sapling contained also the nest of a turtle dove.

"If there are three nests in this small tree, there may be a large
number in the cluster of trees beyond the swell about a mile away," I
mused, and forthwith made haste to go to the place indicated. I was not
disappointed. Had the effort been made, I am sure two score of nests
might have been found in these trees, for they were liberally decorated
with bird cots and hammocks. Most of these were kingbirds' and Arkansas
flycatchers' nests, but there were others as well. On one small limb
there were four of the dangling nests of Bullock's orioles, one of them
fresh, the rest more or less weather beaten, proving that this bird had
been rearing broods here for a number of seasons.

Whose song was this ringing from one of the larger trees a little
farther down the glade? I could scarcely believe the testimony of my
ears and eyes, yet there could be no mistake--it was the vivacious
mimicry of the mocking-bird, which had travelled far across the plain to
this solitary clump of trees to find singing perches and a site for his
nests. He piped his musical miscellany with as much good-cheer as if he
were dwelling in the neighborhood of some embowered cottage in
Dixie-land. In suitable localities on the plains of Colorado the mockers
were found to be quite plentiful, but none were seen among the
mountains.

A network of twigs and vines in one of the small willows afforded a
support and partial covert for the nest of a pair of white-rumped
shrikes. It contained six thickly speckled eggs, and was the first nest
of this species I had ever found. The same hollow,--if so shallow a dip
in the plain can be called a hollow,--was selected as the home of
several pairs of red-winged and Brewer's blackbirds, which built their
grassy cots in the low bushes of a slightly boggy spot, where a feeble
spring oozed from the ground. It was a special pleasure to find a
green-tailed towhee in the copse of the draw, for I had supposed that he
always hugged close to the steep mountain sides.

A walk before breakfast the next morning added several more avian
species to my roll. To my surprise, a pair of mountain bluebirds had
chosen the village for their summer residence, and were building a nest
in the coupler of a freight car standing on a side track. The domicile
was almost completed, and I could not help feeling sorry for the pretty,
innocent couple, at the thought that the car would soon be rolling