240 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 pabt i 



were made. Mj^ companion went back next day and said that both 

 parents were bringing food." The "ash" species referred to was the 

 mountain ash, Pyrus sitchensis. The other deciduous tree common 

 in tlie nesting area was the red alder, Alnus rubra. 



More nests of this species have been found in California than in 

 any other State or Canadian Province. The altitudinal range has 

 been from near sea level in the Coast Range (J. M. Davis, 1922) to 

 9,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada (Dixon, in litt.). The reader is 

 referred to Dawson (1923), J. B. Dixon (1934), A. M. IngersoU (1913), 

 Mrs. H. J. Taylor (1926), and Mrs. I. G. Wheelock (1912). 



J. Parker Norris (1887) reported the discovery of an evening gros- 

 beak nest by E. H. Fiske, in Yolo County, Calif., on May 10, 1886. 

 Though hailed as the "first" of the species to be discovered, this 

 looks very much like a case of mistaken identity, for the location of 

 the nest and the description of the eggs suggest they belonged to a 

 pair of black-headed grosbeaks. We visited this region in the Sono- 

 ran Zone in 1939, and consider it a most unlikely place for an evening 

 grosbeak to nest. 



Probably the first authentic nest to be reported from California 

 was found by RoUo H. Beck (1896) in El Dorado County near Lake 

 Tahoe. The nest was 35 feet up, near the top of a black oak and 

 in the fork of a small limb. He says: "The nest is a much more 

 substantial structure than that of any Black-headed Grosbeak I 

 have collected. It is composed of three materials. The foundation 

 is of twigs broken from the tree. Upon this is placed the nest proper — 

 of long moss-like rootlets of a very dark color and very small size. 

 Inside this is the lining of light-colored rootlets and a couple of dry 

 pine needles. The inside diameter is about three inches and the 

 outside is four and one-half inches." 



James B. Dixon, who sent Mr. Bent some extensive notes on the 

 breeding of the western evening grosbeak in California, says: "This 

 bird is a very erratic nester in the area around June Lake, Mono 

 County, Calif. It seems to migrate through, and, if food conditions 

 are right, it will stop and nest; usually from one to three pairs will 

 be nesting in a small area. Some years none will stop, and other 

 years they will be quite common at the right elevation and right 

 tree growth. The 9,000 feet elevation seems to be about the top of 

 their range, and down to 7,000 feet in the Mono area." 



He sent the following data on eight nests: Of two nests found on 

 June 23, 1932, one was in the "very top of a silvertopped fir tree, 125 

 feet from the ground, and held three eggs slightly incubated. The 

 other nest held four eggs and was 50 feet up in a dense young fir tree, 

 only about 100 yards from the first nest. Nest outwardly made of 

 hard, dry twigs and inwardly lined with fine grass fiber and rootlets. 



