6 BIRDS OF COLORADO. 



Eastward lie the great plains, stretching 150 miles from 

 Pueblo to the Kansas line and crossing the whole breadth of 

 Colorado. Here is an extent of country four times as large as 

 the State of Massachusetts, and in this whole region but two 

 ornithologists have ever worked. Capt. P. M. Thorne was at 

 Fort Ivyon, on the Arkansas, and Mr. H. G. Hoskins at Bur- 

 lington and vicinity, in Kit Carson County. There are four- 

 teen counties in eastern Colorado that have not a single printed 

 bird record to their credit. 



The great parks of Colorado have received but little more 

 attention. Cones crossed North Park; Stevenson, Middle Park, 

 and Allen, South Park, and took hurried glimpses at the bird 

 life. San Luis Park has fared somewhat better, thanks to the 

 labors of Henshaw and Aiken. Stone spent several months 

 between South Park and San L,uis Park, in the vicinity of 

 Hancock. In southwestern Colorado, Drew in San Juan County, 

 and Morrison in La Plata County, have given us valuable notes 

 on the birds of the higher portions of the region. The whole 

 of northwestern Colorado remains unexplored. What a field 

 for the ornithologist ! As large as the whole of New England 

 outside of Maine, and containing the whole valley of the Grand 

 River and its tributaries, it will reward the zealous seeker with 

 many Pacific forms not now known to Colorado. No other 

 part of the State will probably show so large a return as the 

 region around Grand Junction. Othet specially favorable lo- 

 calities for new developments are the lower waters of the tribu- 

 taries of the San Juan River in southwestern Colorado, the 

 region around Trinidad in south central Colorado, the Arkan- 

 sas River near the Kansas line, and especially the Cimarron 

 River of southeastern Colorado and the Platte River near Jules- 

 burg in northeastern Colorado. 



For increased knowledge of distribution with regard to 

 altitude, and for range during the breeding season, so little is 

 known compared with what remains to be discovered that any 

 part of the mountain region of Colorado offers an inviting field 

 to the ornithologist. 



In addition to the mass of published data accessible to all, 

 the present writer has received valuable assistance from many 

 manuscript notes, and he wishes here to express his thanks to 

 the correspondents who have put so much time, labor and care 

 into their preparation. Much information on special points has 

 been obtained in answer to direct inquiries and also the follow- 

 ing lists have been received: 



A. W. Anthony. List of 226 species known by him to 

 have been taken^fi Colorado. 



W. H. Bergtold. Notes on 20 species seen by him in 

 Routt County and near Denver. 



