120 



THE OOLOQI8T 



the city of Pueblo now stands, and the 

 expedition reached this place July 

 16th. From this camp Captain Bell 

 with Dr. James and two other men as- 

 cended the Arkansas river to tne 

 mountains and noted the springs 

 where Canon City now stands. Here 

 they took two small birds: "Hirundo 

 lunifrons," the Cliff Swallow and "Em- 

 berezia amoena," the La'zuli Bunting. 



Concerning the Cliff Swallow Dr. 

 Coues wrote in "Birds of the Colorado 

 Valley": "Discovery of this notable 

 Swallow, commonly attributed to Say, 

 was made long before Long's ex- 

 pedition to the Rocky Mountains, 

 though the species was first named 

 in the book which treats of that inter- 

 esting journey." While descending 

 the Arkansas river, on July 20th, the 

 Arkansas Kingbird was taken; which 

 we still know as "Tyranus verticalis 

 Say." 



Some of the descriptions of the 

 birds are included in the next of the 

 "Account," and some of them are in 

 the shape of notes appended at the end 

 of a volume. Most of the birds which 

 Mr. Say saw and studied in the sum- 

 mer of 1820 are still here, but a hun- 

 dred years has made nota'ble changes 

 in the appearance of the land, and al- 

 so in bird life. No longer is there 

 "the great emigration of geese, swans, 

 ducks and cranes" in the early spring 

 at Council Bluffs. Where were then 

 silent and uninhabited places are now 

 cultivated farms and busy towns. And 

 when we look at the modern ornith- 

 ological books we find changes in 

 them. Some of the names which Mr. 

 Say gave to his new species of birds 

 are just as he wrote them, but for a 

 number the genus name has been 

 changed. The progress of Ornithology ■ 

 has made smaller groups and thuSv'*^ 

 more general and new names. i 



Windsor, Colo. 



A Mocking Bird's Nest 

 Many bird lovers in various parts 

 of the country were trying to attract 

 birds by putting up nesting boxes and 

 by maintaining bird baths and feeding 

 stations, and it may be of interest to 

 note briefiy the success of Mr. Joseph 

 S. Snyder of Eustis Ave., Wakefield, 

 Mass, who has among other feathered 

 friends which frequent his lawn and 

 bird bath, the only Mockngbird of 

 which I have any record for this lo- 

 cality. 



Mr. Snyder frequently spoke of his 

 rare Visitor when we met while wait- 

 ing for the train to Boston and I was 

 much interested, but when one morn- 

 ing in late July he finally told me that 

 the Mockingbird had built a nest in 

 a little tree near his garage and in- 

 vited me to come up and inspect it, I 

 was indeed surprised and of course 

 accepted the invitation. It was late 

 in the afternoon of July 29th, 1920 

 when I arrived at Mr. Snyder's home 

 and the Mocking Bird was sitting 

 closely on her nest in the top of a 

 slender pitch pine tree. She did not 

 leave the nest until Mr. Snyder gently 

 tapped the trunk on the tree and then 

 she fiew to the top of a nearby pine 

 and from there to the roof of the 

 house where I had a good view of her 

 through my field glass. 



By placing a light ladder against the 

 tree we could climb up and view the 

 contents of the nest with ease. There 

 were three eggs. The nest was about 

 fifteen feet from the ground and was 

 made of grass, paper, cloth and string, 

 stuck together with mud, and the nest 

 lining was of fine grass with one 

 small piece of string. While we were 

 examining the nest the bird came back 

 into a nearby tree and anxiously 

 watched us, occasionally uttering a 

 rather hoarse "Chip." There was no 

 sign of the male bird, however, and 

 if the nesting bird has a mate he has 



