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 22 THE CONDOR VoL slight excavation scratched in the hard ground and lined with a few short stalks of coarse grass, was all the material used or work done. The coloring of the bird on the nest so blended with the surrounding grass, that one had to get very near to distinguish her. When flushed she did not remain near the nest, but departed, with a small army of Red-winged Blackbirds in pursuit. A visit two hours afterward found her back on the eggs, where she was left undisturbed. Though we did not collect any of the parent birds, I am taking it for granted that it was the female that was always on the nest; we generally flushed the male from his own little den nearby. The next day, accompanied by Mr. J. It. Bowles, I again visited the nest, flushing the bird at about twenty-five feet. We found the eggs "pipped" so, after taking several photographs, we beat a hasty retreat as there was a cold north wind blowing and the eggs needed protection. Careful examination of the nest and vicinity failed to reveal any remains of food, nor were there feathers Fig. 6. TIDAL MARSH NEAR TACOMA. THE EDGES OF THESE SLOUGHS ARE USED AS HID- ING PLACES AND NESTING SITES BY TIlE SIORT-EARED of any kind in the nest. I am mentioning this as we found a different condition a week later. We then "roped" another section of the fiats and were rewarded by flush- ing a bird off her nest, which contained three eggs. These eggs were also "pipped", and the nest lay in the same exposed position as the former one and at about the same distance from the edge of a slough. The ground here was not quite so hard and there were four or five dead weed stalks for a back-ground. The male jumped less than a hundred feet away. Both birds left at once and were not seen again while we were in the vicinity. On May 18, a week later, I paid my next visit, accompanied by Mr. Stanton Varburton, Jr. Visiting the first nest, we found the bird upon it. Only two