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Sept., 19?.q UNUSUAL NESTING I.OCAI.IT OF R)CK MOUNTAIN NUTttATCH 195 each time bringing food of some kind, at least twenty of which were millers. Only once or twice out of the twenty-seven times did she appear to feed the young by regurgitation. Usually when alighting upon the home tree she uttered a rolling note--"cr?[, cr?[, crY["--rapidly repeated, and instantly several wide open mouths appeared at the entrance of the nest cavity, each begging for the expected morsel. A day or two later the young were taken from the nest to be photographed. Instead of being interested in posing before the magic camera, they seemed more inclined to hide their faces in the underbrush. Perhaps they were ashamed be- cause of not being thoroly dressed. There were five young and a dead bird in the nest. On attempting to place them on a vertical tree trunk they either could not or would not (perhaps both) cling to the tree as their parents do. The young were replaced in the nest and upon .our return two days later we found they had flown. The nest was chiefly composed of fine rabbit hair, placed in a cavity of irregular shape and about six inches deep, in a scrubby willow about six feet from the ground. The surrounding country was open wooded pasture, but the ground im- mediately surrounding the tree was slightly swampy. This nest was located on 4 BROOD OY OIING ROCKY NIOUNTAIN NUTHATCHES the south branch of the Platte River near Littleton, and about ten miles south of Denver, Colorado, at an elevation of about 5370 feet. [No'r?;.--The above observations of Mr. Richards demonstrate an important fact in a rather mmsual famml condition existing along the South Platte River for several miles below the point where it issues from the mountains. This river which is the main stream draining a large portion of the mountain- ous central part of the State, flows thru a deep canyon for many miles before it reaches the plains region, and from the mouth of the canyon for a distance of fully fifteen miles out into a typical prairie (Upper Sonoran) country there is a distinct sprinkling of mountain and foothill forms, both aninml and vegetable. Thus, be- side the two typically mountain birds mentioned above, the Broad-tailed Humming- bird, Lewis Woodpecker, and Violet-green Swallow nest here, at an altitude fully 1500 feet below what is ordinarily considered the lower limit of their breeding range. Among the mammals, the beaver is very abundant, even to the very limits of the City of Denver; the Busy Chipmunk (E. a. operathis) is common, fully 1100 feet lower than the lowest records; while bobcats (probably L. ui?la) are more or less common during the winter; and a few deer have been seen well ot/t onto the prairie.