BIRDS OF COLORADO. 79 



(Ridgway, Field and Forest, II. 1876-77, 195 and 208). The 

 second, by C. E. Aiken, at Poncha Pass, Fremont County, June 

 15, 1875, ^^^ ^^^^ ii^st with one egg, being the first nest of this 

 species known to science. (Deane, B. N. O. C. IV. 1879, 188.) 

 The third was shot by Dr. Walbridge, at Mosca Pass in the San 

 Luis Valley, the third week in August, 1879. (IngersoU, B. N. 

 O. C. V. 1880, 121.) The fourth was found dead in 1883 in the 

 same place where Dr. Walbridge took his specimen. The fifth, 

 by C. E. Aiken, in nestling plumage, about the middle of Sep- 

 tember, 1883, near Colorado City, at an altitude of 7,500 to 8,000 

 feet. (Fourth and fifth specimens, Brewster B. N. O. C. VIII. 



1883, 123.) The sixth, seventh and eighth, by W. G. Smith, 

 in Estes Park, one June 2, 1890, a female and nest with three 

 fresh eggs, at 10,000 feet; one June 4 at the same altitude, a 

 female, nest and two fresh eggs; one June 20, a female, nest and 

 four partly incubated eggs at 8,000 feet. (O. and O. XVI. 1891, 

 27.) The ninth, by Evan Lewis, near Idaho Springs, June 7, 

 1890, a nest with three eggs at 8, 700 feet. (Bendire, Life Histories 

 N. Am. Birds, 1892, p. 375.) The tenth was taken July 17, 



1884, near Evergreen P. O., Jefierson County. (H. G. Smith, 

 Auk, X. 1893, 364.) In addition to these only six other speci- 

 mens are known from the rest of the United States, and there 

 are no records of its breeding anywhere but in Colorado. There 

 is a specimen in the National Museum at Washington that 

 bears the date June 10, 1890 and was taken in Estes Park by 

 W. G. Smith. It is presumably one of the three mentioned 

 above, but it cannot now be learned which one it is. Mr. Dennis 

 Gale writes that he took one twelve miles from Gold Hill in 

 the direction of Estes Park. This makes the eleventh specimen 

 for Colorado. Of these eleven, seven have been taken in Boul- 

 der County or vicinity. 



375a. Bubo virginianus subarcticus. Western Horned 



Owl. 



Resident; common. Not enough material has accumu- 

 lated to define the range of the different forms of the Horned 

 Owl in Colorado. The following statements are given with the 

 knowledge that they are far from complete and quite liable to 

 error. But they seem to be the best explanation that can be 

 given of the known facts. The second edition of the A. O. U. 

 Check List gives subarcticus as the only form breeding in Colo- 

 rado, confining arcticus during the summer to Arctic America, 

 with a southern migration in winter to Montana and Wyoming. 

 The earlier writers went to the opposite extreme and referred 

 all Colorado birds to arcticus. The present writer is inclined to 

 accept the theory that subarcticjis is the form of the lower por- 

 tions of the State, breeding commonly along the timbered river 

 bottoms. How far this form extends into the mountains is not 



