Page:Condor14(2).djvu/12

 62 TIlE CONDOR Vol. XIV Crossing the river we spent some time trying to locate the nest of a Yellow- throat (Geothlypis trichas occidentalis) but without success. This bird was present all along the irrigating ditches. but the nests were so well hidden I could not locate a single one. Western Blue Grosbeaks (Guiraca caerulea lazula) were seen in several places among the willows which lined the irrigating ditches, but it was too early for their nests. Sets of Desert Song Sparrow (Melospiza mdodia fallax) with four fresh eggs, in a low bush, and Bullock Oriole, five eggs, incubation begun, from a nest hung at the tip of a drooping willow branch, were our next finds. As I crowded my way through a dense thicket of small willows there was a flutter of wings, and right under my hand was a nest of Mexican Ground Dove with its two pretty eggs, nearly fresh. I had just finished packing them and Fig. 19. NESTS OF SWAINSON HAWK IN iESQUIE. ]*lie UPPERMOST IS THE OCCUPIED NEST started on, when a single "quak" overhead made me look up just in time to see an Anthony Green Heron (Butorides virescens anthonyi) leave its nest twenty feet up, in a willow so slender it would scarcely hold my weight as I climbed and collected the set of five fresh eggs. While packing the eggs, [ heard a hummer, and there, dose by, was a female Costa feeding two young nearly grown. It was getting late, so we started back toward our machine. On the way, George was delighted to find a nest of Costa Hummer with two fresh eggs in it. The nest was placed five feet up on a drooping branch of a willow. I located a nest of Western Blue Grosbeak almost completed. Vernfilion Flycatchers were numerous but nearly all of them had young. Long-tailed Chats and Sonora Red- wings (Agdaius phoeniceus sonoriensis) were common, but only partial sets of either were found. Abert Towhee was just beginning to nest also. As we