Page:Condor20(2).djvu/31

 Mar., 1918 SIX WEEKS IN THE HIGH SIERRAS IN NESTING TIME 77 absolutely open view, in the corner of an empty box which rested on another. The nest held four fresh eggs and appears in the photograph herewith repro- duced (fig. 8). While en route, and on and after our return to Bijou, we continued finding numerous nests, but these, with a few exceptions, were of those species already recorded. Of more than average interest were four nests of the Western Ruby- crowned Kinglet, two of which, found by the writer on June 14 and 15, held seven and eight fresh eggs, respectively, while the other two, discovered by Carriger, each held eight eggs slightly incubated. Anyone who has not searched for these diminutive bird homes in the thick Sierran woodland must not think, however, they are as easy to locate in the forest as would appear from our un- usual success during these days. Fig. 9. NEST OF WEIGHT FLYCATCHER, WITH BIRD SITTING, NEAE TOP OF YOUNG JEFFREY PINE; NEA LAKE TAHOE, JUNE 23. At Rowland's Marsh, on the edge of a sand-spit, I found a nest of the Pin- tail (Dafila acuta) on June 16, made. of grasses and a few feathers and holding six slightly incubated eggs, and also shot an immature Bonaparte Gull (Larus philadelphia), new for the region, which Littlejohn identified. My companions left on June 17, and I continued field work'alone. On June 19, southeast of Bijou, I flushed a Thick-billed Sparrow from its nest in some thick buck-brush. The nest was made of twigs and bark strips and lined with fine grasses, and contained three eggs in which incubation was well begun. On June 21, not far from this nest, I discovered one of the Green-tailed Towhee in a similar situation, made of twigs and bark strips. lined with fine rootlets, and holding four fresh eggs. The sitting bird flushed, or rather slid off of the nest, in a most unobtrusive fashion, without stirring branch or leaf, and at once disap-