Identifier: birdsofrockies00keys (find matches)
Title: Birds of the Rockies
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: Keyser, Leander S. (Leander Sylvester), 1856-1937
Subjects: Birds -- Colorado Birds
Publisher: Chicago, A. C. McClurg and co.
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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scovered that all thefuss was not about a nest, but about a hulking young-ster that had outgrown his kilts and looked very like abrown thrasher. Neither of this second pair of soli-taires performed any evolutions in the upper air; nordid another pair that I found far up a snow-clad moun-tain near Breckenridge, on the other side of the Conti-nental Divide. The scientific status of this unique bird is interesting.He is a species of the genus Myadestes^ which belongsto the family Turdidce, including the thrushes, stone-chats, and bluebirds, as well as the solitaires. He istherefore not a thrush, but is closely related to thegenus Turdiis, occupying the same relative position inthe avi-faunal system. According to Doctor Coues thegenus includes about twenty species, only one of which— the one just described — is native to the UnitedStates, the rest being found in the West Indies andCentral and South America. Formerly the solitairescomprised a subfamily among the chatterers, but a later
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Plate VIII Brown-capped Leucosticte — Leucosfnie (nslrcilis(Lower figure, male; upper, female) A NOTABLE QUARTETTE 303 and more scientific classification places then in a genusunder the head of Turdhliv. The range of Townsends solitaire is from the plainsof Colorado to the Pacific coast and north to BritishColumbia. According to Robert Ridgway, he has evenbeen met with casually ^ in Illinois. In Coloradomany of the solitaires are permanent residents in themountains, remaining there throughout the winter.Some of them, however, visit the plains during thefall, winter, and spring. In the winter they may befound from the lower valleys to an elevation of tenthousand feet, while they are known to breed as high astwelve thousand feet. The nests are placed on theground among rocks, fallen branches and logs, and areloosely constructed of sticks and grass. From three tosix eggs compose a set, the ground color being white,speckled with reddish brown. Doctor Coues says thebirds feed on insects

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