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 A BIRD-LOVER IN THE WEST


 BY

 OLIVE THORNE MILLER




 BOSTON AND NEW YORK
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
 The Riverside Press, Cambridge
 1900




 Copyright, 1894,
 BY H. M. MILLER.

 _All rights reserved._


 _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._
 Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.




INTRODUCTORY.


The studies in this volume were all made, as the title indicates, in the
West; part of them in Colorado (1891), in Utah (1893), and the remainder
(1892) in what I have called "The Middle Country," being Southern Ohio,
and West only relatively to New England and New York, where most of my
studies have been made.

Several chapters have appeared in the "Atlantic Monthly" and other
magazines, and in the "Independent" and "Harper's Bazar," while others
are now for the first time published.

 OLIVE THORNE MILLER.




CONTENTS.

 IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

                                                                PAGE

     I. CAMPING IN COLORADO                                         3

    II. IN THE COTTONWOODS                                         17

           Western wood-pewee. _Contopus richardsonii._
           Western house wren. _Troglodytes aedon aztecus._
           Towhee. _Pipilo erythrophthalmus._

   III. AN UPROAR OF SONG                                          32

           Western meadow-lark. _Sturnella magna neglecta._
           Horned lark. _Otocoris alpestris leucolaema._
           Yellow warbler. _Dendroica aestiva._
           Western wood-pewee. _Contopus richardsonii._
           Humming-bird. _Trochilus colubris._
           Long-tailed chat. _Icteria virens longicauda._

    IV. THE TRAGEDY OF A NEST                                      42

           Long-tailed chat. _Icteria virens longicauda._

     V. A FEAST OF FLOWERS                                         52

    VI. A CINDERELLA AMONG FLOWERS                                 60

   VII. CLIFF-DWELLERS IN THE CANYON                               70

           Canyon wren. _Catherpes mexicanus conspersus._
           American dipper. _Cinclus mexicanus._


 IN THE MIDDLE COUNTRY.

  VIII. AT FOUR O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING                             95

           Purple grackle. _Quiscalus quiscula._
           Mourning dove. _Zenaidura macroura._
           Red-headed woodpecker. _Melanerpes erythrocephalus._
           Blue jay. _Cyanocitta cristata._
           Cardinal grosbeak. _Cardinalis cardinalis._
           American robin. _Merula migratoria._
           Golden-wing woodpecker. _Colaptes auratus._
           House sparrow. _Passer domesticus._

    IX. THE LITTLE REDBIRDS                                       113

           Cardinal grosbeak. _Cardinalis cardinalis._
           House sparrow. _Passer domesticus._

     X. THE CARDINAL'S NEST                                       119

           Cardinal grosbeak. _Cardinalis cardinalis._
           Bobolink. _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._
           Meadow-lark. _Sturnella magna._

    XI. LITTLE BOY BLUE                                           126

           Blue jay. _Cyanocitta cristata._

   XII. STORY OF THE NESTLINGS                                    136

           Blue jay. _Cyanocitta cristata._

  XIII. BLUE JAY MANNERS                                          144

           Blue jay. _Cyanocitta cristata._

   XIV.