Dec. 15, 1882.] 
AND OOLOGIST. 
D)1 
coast, like certain other species of its local¬ 
ity, finds its way around the Alleghany 
Mountains for a short distance, and is very 
common throughout the Summer in west¬ 
ern New York. Indeed it is not uncom¬ 
mon as a Summer resident in the central 
parts of the State. I have had every op¬ 
portunity of observing its habits ; and, as 
no writer has given it a full record, I bear 
it a special accoiintability. 
It is a bird of the woods, everywhere as¬ 
sociated with the beautiful tall forests of 
the more northern counties of Western 
New York, sometimes found in the open 
woods of pasture-lands, and cpiite partial 
to hardwood trees. In its flitting motions 
in search of insect-prey, and in the jerking 
curves of its more prolonged flight, as also 
in structure, it is a geniime Wood War¬ 
bler, and keeps, for the most part, to ay hat 
Thoreau calls “ the ujDjier story” of its S 3 -l- 
van domain. Its song, which is frequent, 
and may be heard for some distance, may 
be imitated by the syllables rheet, rheet, 
rheet, rheet, ridi, idi, e-e-e-e-e-e-e ; begin¬ 
ning with several soft, warbling notes, and 
ending in a rather prolonged but quite mu¬ 
sical squeak. The latter and more rapid 
part of the strain, which is given in the uja- 
ward slide, approaches an insect quality of 
tone which is more or less jaeculiar to all 
blue Warblers. This song is so common 
here as to be a universal characteristic of 
our tall forests. 
The bird is shy when started from the 
nest, and has the sharp chipiiing alarm 
note common to the family. The nest is 
saddled on a horizontal limb of considera¬ 
ble size, some distance from the tree, and 
some forty or fifty feet from the ground. 
Hmall, and very neatly and compactly built, 
somewhat after tlie style of the Redstart, 
it consists outwardly of fine dried grasses, 
bits of w'asp’s nests and gray lichen, and 
more especially of old and weathered 
woody fibres, making it look quite gray 
and waspy; Avhile the lining is fine dried 
grasses, or shreds of tlie wild graim- 
vine, thus giving the inside a rich brown 
apjiearance in contrast with the gray exte¬ 
rior. 
The eggs, 4 or 5, some .60x47, are 
grajdsh or greenish white, ju'etty well spot¬ 
ted, or specked, or even blotched, esjie- 
cially about the large end, with broAvn and 
dee 2 ) lilac. They do not jAossess that deli¬ 
cate ajApearauce common to the oological 
gems of most of the Warblers.—,7. 11. 
Langille, Buffalo, JST. Y. 
Notes from Colorado. 
My time to devote to birds is verv lim¬ 
ited, but I send you a fe-w notes taken 
about camj), at an elevation of about 11,400 
feet. Canada Jays are 2 )lentiful and make 
themselves as much at home as tame Pig¬ 
eons, coming at meal time for bits of food 
that I throw to them, sometimes alighting 
Avithin tAvo or three feet of me. At other 
times they bu.SA^ themselves hoji^^ing about 
the trees, either singly or in small flocks 
of four or five, jAecking off insects and 
crooning to themselA’es like an old Avoman 
at her sjAinning Avdieel. They haAm as great 
a variety of notes as the Mocking Bird, of¬ 
ten uttering shrill screams that AA'ould 
easily be mistaken for those of a HaAvk. 
Stellar’s JaA', Arctic Blue Bird, and 
Black-billed Magpies are abundant up to 
an elcA^ation of 9,500 feet. Have ne\'er seen 
but one jAair of Louisiana Tanagers higher 
than 10.000 feet. They are (juite common 
from 9,500 feet doAvn to the Plains. 
Audubon’s WarlAlers are quite plenty 
500 or 600 feet loAver doAvn, and Hummers 
are abundant and are occaasionally seen 
about camjA, but as all of my shooting irons 
are forty-five calibre I cannot take any 
specimens to identify them. Red-shafted 
Flicker and Robins ai’c; comiAion. 
July 17 1 saAv for the first and only time 
one male find tiAXA femide Pine Grosbeaks. 
PurjAle I’inches are occasionally seen. 
Yellow-croAvned Kinglets and BroAvn 
Creepers are quite plentiful, and TitAiiice 
—“The Avoods are full of ’em.” White- 
