Nov., 1910 
BIRD NOTES FROM SOUTHWESTERN MONTANA 
199 
Juncos evidently had a nest or young and where I past several evenings in suc- 
cession. I searcht this spot for three evenings before I finally found a single 
young bird. This bird was well feathered but unable to fly and I almost stept 
on it before I found it. When I caught it and it called in distress the parents be- 
came fairly frantic and flew at my hed, and fluttered in front of me almost within 
reach. As it was late in the evening and the light very poor I did not get a suc- 
cessful picture of this bird. 
Western Chipping Sparrows ( Spizella fi. arizonce) were very abundant in this 
region and I found their nests most commonly of all. One of these nests, situated 
about two feet from the ground on a low limb of a lodgepole pine, was owned by 
one of the tamest birds I have met with. When I found the nest I almost toucht 
her before she would leave it, and the day I secured her picture I had to actually 
shake the limb before she would leave and allow me to see the contents of the nest. 
Then I found the reason why she sat so closely, for the nest then contained three 
newly-hatcht young and a single egg. 
On June 17, we moved camp from 
Pipestone Basin to the vicinity of 
Homestake, about six miles south. 
The country which we crost, and in 
which our next camp was situated is 
very rough and rocky. Clusters of 
great granit boulders are scattered 
thru the hills and along the ridge tops, 
many of them standing up on end in 
a curious and fantastic manner. This 
country was once well timbered, but 
the greater part of the timber, except 
in the least accessible places, was cut 
off for the Butte market some twenty 
years ago. A poor scattered second 
growth of fir has sprung up, but a 
large amount of it was recently winter- 
killed. 
There are a great many old fir stumps 
on this area, most of them containing 
old woodpecker holes. As we moved 
I walkt along behind the wagons, tap- 
ping at these old stumps and keeping my eye out for birds and nests. About the 
clusters of boulders I saw several pairs of Townsend Solitaires ( Myadcstes tozvn- 
sendi), a bird for whose nest I have sought many times in vain. One male Solitaire 
was in the midst of his flight song. 
The flight-song of this species is something I have never seen mentioned by 
other writers, yet, to my mind it is the best flight-singer of any bird with which I 
am acquainted. The bird soars high above the rocky peaks and ridges till almost 
invisible; and the glorious loud and ringing song descends to the listener, each note 
as clear and pure and full of life and vigor as the mountain air itself. The bird 
seems tireless and the song continues for many minutes. Surely he can rival the 
Skylark. What a pity that this song is only rendered in the solitude of the moun- 
tains where few of us can ever know it ! And yet half the charm of the song lies 
in its harmony with its surroundings. A Solitaire away from the wild mountain 
crags would hardly seem the same bird. 
Fig. 67. 
ADULT FEMALE WESTERN' CHIPPING 
SPARROW ON NEST 
