THE SCIENTIST. 
3 
of shyness common to many birds, 
renders it a comparatively easy prey to 
the hunter and but few that reach here 
live to return to their Arctic home. A 
number of years since one of these owJs 
perched upon the gilded ball that 
surmounts the weather vane on cur 
''Temple of Justice^' nearly 100 feet 
from the g-round. It was in broad day- 
light and naturally arrested the attention 
of hundreds of people many of whom 
had never seen such a bird before. The 
eggs of this bird are similar to those , of 
the Great-horned Owl, though somewhat 
larger. The texture of the shell is rather 
firmer and the surface smoother, while 
in shape they ;ne more eloiiuntrd. At 
least such are the cliaractei istics ot a s-ct 
of six in my collection from Sweden 
It is a ratlier siiignlar l;ief.in view of 
the probable scarcity of food in the far 
northern legiojis that thege bii ds f-hould 
]ny such lai-ge sets of eggs. Ten or twelve 
is not an nneonnnon number and sets 
contfiining as (>w as live or six eggs 1 
have found difficult to obtain. 
*Am.. Orn. Union, Nos. have been substitut- 
ed for the scientific names. [Editor. 
Notes By the Way, 
To the Kansas City Academy of Science: 
I submit a few notes on Colorado. 
Each visit impresses me more and more. 
• Colorado is the Switzerland of Ameiica. 
But as the geologist is supposed to "run 
everything into the ground'", I must 
^ curb my imagination and come down to 
earth. The eastern two-fifths of the 
state is a rolling plain, sometimes ap- 
parently level, and almost destitute of 
anj- vegetation except buft'alo grass, 
which seldom exceeds three inches in 
^ height, broom or bitter sage brush. 
Yucca mexicana or"Mexican Soapweed" 
and an occasional cactus of diminutive 
size. It is not generally known, but it is 
nevertheless a fact that there is a ridge 
or divide that nearly parallels the Rocky 
mountains and is east of it from 60 to 80 
miles. The Arkansas and Platte, as well 
as the Republican rivers cut through 
this ridge. It is from 200 to GOO feet 
higher than the trough or sinus between 
it and the mountains. For instance, the 
highest land at Cedar Point — there are 
no cedars or other trees there — ^^has an 
elevation of about 5.800 feet, while 
Denver, 76 miles west — and much 
nearer the mountains — has an elevation 
of only 5,170 feet. And again, Pueblo 
has about the same elevation as Denver, 
being a little less, but the me-a or table- 
bind that surrounds it has an (elevation 
of about 5,600 feet, while Canon City, 
nestleil at the foot of tlie mountains, 42 
miles further west, lias an elevation of 
only 5.280, one mile, i have never seen 
eastern (Colorado when it was green. In 
spi-ingtime it is j^ellow. in autumn, 
chocolate and In winter bi'own. Most of 
the western country, where there are no 
evergreens is much like eastern 
Colorado in the tints and hues of its 
landscapes. 
From Canon City westward the grade 
is abrupt. Fremont's Peak, which over- 
looks the town and is rbout live miles 
distant, has an elevation of nearly twice 
that of the town, or about 10,300 feet. 
Several peaks in the neighborhood are 
higher. ^Vestward from Canon City, 
the railroad enters the canon of the 
Arkansas river at about one niile and a 
half from town. About five miles above 
town, the walls of the canon draw in till 
they are less than one hundred feet apart. 
They rise almost vertically 1,200 to 1,500 
feet and then slope back abruptly to a 
height of about 4.000 feet above the rail- 
road track. Around the base of the 
mountains, about on the dividing line be- 
tween the coal measui-es and the Azoic 
rocks, is a limestone formation which 
stands or lies with its lines of deposition 
