THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS: MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD 577 
south to the Sacramento Mountains,where 
young in the nest were noted in the 
James Canyon, about 6,500 feet, June 19, 
1913 (Ligon); to Silver City, 6,000 feet 
(Fisher); and to near Beaver Lake in the 
Gila Forest Reserve, where a nest with 
eggs was found at 7,200 feet May 23, 1913 
(Ligon). It was found at Fort Wingate, 
7,000 feet (Coues); a few were seen at 
8,000-8,500 feet in the Zuni Mountains 
(Goldman). [At Lake Burford, about 
6,000 feet, a nest with young was found 
May 26, 1918 (Wetmore).] It breeds east 
to La Cuesta, 5,500 feet; Ribera, 6,000 feet 
(Bailey); Halls Peak (Barber); [was com¬ 
mon west of Elizabethtown, June 18, 1924, 
and also around timberline, where it un¬ 
doubtedly nests. Nests with young were 
found at 10,000 feet, 30 miles south of 
Taos, on June 21, 1919, and at 10,000 feet, 
4 miles north of Cowles, July 16, 1919; 
many young were seen, July 21, 1919, on 
telephone wires about Taos, at 7,500 feet 
(Ligon). It is common in northern Santa 
Fe County up to 8,000 feet, fresh eggs 
being found May 1-June 20 (Jensen, 
1922)]; it breeds at Santa Fe at 7,000 feet 
(Henshaw); and at Rinconada, 5,800 feet, 
where a nest with eggs was found April 15, 
1904 (Surber). A specimen was taken at 
Mesilla Park, June 3,1903 (Metcalfe); but 
it was probably a non-breeding straggler. 
Early in the fall the old and young 
gather in flocks on the upper slopes of the 
mountains, where they were found July 25, 
1903, at 11,000 feet, near Pecos Baldy, and 
on August 11, 1903, at 12,300 feet on 
Truchas Peak (Bailey). [On July 18, 1919, 
great numbers were seen at about 12,500 
feet on the open divide connecting Pecos 
Baldy and the Truchas Peaks (Ligon).] 
They were seen on September 17, 1903, at 
12,000 feet on the top of the mountains 
north of Taos; in August, 1904, at 13,400 
feet in the Culebra Mountains (Bailey); 
and during October, 1903, near the top of 
Wheeler Peak, 13,600 feet (aneroid), the 
highest point in New Mexico (Surber). 
The species also spreads east in the fall to 
Folsom (Howell); and was quite common 
along the border of the foothills near Koeh¬ 
ler Junction, July 28-October 24, 1913 
(Kalmbach). In the fall of 1913, the first 
appeared October 12, at Mesilla (Merrill). 
Photograph by Robert B. Rockwell 
Fig. 100. Mountain Bluebird at Nest 
Its exquisite turquoise or greenish blue 
makes it the most beautiful of the 
Bluebirds 
