. Birds of the Rockies . n goldfinches, western wood-pewees,Arkansas king-birds, Bullocks orioles, grassfinches, andcatbirds. At the same time there were a number ofspecies in both localities that have a more extensive ver-tical range, as, for example, the western robins, whichwere seen in many places from the bases of the moun-tains up to the timber-line, over eleven thousand fivehundred feet above sea-level. The presence of practically the same avian fauna onboth sides of the great range suggests some speculations ROYAL GORGE Iff the Grand Canon of the Arkansas River. In canons likethis, the
. Birds of the Rockies . n goldfinches, western wood-pewees,Arkansas king-birds, Bullocks orioles, grassfinches, andcatbirds. At the same time there were a number ofspecies in both localities that have a more extensive ver-tical range, as, for example, the western robins, whichwere seen in many places from the bases of the moun-tains up to the timber-line, over eleven thousand fivehundred feet above sea-level. The presence of practically the same avian fauna onboth sides of the great range suggests some speculations ROYAL GORGE Iff the Grand Canon of the Arkansas River. In canons likethis, their walls rising almost vertically from one thousand tofifteen hundred feet, few birds are to be seen. Occasion-ally a dove will fly from one side of the gorge to the otherbefore the scurrying train. From below a magpie or a Clarkscrow may sometimes be seen flying overhead across the fearfulchasm from one wall to the other, turning its head at intervalsas if to inspect and question the spectator over a thousand 124 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES as to their movements in the migrating season. Dothose on the western side of the mountains travel overthe towering summits from the eastern plains? Or dothey come up from their southern winter homes by wayof the valleys and plains west of the range ? Undoubt-edly the latter is the correct surmise, for there werebirds at Glenwood that are never known to ascend farinto the mountains, and should they attempt to crossthe Divide in the early spring, they would surely perishin the intense cold of those elevated regions, wheresnow often falls even in June, July, and August. Onecan easily imagine some of the eastern and westernresidents meeting in the autumn on the plains at thesouthern extremity of the mountain range, dwellingtogether in some southern locality throughout thewinter, and then, when spring approaches, taking theirseparate routes, part going east and part west of therange, for their breeding haunts in the North. Morethan likely
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1902
