120 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 10 



of cotton-wood and covered with lichens. 



My facilities for observing these birds 

 have been limited until the present season 

 (1884.) This year I saw the first pah- on 

 May 12th. They were seen early in the 

 morning and remained about the yard 

 every day. Their number constantly in- 

 creased until May 20, when the bulk had 

 arrived. During the month of June, I 

 passed daily through a piece of woods for 

 a distance of eighty rods. On the morn- 

 ing of June 11th, on throwing a stick to 

 flush a Wood Pewee from her nest, a loud 

 hum was heard, and after a search of ten 

 minutes, the nest of the Ruby-throat w 7 as 

 found on the extreme end of a dead limb, 

 thirty feet from the ground. To get this 

 set I sawed off the limb, which was fifteen 

 feet long, but the weight was too great, 

 and both eggs fell out and were broken. 



The next morning, June 12th, found me 

 a few rods from the same place on my 

 morning's hunt as usual. My attention 

 was attracted by a pair of these birds en- 

 gaged in 'mortal combat with a Red-eyed 

 Vireo in the top of one of the loftiest trees. 

 Their tweet, tweet, could be plainly beard 

 as they darted to and fro at the Vireo. The 

 fight was a very interesting one, for what 

 the one lacked in size and strength was 

 more than made up in activity. At times 

 the Vireo would utter loud cries and fly at 

 his assailants, but it was of no avail — he 

 was forced by his dwarfish enemies to va- 

 cate that particular part of the woods. 

 Being satisfied that a nest was not far off 

 I searched carefully for an hour but could 

 not find it. Next morning I visited the 

 place again and found all quiet excej)t 

 several noisy Rose-breasted Grosbeaks 

 hard by, and a Wood Thrush farther down 

 the glen. After waiting and watching 

 closely for fifteen minutes the noises of the 

 day before were heard in the same tree, and 

 on looking both Hummers were again giv- 

 ing the Vireo to understand that they had 

 homesteadecl there, and it was no us*e for 

 him to try and "jump their claim." The 



fight lasted about a minute, with the same 

 results as before. I easily found the nest, 

 near the trunk of the tree, fully forty-five 

 feet from the ground, and placed 3^ feet 

 from the trunk on a very slender twig. It 

 was nicely shaded by a cluster of oak 

 leaves and could not possibly have been 

 seen from the ground. It contained two 

 fresh eggs, and was the most beautifnbof 

 any of the nests I had yet found. The 

 nest was placed where the twig forked 

 and looked as if it had been completed and 

 the twigs pushed through the bottom part 

 to sustain it. The w 7 alls were very thin, 

 and on the outside the lichens were so 

 nicely fitted together that the surface was 

 smooth as paper. The birds acted very 

 much as did the others. I showed a friend 

 who thought he was pretty good 'at find- 

 ing nests, the tree on which the third nest 

 was placed, and after a search of ten min- 

 utes he gave it up, which goes to show 

 how hard the nests are to see. The right 

 way is to look for the birds and watch 

 them. A braver bird to defend her nest 

 would be hard to find than the little Ruby- 

 throated Humming Bird. — Horace A. 

 Kline, Polo, III. 



Notes from Denver, Colorado. 



Bohemian Waxwing, (Ampelis garrulus.) 

 I have never noticed the Bohemian Wax- 

 wing in this locality until the 22d of 

 March of this year. A small flock contain- 

 ing ten individuals was seen on the Platte 

 River, eight of which were shot. They 

 were feeding on the seeds of the wild 

 Rose. 



House Finch, (Carpodaeus frontalis.) 

 During the. past winter the House Finches 

 were abundant on the Platte River, where 

 they enlivened the bare woods with their 

 song. Towards spring, however, they 

 nearly all disappeared, and I have hardly 

 seen an individual the summer through, 

 although they were quite common during 

 the summer of '83, at which season I found 

 several nests. The eg'S's are three or four 



