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216 THE CONDOR Vol. XIV The streets of Bozeman are lined with cottonwood shade trees, in which many species of bi'rds are common throughout the summer. On the morning when I started my trip most of thein were singing. They were principally com- mon species, such" as the Robin, Warbling Vireo? Western Wood Pewee and Yellow' Warbler. Alnong them, however, were two birds, usually occurring only in the evergreen forests of the mountains, that here in Bozeman nest down in the valley among. the cottonwoods. These are the Cassin Purple Finch and the Pine Siskin. The song of the Purple Finch I heard in several places on this morning, and in one place....,watched a brillia.?ly .colored male, rendering his per- formance from the high branch of a leafy cottonwood. The Pine Siskins were deci?dly common. The goldfinch-like song, interspersed with whispered, drawn out and rather un?hsical 'trill. s, was heard in the cottonwoods every- where, and the little brown streaked birds were frequently seen undulating from one tree top to the next. The first part of my ri?l?' lay across the broad Gallatin Valley, through the towns of Belgrade and Manhattan. Everywhere were waving gree n fields of wheat, oats, barley, or clover and timothy. From a few favored spots came the song of the Bobolink, now fairly common in many places in the valley, but the two birds by far the ?n?st-. common, whose songs could be heard on every side, were the Western Vesper Sparrow and Western Meadowlark. In Mon- tana the Meadowlark is the bird of the people, taking the place in.their hearts that the Robin holds with people of the east, or the Mockingbird with those of the .south. He is fully deserving of this place too, for no other bird is so well distributed throughout the state, so abundant, so full of joyous, overflowing, wonderful song. lie comes' with-' the first return of spring, and sings' from the first day of his arrival till late summer, when he stops for a .short time, only to burst forth again with the first cool days of fall. In some of the warmer spots he even remains throughout the bleak winter, and occasionally trys his voice on the warmer winter days. Swallows were fairly' common in the valley, wheeling about the ranch buildings. Nearly every barn had its colony of Cliff S?vallows nesting under the eaves, and the Barn and Rough-winged swallows, though less common, were seen frequently. In one place where the road crossed an irrigating ditch over a small bridge, a pair of Barn Swallows flew out from under the bridge, and I stopped to investigate, and locate the nest that was plastered against a cross piece beneath. In the Gallatin Valley the Barn Swallow seems much fender of bridges than barns, in fact one feels inclined to want to change the names of several swallows to suit the locality; to call the Barn Swallow, Bridge Swallow; the Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow; and to bestow the name of Cliff Swallow upon the Violet-green. A few miles past Manhattan came the end of. the main Gallatin Valley. The road, formerly level, 'took a decided drop down hill, and, after a mile or so of this, came out at Logan in the Three Forks Valley. I stopped at Logan for a short rest and finally rode on to Three Forks for the night. For several miles the road led across a broad, flat, marshy area between the Gallatin and Madison Rivers. I remember seeing several Long-billed Curlews feeding about one of the pools, but I soon forgot to look for birds and paid all my attention to the myriads of mosquitoes. Nowhere else in Montana have I seen them so abund- ant as they were here. They swarmed about mv head in thousands, and, though we traversed the flat at a lope, masses Of them ?ettled thickly on my horse's head