A Bird-Lover in the West

by Olive Thorne Miller

Toward the end of June my tiny visitor began to make longer intervals between her calls, and when she did appear she was always in too great haste to stop; she passed rapidly over half a dozen blossoms, and then flitted away. Past were the days of loitering about on poplar twigs or preening herself on the peach-tree. It was plain that she had set up a home for herself, and the mussy state of her once nicely kept breast feathers told the tale,—she had a nest somewhere. Vainly, however, did I try to track her home: she either took her way like an arrow across the garden to a row of very tall locusts, where a hundred humming-birds' nests might have been hidden, or turned the other way over a neighbor's field to a cluster of thickly grown apple-trees, equally impossible to search. If she had always gone one way I might have tried to follow, but to look for her infinitesimal nest at opposite poles of the earth was too discouraging, even if the weather had been cool enough for such exertion.

When at last I could endure the wind and the dust and the heat no longer, and stood one morning on the porch, waiting for the most deliberate of drivers with his carriage to drive me to the station, that I might leave Utah altogether, the humming-bird appeared on the scene, took a sip or two out of her red cups, flirted her feathers saucily in my very face, then darted over the top of the cottage and disappeared; and that was the very last glimpse I had of the little dame in green.

---

INDEX.

• Acadian flycatcher, [161].
• Arkansas goldfinch, [23].
• At four o'clock in the morning, [95].
• Barbed wire fence, [157].
• Behind the tangle, [246].
• Birds:
  • and poets, [194].
  • a strange song, [73].
  • different ways, [264].
  • hard to study, [20].
  • in Colorado, [18].
  • in Colorado Springs, [260].
  • in Denver, [260].
  • in the "Wrens' Court," [161], [166], [168].
  • leave nesting place, [154].
  • morning chorus, [21], [22], [105].
  • music in Colorado, [32].
  • not on exhibition, [19].
  • not sing alike, [34].
  • panic among, [39].
  • unfamiliar, [23], [259].
  • Utah, [260].
• Black-headed grosbeak, [244], [251].
  • song of, [244].
• Blue jay, [126].
  • and doll, [103].
  • and red-headed woodpecker, [104].
  • apple-tree nest, [151].
  • a struggle, [149].
  • attentive to mate, [127].
  • bad name, [147].
  • devoted mother, [127].
  • eating, [144].
  • getting over the ground, [145].
  • home deserted, [140].
  • interview with, [146].
  • joke or war-cry? [134].
  • manners, [130], [132], [144].
  • my search for nest, [126].
  • no pretense, [130].
  • pine-tree nest, [126].
  • vocabulary, [133].
  • when babies are noisy, [131].
  • with a stranger, [148].
  • with catbirds, [150].
• Blue jay, the young:
  • accident to, [140].
  • beauty of, [143].
  • climber, [141].
  • first outing, [138].
  • imperfect, [152].
  • intelligence in house, [152].
  • on edge of nest, [137].
  • returned to parents, [153].
• Bobolink song, [120].
• Burro an investigator, [89].
  
