Jan., 1909 
RARE BIRDS AND SETS OF ECUS PROM LOWER CALIFORNIA 
11 
cens frazari) he only took three sets of eggs of three each. He also took sets of 
the following species at La Paz: Guara alba , Ardea herodias , Egretta candi- 
dissima , AEgialitis wilsonia, Melopelia asiatica , Cardinalis cardinalis i gnats, 
A it rip am s jiav icep s , and Polioptila ccerulea obscura. 
He also found two eggs of the Belding Rail ( Rail ns beldingi) . They were 
badly eaten by mice, the nest evidently having been deserted. Brown collected a 
series of thirteen of these birds. He writes, “As for the Belding Rail, I found this 
species a most difficult one to collect on account of its retiring habits in the dense 
mangrove jungle, where the branches and long roots are interwoven and interlaced. 
You can not enter a foot without cutting with axe and machete. In my search for 
the nest and eggs of this Rail I cut trails thru various parts of the mangrove 
tangle, but was unable to find but an abandoned nest with two eggs which the 
mice had nearly destroyed. The collecting of this Rail is a question of high tides. 
At low tide this Rail can not be hunted. He keeps in the depths of the mangrove 
tangle where he feeds on small crabs, etc.; but when there is a very high tide the 
water forces him to seek his food more inland, along the shore outside of the 
swamp; then by careful and patient hunting you can occasionally shoot one, but it 
is very slow work and requires much time and patience. In fact, for a long time I 
thought I should be unsuccessful in my search; for altho I hunted faithfully for it 
over a month I was unable to find one until I thought of the high tide plan.’’ 
From August 2 to September 2 Brown collected at Sierra de la Laguna. He 
took seven sets of the Yiosca Pigeon ( Columba fasciata vioscce ) . The last set was 
taken September 2, and was fresh. These birds lay but one egg. He also col- 
lected three sets of the Thick-billed Towhee ( Pipilo maculatus magnirostris)-, also 
the Frazar Vireo, Western Warbling Vireo and Green-backed Goldfinch. He col- 
lected large series of these birds, and of Junco bairdi , but he was too late for the 
eggs of the latter. 
L an raster , M assaehusetts . 
NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF SOUTHWESTERN MONTROSE COUNTY, 
COLORADO 
By EDWARD R. WARREN 
WITH ONE MAP 
T HE following notes have been gathered by the writer during a couple of short 
trips in April, 1906 and 1908, and are greatly supplemented by notes ob- 
tained from Mr. C. H. Smith of Coventry, who has resided there for the past 
ten years. As practically nothing ornithological has ever been publisht concern- 
ing this region, it has seemed worth while to write up these notes for The Condor, 
scanty as they may be. 
Roughly speaking, the region covered is that portion of Montrose County 
lying south and west of the Uncompaligre Plateau, as shown on the accompanying 
map, and a few notes are also given from points in the adjoining portion of San 
Miguel County, to which county this region really belongs, speaking from geo- 
graphical relations. It is a mesa, 7000 feet above sea level at the eastern end, but 
gradually becoming lower to the west. Thru this mesa the San Miguel River has 
cut its bed in a northwesterly direction, in places several hundred feet below the 
mesa level, and joining the Dolores River about six miles south of the Mesa County 
