orrect that I did
not look at the bird as searchingly as I should have done, thereby
learning a valuable lesson in thoroughness. The error was corrected by
my friend, Mr. Charles E. Aiken, of Colorado Springs, who has been of
not a little service in determining and classifying the avian fauna of
Colorado. My new-found friend (the feathered one, I mean) was the
American pipit, which some years ago was known as the tit-lark.

[Illustration: _Pipits_

"_Te-cheer! Te-cheer!_"]

"Te-cheer! te-cheer! te-cheer!" (accent strong on the second syllable)
the birds exclaimed in half-petulant remonstrance at my intrusion as I
hobbled about over the rocks. Presently one of them darted up into the
air; up, up, up, he swung in a series of oblique leaps and circles, this
way and that, until he became a mere speck in the sky, and then
disappeared from sight in the cerulean depths beyond. All the while I
could hear his emphatic and rapidly repeated call, "Te-cheer! te-cheer!"
sifting down out of the blue canopy. How long he remained aloft in "his
watch-tower in the skies" I do not know, for one cannot well count
minutes in such exciting circumstances, but it seemed a long time. By
and by the call appeared to be coming nearer, and the little aeronaut
swept down with a swiftness that made my blood tingle, and alighted on a
rock as lightly as a snowflake. Afterwards a number of other pipits
performed the same aerial exploit. It was wonderful to see them rise
several hundred feet into the rarefied atmosphere over an abyss so deep
that it has been named the "Bottomless Pit."

[Illustration: _Pipits_

"_Up over the Bottomless Pit_"]

The pipits frequently flitted from rock to rock, teetering their slender
bodies like sandpipers, and chirping their disapproval of my presence.
They furnished some evidence of having begun the work of nest
construction, although no nests were found, as it was doubtless still
too early in the season. In some respects the pipits are extremely
interesting, for, while many of them breed in remote northern latitudes,
others select the loftiest summits of the Rockies for summer homes,
where they rear their broods and scour the alpine heights in search of
food. The following interesting facts relative to them in this alpine
country are gleaned from Professor Cooke's pamphlet on "The Birds of
Colorado":

In migration they are common throughout the State, but breed only on
the loftiest mountains. They arriv