• Camp Harding, [9].
• Camping in Colorado, [3].
• Cañon wren, the, [74].
  • manners, [86], [87].
  • song, [74].
• Cardinal grosbeak, [107].
  • abandoning the nest, [120].
  • as a father, [113].
  • confidence in people, [121].
  • delight of parents, [123].
  • eating corn, [109], [115].
  • importance of the builder, [119].
  • kindness to young, [117].
  • manners, [107].
  • nest, [122].
  • on grass, [105], [107].
  • politeness to mate, [116].
  • reception of woodpecker, [108].
  • rose trellis nest, [121].
  • speeding the parting guest, [125].
  • victim of English sparrow, [114].
• Cardinal, the young, [113].
  • characteristics, [114].
  • first baby out, [122].
  • food of, [123].
  • song of, [116].
  • training, [116].
  • with sparrows, [114], [115].
• Carolina wren, the great:
  • babies appear, [172].
  • ceremony of approaching, [177].
  • father disturbed, [175].
  • first sight of, [159].
  • fighting a chipmunk, [178].
  • hard to see, [177].
  • interruption to study, [168].
  • manners, [163], [173], [175].
  • mother anxious, [176].
  • nest, [149], [182].
  • song, [162], [164].
  • trailing, [162].
  • "Wrens' Court," [160].
• Carolina wren, the young:
  • cries of, [181].
  • delay in taking flight, [179].
  • development of, [174].
  • first sallies, [180], [181].
  • manners, [178].
• Catbird song, [23].
• Cat on lawn, [112].
• Cedar-tree little folk, [194].
• Charming nook, a, [124].
• Chat, long-tailed, yellow-breasted, [40], [232].
  • alertness of, [240].
  • bewitching, [241].
  • comes in sight, [237].
  • eccentric, [232].
  • egg stolen, [50].
  • farewell, [51].
  • first sight of, [45].
  • hard to study, [47].
  • haunts of, [241].
  • home of, [246].
  • humor, [40].
  • manners, [44], [46], [238], [239], [240].
  • nest, [47], [48].
  • on hand, [245].
  • saucy, [41].
  • secret of invisibility, [239].
  • studies me, [254],
  • triumphant, [257].
  • voice, [40], [43], [45], [236], [237], [239].
• Chat, the madam:
  • interviews me, [255].
  • keeps her mate up to duty, [249].
  • manners, [248].
  • squawks, [254].
  • wonderful acting, [256].
• Chewink, or towhee bunting:
  • babies, [31].
  • green-tailed towhee, [210].
  • husky cry, [30].
  • manners, [28], [29].
  • nest, [30].
  • song, [29].
• Cheyenne Cañon, [15].
  • solitary possession of, [75].
• Cheyenne Mountain, [43].
• Chipmunk, [78].
• Cinderella among the flowers, a, [60].
• Cliff-dwellers in the cañon, [70].
• Colorado, a restful way to see, [13].
  • the wonderland, [14].
• Cotton storm, a, [17].
• Cottonwoods, in the, [17].
• Cuckoo, [157], [231].
  
• Doll as a bogy, [103].
• Dragonflies in Utah, [263].
  
• English or house sparrow:
  • as a climber, [110].
  • autocrat, [129].
  • in Utah, [261].
  • robbing blackbirds, [100].
  • robbing red-headed woodpecker, [110].
• 
  
• Feast of flowers, the, [52].
• Flicker a character, [106].
  • abundance of bloom, [54].
  • anemone, [61].
  • cactus, [56], [62], [74].
  • castilleia, [67].
  • cleome, [67].
  • columbine, [58], [67].
  • cyclamen, [67].
  • extermination by cattle, [208].
  • extermination by tourists, [68].
  • geranium, [58].
  • gilia, [64].
  • golden prince's feather, [65].
  • gummy and clinging stems, [66].
  • harebells, [67].
  • in a niche, [73].
  • in Kansas, [52].
  • mariposa lily, [65].
  • mentzelia, [60].
  • mertensia, [67].
  • Mexican poppy, [62].
  • milky juice, [66].
  • moccasin plant, [54], [75].
  • nasturtium, self-willed, [149].
  • ox-eye daisy, [66].
  • painter of, [68].
  • paradise of, [53].
  • pentstemon, [58].
  • pink stranger, [62].
  • primrose, [58], [67].
  • roses, [58], [63], [75].
  • spiderwort, [52].
  • symphony in green, [55].
  • varieties, [53], [57].
  • vetches, [67].
  • wild garden, [57].
  • wild mignonette, [62].
  • yellow daisies, [52].
  • yucca, [55], [62].
• Flowers:
• 
  
• Gates, idiosyncrasies of, [220].
  • frightened out of, [169].
• Getting up in the morning, [95].
• Glen, a beautiful, [155].
• Grasshopper, a clacking, [266].
• Grave of "H. H.," [90], [91].
  • following the plow, [213].
  • flight, [215].
  • manners, [213].
  • nesting, [216].
  • nooning, [215].
  • penalty for killing, [212].
  • sent to the "Chosen People," [212].
  • value of, [216].
• Great-crested flycatcher, [167].
  • horns, [36].
  • nest, [36].
  • song, [35].
• Gull, the herring, [211].
  • drive me away, [257].
• 
  
  • babies, [27], [28].
  • disturbed, [27].
  • manners, [24].
  • nest, [25].
  • song, [27].
  • strange cry, [25].
• Horned lark:
  • collecting spiders, [271].
  • different from the Eastern, [38].
  • dislike of heat, [272].
  • in cañon, [76].
  • last glimpse, [273].
  • manners, [269].
  • nesting, [272].
  • noisy, [38].
  • precious beak, [271].
  • scolding, [42].
  • surveillance, [40].
  • the broad-tailed, [268].
  • toilet of, [271].
• Horse, a scared, and result, [228].
• House wren, the Western, [24].
• Humming-bird:
• 
  
• Ideal retreat, an, [247].
• In a pasture, [207].
• In the Middle Country, [93].
• In the Rocky Mountains, [1].
• Irrigation vagaries, [242], [245], [267].
  
