Page:Condor12(5).djvu/9

 Sept.,1910 DISCOVERY OF NEST AND EGGS OF GRAY-CROWNEI) LEUCOSTICTE 151 Barlow has stated that the birds feed on the seeds of this conifer; but in this in- stance it appeared to us they were picking off lady-bugs which happened to be especially numerous on the branches. We also notist on several occasions two of the brilliantly colored males suing for the affections of some undecided female, and from this we began to fear that our trip had perhaps been made at too early a date. After two and a half hours of continuous field work we came to the conclusion that at any rate we were not, by our present methods, making satisfactory progress, and on holding a conference decided to collect a specimen or so for the purpose of dissection. Crriger took aim at a bird on a nearby snow-patch, but mist, scatter- ing the snow about it in all directions; and when, a few moments later, this or some other individual lit on a rock close by, Carriger was joyfully amazed to note Fig. 46. PYRAMID PEAK, FROM POINT NEAR TRAIL FOUR MILES FROM PHILLIPS' STATION AND AT AN ELEVATION OF 7750 FEET that its bill was filled with grass stems. On seeing the bird disappear among the rocks and then reappear with an empty bill, he rusht to the spot, but failed to find the hoped-for nest. And now it was only by the very slenderest thred of chance that the nest was discovered. Cartiger found by laying one eye upon the flat sur- face of a large rock that a portion of an almost completed nest could just be dis- cerned in the semi-darkness beneath the boulders. Wild with excitement over the discovery he hastily called me to the spot; and hid by adjacent boulders we jointly watcht the bird, a female, return from the edge of the timber-line far below, with more material for the nest, so intent on her purpose that she seemed oblivious of our presence, alighting but two feet from us. For a second time we saw her swing off in a whirlwind flight down to the base of the peak and with equally rapid