476 LAND BIRDS 



their midst. Two hundred pair were here congregated 

 to rear their young, and the odor could only be com- 

 pared to that of a cormorant rookery. Nearly every 

 bush had several nests." ^ This was in 1875. I doubt 

 whether such a patch of wilderness could be found 

 in Santa Clara County at present, but the birds still 

 nest there in smaller numbers. I have never found 

 more than from ten to twenty nests in one place. 



The nests can be told from those of the red-wings 

 only by their looser construction and their shallowness. 

 The newly hatched nestlings are exactly like those of 

 the red-wings and are fed and cared for in the same 

 manner; even when a month old they can scarcely be 

 distinguished from their more common Eastern relatives. 



515 b. CALIFORNIA PINE GROSBEAK. — Pmco/a 



eniicleator californica. 



Family : The Finches, Sparrows, etc. 



Length: Male 7.75 ; female 7.40-7.95. 



Adult Male : Upper parts pale vermilion ; head tinged with pinkish and 

 yellow ; scapulars light gray ; wings and tail dusky ; feathers tipped 

 with whitish ; under parts light gray ; entire plumage gray beneath 

 the surface. 



Adult Female : General plumage light gray ; top and sides of head, back 

 of neck, and middle of breast bright tan-color ; upper tail-coverts 

 tinged with light yellow. 



Young : Similar to female, but brownish gray, with brownish and gray- 

 ish edgings to wings and tail. 



Geographical Distribution : Boreal zone on the central Sierra Nevada ; 

 north to Placer County ; south to Fresno County. 



Breeding Range : Coextensive with its habitat. 



1 Bendire's "Life Histories/' p. 457. 



