen or taken them, but the following occur 
in a list of Boulder County birds in one of his notebooks, with nothing to 
indicate that he had seen them or to show the source of his information, 
so that they cannot be considered safe records and should not on this 
anthority alone be included in the Boulder County list: 
190 Botaurus lentiginosus—American bittern. 
223 Phalaropus lobatus—Northern phalarope. 
348 Archibuteo ferrugineus—Ferruginous rough-legged hawk. 
358 Falco richardsoniti—Richardson merlin. 
422 Cypseloides niger borealis—Black swiit. 
429 Trochilus alexandri—Black-chinned humming-bird. 
We have other records of the eared grebe, crow, arctic towhee, mock- 
ing-bird, chestnut-backed bluebird, northern phalarope and Richardson 
merlin, which had not been published and are now given to the public 
for the first time, thus confirming Mr. Gale’s notes as to them. The 
American bittern and ferruginous rough-legged hawk probably also 
occur in this county, but have not been recorded and we know of no 
actual specimens taken or seen. It is not safe to add them to the list of 
known Boulder County birds merely because they appear in a list written 
by him for his own guidance, not intended for publication, not specifying 
whether he saw the species or the source of his information and of species 
not elsewhere mentioned in his notes, especially in view of the fact that 
the list includes the black swift and black-chinned humming-bird, two 
species of southwestern Colorado which no ornithologist would place 
with our fauna unless very positively identified and the circumstances of 
their identification known. It is inconceivable that Mr. Gale actually 
saw or collected the swift or the humming-bird mentioned, which would 
have been new to him, without mentioning the fact in his daily notes 
with the particulars, as his notes on such occasions are usually copious. 
Captain Bendire’s estimate of the care and accuracy of Mr. Gale’s 
observations and excellence of his preparations is clearly shown in many 
of his letters, from which we reproduce the following extracts: 
Dec. 16, 1889 
. : . . I don’t agree at all with you that you have so much to regret about the re- 
stricted limits and poverty of your observations and that you can’t furnish anything much 
