BIRDS. 165 



Hammond Flycatcher: Emi>idona,e hammondl{?) . — Mr. H. C. 

 Bryant, of California, saw an Empidonax July 31, 1917, that he took 

 to be hainviondi in " some open woods near Lewis's on Lake Mc- 

 Donald." 



Family ALAUDID^: Larks. 



Desert Horned Lark: Otocorls alpestris leucolcemci. — Mr. Bryartt^^ 

 has seen horned larks at Belton on the railroad track in fall, but never 

 in the park. Mr. Stevenson, howevei', has seen them on the high 

 barren ridges of the park, and says they are com- 

 mon outside on the dry plains to the east. On 

 April 15, 1918, Mr. Baile)' saw two on the Big 

 Prairie of the North Fork, where there were 

 open fields suitable for breeding grounds. 



Family CORVID^: Crows, Jays, Magpies. 



Fig. (J8. — Uorurd lark. 



Magpie : Pica pica liudsonla. — The magpie, 

 with its striking black and white plumage, long 

 gTaduated tail, and loud, strenuous voice, is one of the spectacular 

 birds of the region, but the only ones seen by us were outside the 

 boundary of the park, near the upper St. INIary Lake, although they 

 are said to come up into the park for exposed garbage. The bulk of 

 them, Mr. Biwant says, enter the park in September and leave the 

 last of March. In fall and winter he has seen them on the prairie 

 patches along the North Fork of the Flathead. 



Black-headed Jat: Cyanocitta stelleri anncctens. — The high- 

 crested, black-headed blue jay is one of the handsomest, most domi- 

 nant birds of the pine forests, dashing around and flying from tree to 

 tree, calling loudly as he goes. For this reason the apparent decrease 

 in his numbers in the park is striking. In 1887 Dr. Grinnell said that 

 in the St. Mary Lakes region the jays were common in the pine forest 

 up to the rocks ; and in 1895 Messrs. Bailey and Howell observed them 

 at timberline and in the spruce timber on the side of Kootenai Moun- 

 tain, and reported them common from Java to Belton. In the winter 

 of 1899-1900 Mr. Higginson reported them very abundant in the 

 Stanton Lake region, staying most of the time on the high ridges. 

 But during the two months that we spent in traversing the park Ave 

 saAV them in only four localities — at a lumber camp at the head of Lake 

 Joseplime, near Waterton Lake, at the Eeynolds Cabin, and on the 

 Camas Lake Trail above Lake McDonald ; and on Mr. Bailey's return 

 to the west side of the park in April, he saAV only one — at Belton. 

 Perhaps, like the eagles, they have been accidentally caught by 

 the fur trappers. 



