452 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Callipepla californica. 



California Partridge. — Essentially a ground building 

 species, but several cases have come to my notice of its 

 nesting in trees upon the upright end of a broken or decayed 

 limb or at the intersection of two large branches. A few 

 years ago a brood was hatched and safely conducted away 

 from a vine-covered trellis at the front door of a popular 

 seminary. How the parent birds managed to get the tender 

 young down to the ground is not known. 



Colaptes cafer. 



Red-shafted Flicker. — Three instances are recalled when 

 this species nested in unusual places. One of these was in 

 a bridge bulkhead a few feet above the Carson River. The 

 interior of the structure was filled with gravel and large 

 stones, amongst which the eggs were deposited. Another 

 pair used a target butt at a much frequented range as a sub- 

 stitute for a stump. A tiiird nest was in a sand-bank three 

 feet from the top and ten from the creek. This hole was- 

 apparently specially prepared, and not one made by a 

 ground squirrel, such holes being sometimes used by these 

 birds. 



Trochilus calliope. 



Calliope Hummingbird. — A nest was found built upon a 

 projecting splinter of a wood pile at a height of five feet. 

 Another was secured to a rope within an outbuilding. 



Tyr annus verticalis. 



Arkansas Kingbird. — An old and much flattened nest of 

 Bullock's Oriole was found relined and containing four 

 Kingbird's eggs. One of the most remarkable instances of 

 persistency in nest building was naet with in the case of a 

 pair of Kingbirds which had attempted to construct a nest 

 upon the outer end of a windmill fan. A horizontal blade 

 had probably been first selected, but an occasional breath 

 of air had slightly turned the mill, bringing into place an« 



