408 Birds of Colorado 
when most birds take shelter. During the breeding 
the males sing very continuously, sometimes perched 
on tall weed stalks, but more often on the wing. They 
rise obliquely in the air at an angle of about 50°, to a 
height of fifteen or twenty feet, then descend obliquely 
again, alighting fifteen or twenty feet from where they 
started, singing continuously. 
The Lark-Bunting breeds early in June, and fresh 
eggs are to be met with about June 5th near Denver 
(Dille). There is a clutch of fresh eggs in the Colorado 
College Museum, taken by I. C. Hall as late as July 
5th near Greeley ; perhaps this is a second brood. The 
nest in this case was placed in a slight hollow in the 
ground, in a freshly cut alfalfa field, and was made up 
of alfalfa stems and leaves. The eggs, five in number, 
are pale greenish-blue and unspotted; they measure 
about °90 x ‘65. 
Family TANGARIDZ. 
Bill conirostral, resembling that of the Fringillide, 
but without any angulation at the base of the commissure 
or cutting edge, though often dentirostral, i.e. with an 
indication of a tooth-like projection about half way 
along the cutting edge; primaries nine in number ; 
habit frugivorous and insectivorous but never gramini- 
vorous, 
It is difficult, if not impossible, to draw an absolute 
distinction between this family and the Fringillide 
though the conformation of the bill is generally available. 
The Tanagers are mostly birds of brilliant colouring 
and are confined to America, where they are chiefly 
met with in the tropical regions. Only one genus is 
represented in Colorado. 