  • anxiety of mother, [263].
  • babies, [267].
  • manners, [262], [265].
  • nest, [262].
  • nest destroyed, [268].
• Kansas, [7].
  • discover us, [225].
  • manners, [216], [219], [224].
  • nest, [223].
  • nursery, [230].
  • reception to us, [227].
  • search for nest, [216].
  • song, [224].
• Kitchen, an al fresco, [243].
  • cry, [120].
  • song, [24], [32], [34].
• Kitten, a lost, [39].
  
• Lazuli-painted finch, [261].
  • a lonely, [21].
• 
  
  • headquarters, [199].
  • joke of, [200].
  • manners, [196], [198], [199].
  • nest, [198].
  • silence of, [201], [204].
  • song, [195], [204].
  • talk, [204].
  • wing whistle, [204].
  • young, interview with, [201].
  • young, manners of, [197], [201].
• Magpie:
• Meadow-lark, the Western, [249].
• Morning tramp, a, [156].
• Mosquito, absence of, [20].
  • a later view, [191].
  • anxiety of parents, [185].
  • baby cries, [186].
  • babies' first flight, [189], [190].
  • call from a Baltimore, [188].
  • called by nestlings, [184].
  • manners, [186], [190].
  • nest, [184], [192].
  • song of female, [191].
  • song of male, [192].
• Mourning dove, [103].
• 
  
  • nest, [38].
  • song, [22], [37].
  • voice, [37].
• Oak-brush, the, [222].
  • discouraging them, [104].
  • eating, [100].
  • greeting to me, [97].
  • husky tones, [98].
  • humor, [99].
  • no repose of manner, [101].
  • plumage, [99].
  • robbed by sparrows, [100].
  • strange utterances, [98].
  • treatment of young, [101].
  • young, [98], [101], [102].
  • young, persistence of, [102].
• On the lawn, [259].
  • autocrat, [106].
  • eating corn, [109].
  • protecting the place, [110].
  • treatment of cardinal grosbeak, [108].
  • treatment of doll, [104].
• Orchard, an old, [250].
• Orchard oriole:
  • and corn, [103].
  • and doll, [103].
  • not plentiful, [250].
  • reception of snake, [250].
• 
  
  • a pasture on, [207].
  • Cheyenne range, [235].
  • Wasatch range, [233], [234].
• Park, a deserted, [42].
• Pewee, Western wood, [22].
• Purple grackle, the, [96].
• 
  
• Red-headed woodpecker:
• Rest, to find, [3], [4], [5], [6], [11].
• Robin, absence of, [28].
• Rocky Mountains:
• 
  
• Sage-bush, [233].
• Sage the delight of my friend, [234].
• Salt Lake, view of, [218].
• Secret of the Wild Rose Path, [231].
• Seven Sisters' Falls, [72].
• Sight-seeing travelers, [12].
• South wind, [266].
• Strange character of feathered world, [128].
• Strangers not allowed, [129].
• Study of birds, my way, [226].
• Study of birds, two ways, [236].
  
• Tents to live in, [11].
  • the evening, [70].
  • the morning, [72].
  • up to the cañon, [72].
• Thrushes absent, [260].
  • baby, [80], [85].
  • cry, [79].
  • "dipping," [80].
  • feats in the water, [83].
  • manners, [80], [81].
  • nest, [77].
  • song, [79], [81].
  • the mother, [82].
• Tourist, [89], [91].
• Tourist, the unscrupulous, [68].
  • nest, [36], [37].
  • song, [23], [36].
• Towhee (see Chewink).
• Tragedy of a nest, [42].
  
• Uproar of song, an, [32].
  
• Vagaries of name-givers, [160].
• View, a beautiful, [136].
  
• Walks from the camp, [70].
• Water ouzel, or American dipper:
• Wood-thrush nest, [168].
  
• Yellow warbler:

Transcriber's Note