May, 1915 
A SUMMER AT FLATHEAD LAKE, MONTANA 
113 
characteristic mountain birds were found to take their places. J uncos became 
more abundant and Townsend Solitaires ( Myadcstes townsendi) were found 
about some rocky cliffs. The Richardson Grouse ( Dendragapus obscurus rich- 
ardsoni ) was perhaps the only bird that was really common. These were 
mostly females with broods of half-grown young. The females flew up into 
the trees at our approach, watching anxiously, while the young, which though 
able to fly showed little fear, remained nearer the ground. 
On July 23 a trip was made to Poison, and thence down the Pend d ’Oreille 
River to a rocky canyon about six miles below the outlet of the lake. Here 
the character of the country was quite different from any that we had visited 
previously. The region had never been visited by Mr. Silloway, so I had the 
good fortune to add two more birds to the Flathead Lake list that are not 
found in other localities of the region. The first of these was the Violet-green 
Swallow ( Tachycineta thalassina lepida ) that was breeding in considerable 
numbers in hollows of the limestone cliffs of the river canyon. Many of the 
young birds had left the nests and were perched in the tops of dead cotton- 
wood trees along the river bank. From these perches they sallied forth on 
rather uncertain wings to meet the parents as the latter came with food. Sev 
eral specimens, including young of the year, were secured. With the Violet- 
greens I found the second new bird of the day, the Rough-winged Swallow 
( Stelgidopteryx serripennis) . Young of this species were also about. Two 
specimens secured included an adult and a young bird of the year. (See fig. 
42.) 
Hummingbirds are more abundant at Flathead Lake than I have found 
them elsewhere in Montana. Both the Rufous Hummingbird ( Selasphorus 
rufus ) and the Calliope Hummingbird ( Stellula calliope) are common about the 
station at Yellow Bay. A nest of the latter species was found in one of the 
yellow pines in front of the station. A limb about six inches in diameter pro- 
jected horizontally from the tree at a height of about 20 feet. On the under 
side of this limb was a short dead branch about an inch in diameter. The nest 
was saddled on this branch under the larger limb in such a way that it was 
protected both from the rain and from the rays of the sun. The nest was first 
discovered through the actions of the parent bird, which was very belligerent 
in protecting her home from all birds and other animals that approached too 
closely. A pine squirrel had ventured into the tree and the mother hummer 
chased it away immediately, following it a long way through the trees and 
darting at it first from one side and then from the other. The nest contained 
half-grown young when first found. 
Infrequent feeding periods seem to be the rule with birds that feed by 
regurgitation. In this case the mother hummer fed her young in periods that 
averaged a little over half an hour apart. The feeding was in the usual hum- 
mingbird fashion, not differing perceptibly from the methods of the Ruby- 
throated and Rufous hummingbirds. The young left the nest about a week 
after it was found. We removed the nest later for better examination. It. was a 
beautiful structure, built almost entirely of white cottonwood down, decorated 
on the outside like that of other hummingbirds with bits of green lichens. 
During the first half of August I was away from Yellow Bay on a trip 
through the Glacier National Park. On my return, August 18, I found that 
1 he fall migration had started. Ring-billed Gulls ( Larus dclawarensis ) were 
much more numerous about the lake than they had been in midsummer. Soli- 
