BIRDS OK COLORADO. IO9 



where. Arrives about the middle of May and breeds about the 

 first of June. Departs south in September. W. P. Lowe 

 reports seeing several in the Wet Mountains at an altitude of 

 10,000 feet. 



597a. Guiraca csrulea eurhyncha. Western Blue Gros- 

 beak. 



Summer resident; not uncommon, locally. A southern 

 species, known from South Dakota, southwesterly across south- 

 eastern Colorado to southern Utah. All the records for Colorado 

 come from the Arkansas Valley, where it is reported by Aiken,. 

 lyowe and Beckham as not uncommon and breeding at Pueblo. 

 Capt. P. M. Thorne also saw two at Fort Lyon. Arrives late 

 in May. 



598. Passerina cyanea. Indigo Bunting. 



Summer visitant; rare, if not accidental. An eastern spe- 

 cies, coming regularly only to eastern Kansas. Taken twice in 

 Colorado; once by C. E. Aiken in El Paso County, while the 

 other specimen is in the Maxwell Collection, without any record 

 as to when or where it was taken. 



599. Passerina amoena. Lazuli Bunting. 



Summer resident; abundant. From the plains to the 

 lower foothills, an abundant and characteristic species, breeding 

 everywhere. A few breed at 7,000 feet and occasionally wander 

 a thousand feet higher. Taken by Capt. P. M. Thorne at Fort 

 Lyon and breeds east to western Kansas. Arrives early in May 

 and breeds about the middle of June. One was taken by Prof. 

 C. P. Gillette July 7, 1896, on Little Beaver Creek, Larimer 

 County, at an altitude of 9,100 feet. 



604. Spiza americana. Dickcissel. 



Summer resident; rare. Occurs only on the plains and at 

 the foothills east of the Rocky Mountains. A few pairs spend 

 the summer each year on the plains near Fort Collins and they 

 have been noted at various places from there to Fort Lyon 

 where Capt. P. M. Thorne saw six June 22, 1884. In five years 

 residence there, these were the only ones seen. Farther east in 

 Kansas it becomes one of the commonest birds. 



605. Calamospiza melanocorys. Lark Bunting. 

 Summer resident; abundant. The most common summer 



bird on the plains. Locally known as the "Bobolink." Much 

 more common east than west of the mountains. Breeds on the 

 plains and in the foothills to about the limit of cultivated fields 

 at 8,000 feet. Becomes rapidly less numerous after passing the 

 lowest foothills. Arrives the fir.st week in May spreading over 



