14 COLORADO BIRDS. 
wall of the creek cañon extended across the background. At my 
right hand was a small stubble-field in the midst of the tangled 
brush, and a little to the left a clump of scrubby oaks. Several 
small trees scattered through the foreground, with here and there 
a clump of differently tinted red, green or yellow bushes, completed 
the landscape. Imagine now the whole enlivened with birds and 
you have the entire picture. 
On account of their bright plumage and boisterous actions, 
Woodhouse’s jay and the magpie were most prominent; particu- 
larly the former, of which there were about a dozen individuals 
that kept flying in and out among the bushes before me. Occa- 
sionally one would fly up on to the limb of a tree, where it would 
pause but a moment to swallow the morsel of food it had brought, 
or to look about it, and then off it went with a wild, chattering 
note. ‘The low oak bushes that are so abundant in the foothills 
are the chosen haunts of these birds, and they are never found at 
any great distance from them. A magpie in the cottonwood 
grove, espying me, came over directly to satisfy his curiosity, 
which, by the way, is a prominent feature in his character. He 
alighted on the top of a fence-stake within ten feet of me, and 
giving his beautiful, long, glossy tail a jerk, and ducking his head 
impertinently, he uttered a harsh, bold note of inquiry; but when 
I turned my head to obtain a better view of him, he was off in an 
instant. 
Another noticeable bird was the arctic finch (Pipilo arcticus). 
‘These were to be seen everywhere, among the bushes, on the 
= ground, or flying from one thicket to another and, from their abun- 
dance, form one of the charac teristic birds of this section. At 
She season they are very quiet, and usually keep themselves con- 
_ cealed in the brush; but during the early part of the season, the 
d himself. Becoming shortly aware of my presence, he- 
l K TRETA > feathers of his crown into a crest, and 
little head first one way and then- nii, = = 2 
