268 ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM THE WEST. 
were doubtless to be found here of which we met with no exam 
ples. 
Leaving Leavenworth, our next stop was at Topeka, where we 
also tarried for ten days, devoting the time almost exclusive 
ornithologizing. Here also we observed about one hundred spe 
cies, including a few not met with at Leavenworth, while some’ 
birds that were among those most numerously represented there,” 
were not seen at opeka Among those especially missed was í 
Harris’s finch, and among the new forms Bell’s vireo, Nuttall’s 
whippoorwill and the yellow-headed blackbird were the most note- 
worthy. As Bell’s vireo did not appear here till some days after 
our arrival, it may be expected to be equally numerous at Leaven 
worth, as the ornithological fauna of the two localities is essen 
tially identical, the distance between them being less than 3 
hundred miles, and both being in nearly the same latitude. 
At no point have I ever met with birds in greater abundanc 
than at Topeka, either in individuals or species. On the day 
our arrival there I counted, during a half hows stroll iat Oe, | 
woods near the town, about thirty species, of most of WIE 
I observed several individuals, whilst several of them wel 
extremely abundant. This may result from the trees being 1 
stricted to a narrow belt along the Kaw river, thus crowding 
those more or less restricted to a timbered country into 4 
atively limited area. The trees here are smaller than along 
Missouri, less crowded, and with a thicker undergrowth. 
erable areas were covered with quite young trees, forming, 
the dense undergrowth of hazel, dwarf oak and sumac 
almost oe thickets ; and the forests were broadly * 
on the prairies. These brush jatki were the fa’ 
of the yellow-breasted chat, the black-throated | punting ® 
Several species of Spizella, among which we here first met Wi 
S. pallida, or clay-colored sparrow. The chats were so a i 
hovering and singing in the air at once, each s striving to 
other, in grotesque manceuyring and in song, 
black-throated buntings would be also in sight or ite 71 
in a similar vocal rivalry. Although the males of 
Species were so numerous, a female was rarely seen- 
one ventured into sight the males would most ungallantly St 
