Page:Condor16(2).djvu/20

 64 THE, CONDOR Vol. cincts. Seven feet up in a small pine nearby I found another nest of this jay, ap- parently one of the previous season. Most of May 6 Was spent in canyons north of Fyffe. Leaving the lat- ter place, which by the way is not a hamlet but merely a hotel and postoffice, I came upon my first pair of Mountain Chickadees (Penthestes gambcli). Judg- ing from the records of previous workers, these birds were unusually rare here the present season. Several times during the day I noted California Woodpeck- ers (Melanerpes formicivor,ts bairdi) as not unconimon, although Barlow does not record them for Fyffe. Two days before, I observed a pair of Red-breasted Sapsuckers (Xphyrapicus varius rtber) hollowing out a home in a lofty dead branch overhanging a ditch. Passing the spot now I found them still engaged in the vork. While not rare anywhere I found Western Wood Pewees (Myio- Fig. 28. NEST OF THE SIERRA HERMIT THRUSH, THE FIRST TO BE RECORDED FROM THE VICINITY OF IYEEE. NOTE THE LACK OF CONCEALMENT, A COMMON FEATURE OF THIS BIRD'S NESTING. chanes richardsoni richa'dson 0 particularly abundant in a tract that forest fires had swept, leaving only chaed tree trunks standing in dense undergrowth. Though I saw in all about a dozen birds during my stay, it was here, near Blair's Old Mill, that I saw my first Nohern Pileated Wdpecker at cMse range. Approaching the small stream that courses through the canyon, I heard a loud hammering in the distance, so loud that the whole ravine resounded with the echo, and which I tk to be from men at work on some fence or bridge. As I neared the spot from which the sound came I was surprised to come upon two of these immense woodpeckers, of jet plumage and flaming crest, without doubt among the most remarkable and interesting of all Sierran aves. The two birds were to all appearances on a foraging expedition, and unseen I watched them for