210 



LAND BIRDS 



California Breeding Range: Locally in the upper Boreal along the 

 Sierra Nevada from Mt. Shasta south to Mt. Whitney. 



Breeding Season : June. 



Nest: Carelessly arranged on a ledge of a bluff, or in a small crevice ; 

 composed of wild parsnip stalks, coarse grass stems, and lined with 

 finer grasses. 



Eggs: 4 or 5 ; white. Size 0.97 X 0.67. 



Where the range of the Pipilo ends that of the Leucos- 

 ticte begins. Far above the timber line, amid a wilder- 

 ^- ness of snow-clad peaks these Alpine 



dwellers have their home. Only the 

 severest storms of winter are able to 

 drive them to the shelter of the 

 forest. Flying high over the top- 

 most peak of the range, searching in 

 the snow for beetles and bugs that 

 a kind Providence -sends there for 

 their special nourishment, they lead 

 charmed lives. Even bumblebees and 

 butterflies are on their menu, coming 

 as mysteriously as do the birds them- 

 selves. When storms swirl over the 

 summit, they crowd together in the shelter 

 of a rock or a snowbank. When the sun 

 comes out again, they are off for a frolic 

 over the chasms and gulches, or a dip in 

 the icy water of the glacial lake. They 

 are constantly in motion, and their 

 524 Gray- ^ clear, low "churr" is the embodi- 



cRowxXED ment of ffayety. Somewhat shy 



LeUCOSTICTE. .; t^ J J J 



^^ Searching in fke snow"':' ^ ^^^^iug the breeding scasou, as soou 



for beetles and bugs.'''' 



