Nov., x9o7 SOME BIRDS OF SOUTHWEST COLORADO I95

stayed around Ft. Lewis during the nesting season, the males singing frequently from dense oak brush on the hillside. When I first heard one I thought a pro- gressive grosbeak had evolved a better song; and then I wondered why he was not on top of the oaks instead of in the center. A careful scrutiny revealed the owner of the lay, but failed to find anything that had been laid. Toxostoma rufum. Brown Thrasher. Mr. Peterson told me a pair of these birds nested in a gooseberry bush near his house in the spring of 1904. $alpinctes obsoletus. Rock Wren. Seen occasionally. A pair nested under a plank sidewalk near the school house at Ft. Lewis. Catherpes mexicanus conspersus. Canyon Wren. One seen early in the morning on top of the barn.. .Thryomanes bewickii leucogaster. Baird Wren. A few noticed during the breeding season. Certhia familiaris montana. Rocky Mountain Creeper. A pair seen during a snow storm in January, 1906, and a pair near the same spot in January, 1907. $itta carolinensis aculeata. Slender-billed Nuthatch. Common, breeding on the pine-covered mesas. $itta pygmea. Pigmy Nuthatch. Abundant. Many nesting near the school in dead pine trees. Three nests noted were built just below and at one side of deserted woodpecker holes occupied by bluebirds--only 8 inches between the door- ways. It may have been for the companionship and protection afforded by the bluebirds, but I am inclined to think the nuthatch had confidence in the wood- pecker's judgment in selecting a good place to dig. A feature of the nuthatches' nests was the fact that usually the hole after going in straight, turned to the right of the entrance before descending. Parus inornatus griseus. Gray Titmouse. One pair seen in April. Mr. Warren reports them as seen at Coventry in April. Parus atricapillus septentrionalis. Long-tailed Chickadee. A few breeding in the neighborhood. Parus gainbell. Mountain Chickadee. Breeding abundantly. Psaltriparus plumbeus. Lead-colored Bush-tit. Mr. Warren reports them at Coventry in April. Regulus calendula. Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Several seen in spring. Nlyadestes townsendi. Townsend Solitaire. Several noticed at different times of the year. Hylocichla guttara audub0ni. Audubon Hermit Thrush.. Found nesting in the La Plata Mountains in July, at 10,000 feet altitude. Seen in spring along the river bottom. Merula migrat0ria propinclua. Western Robin. Abundant. Nesting from 7,000 to 10,000 feet. Some must spend the winter as I saw one on January 30, within a mile of Ft. Lewis, and saw others in January in Montezuma County. $ialia mexicana bairdi. Chestnut-backed Bluebird. Several nesting near Ft. Lewis among the pines. $ialia arcfica. Mountain Bluebird. Most abundant of the bluebirds. Nested about buildings and in bird boxes, while the two other species kept to the pines. A pair, the female having but one leg, raised broods in the cornice of one of the buildings, and I was told they had occupied the same place for at least the two seasons previous. One bird box I put up had two families started in it in one season.

13anningq California.