UNUSUAL NESTING SITES. I. 453 



other and another, upon each of which had been deposited 

 the first material for a nest until several nests were in differ- 

 ent stages of construction, varying with the time that the 

 windmill had remained quiet, while upon the roof below 

 was strewn a quantity of debris that had fallen as the wheel 

 revolved. Of course nothing but failure could be expected 

 from their repeated attempts. 



Sayornis saya. 



Say' s Phcebe. — A nest which could be conveniently reached 

 by a person on horseback was found by Mr. Walter Bliss at 

 Carson, placed within and close to the entrance of a desert- 

 ed Bank Swallow's burrow. 



Scolecophagus cyanocephalus. 



Brewer's Blackbird. — All the nests found at Carson were 

 upon the ground, usually on the edge of a bank formed by 

 an irrigating ditch, with the exception of one which was 

 built two feet from the ground upon dry tule and well hid- 

 den by the growing stems. 



Carpodacus frontalis rhodocolpus. 



Crimson House Finch. — Besides the" odd situations which 

 they select about houses, they avail themselves of the last 

 year's nests of Bullock's Oriole. 



Troglodytes aedon parkmanii. 



Parkman's Wren. — The species has been known to build 

 in the skull of a horse, which had been placed in a fruit 

 tree ; in the nests of Cliff Swallows, and within an old shoe 

 lodged in a tree. 



Merula migratoria propinqua. 



AYestern Robin. — a pair of Robins built and reared a 

 brood in a hanging basket suspended from the edge of the 

 veranda at the residence of Mr. H. G. Parker at Carson, 



Nev. 



