Page:Condor12(5).djvu/15

 Sept.,1910 DISCOVERY OF NEST AND EGGS OF GRAY-CROWNED LEUCOSTICTE 157 Leucosticte with the gorgeous tints of the sunset clouds or liken its eggs to the drifted snow that characterizes its home. The student of birdlife cannot, however, indulge in any such fancy flights, if he is desirous of following the strait and narrow path of science. Thus it behooves me to simply state that the eggs are pure white, unmarkt, ovate-pyriform in shape, and in size measure in inches: .89x.62,.90x.63, .91x63, .92x.62. The sharply pointed end and the peculiarly fine texture of the shell make the eggs at once distinctive. After being carefully taken from the nest, one by one, the specimens were well wrapt in cotton and placed in a partitioned box made of heavy block tin. Our time was next devoted to the nest. To show how difficult this was to see, I may state that I pointed out the aperture to Duttke and askt him if he could see the nest within. After viewing it from seemingly every possible angle he declared he could see nothing of it and was rather amazed when it was later shown him. Altho but three feet in, yet from the fact that the passage first ran south, then south-west and then south again, the nest, being placed at the latter turn, was rendered almost invisible from without. Investigation showed the nest was situated in a small patch of soil, in a depression I 1/4 inches deep which had undoutedly been hollowed out by the birds themselves. As the nest was 2 1/2 inches high it was thus equally above and below the soil. It is a very curious fact that this spot was one of the very few places on the entire peak where soil was visible; and if in all cases the birds penetrate to the soil to bild, it would explain why they go to such great depths.

Fig. 51. GRAY-CROWNED LEUCOSTICTE IN ONE OF MANY POSES AS IT FLITTED ABOUT OVER THE ROCKS The nest is almost entirely and very compactly made of dry grass stems and roots. These have the appearance of having been uprooted and are of course of the previous season. As the nearest available grass is half a mile or more from the nesting site the reason why the bilding birds made such long trips for material is explained. Fine light-colored grass forms the lining, with the addition of a few feathers. One of the latter runs lengthwise across the bottom of the nest cavity, dividing it in half. Unfortunately a fluffy feather belonging to the nest was blown away on the peak and lost. The nest is oval in shape and the dimen- sions are as follows: top, 5x3 1/2 inches; cavity, 2 1/2x3 inches; depth of cavity, 1 inch; depth of nest over all, 2 1/2 inches.

We found the location to be 150 feet below the top of the peak. The altitude of Pyramid is 10,020 feet. We did not see Leucostictes on either trip below 9,300 and the majority were noted between 9,500 and 10,000 feet altitude. After