Page:Bird-lore Vol 05.djvu/168

 Nesting Habits of Two Flycatchers at Lake Tahoe is;

their large, deeply cupped nest to be; but when the parents did not betray its presence by their restless anxiety, it very easily escaped notice, so well was it matched with its surroundings, It was usually placed in a horizontal limb, near the main stem and about twelve or fifteen feet from the ground. As bunches of cones and rolls of bark were often to be seen in the same situation. it was not conspicuous, especially as the color exactly matched that of the dead limb. Those which I took to pieces were woven very ﬁrmly of strips of woody ﬁber and thin gray bark stripped from manlanitn and ceanothus bushes after they had been ﬁre-killed and had weathered Several winters, This bleached and seasoned material gave a very soft and ﬁrm structure. which was softly lined with feathers by the little builders. It was totally unlike in appearance to the green mossy nests built high in oak trees by this bird when it nests among the oak-grown hills of the Coast Range The only quality they had in common was their beauty of finish and their perfect adaptation to Circumstances.

These birds showed great affection and solicitude for their young, re- turning to the nest immediately after I had left the tree, and ﬂying at my face with snapping beak, even when lwas removng an empty nest, A female was still engaged in incubation August 14, but, as this nest was stolen, I do not know if she would have been able to rear the young before migrating,

KlN‘GHlKD AND NEST n A DEM) BRANCH Puoiecrim overt \\ \HK

(I'ublxsltrtl n. count-s) of lht' (it-ulOLUCHl sum, m L'mutlal