412 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



F. C. Holman (1926) speaks of a nest discovered in the Yosemite 

 Valley on May 19, 1925: 



[The nest] was located in a cavity of a black oak standing within seventy feet 

 of the highway and close to the LeConte Lodge. The entrance was about four 

 inches in diameter, a circular hole some thirty feet from the ground, where the 

 base of a small lateral branch had decayed away in a large upright dead limb 

 The nest within was somewhere well below the entrance. 



There was little difficulty in distinguishing the two birds of the pair, as the 

 breast plumage of the female was of a darker shade, and her tail shorter, evidently 

 worn so by the confines of the nest. As incubation was only then in progress, it 

 would seem too short a period in which to be thus affected, and the fact might be 

 taken to indicate an earlier nest. Later the tail acquired its normal length. 



* * * He seldom went near the hole, and generally refrained from alighting 

 in the tree, but called from a nearby oak grove, the lower fringe of growth that 

 covers the talus slope from the cliffs. She often responded promptly from the 

 hole, flying toward his general direction and, when definitely located, darting at 

 him, seizing the offering in an apparent clash of wings, and either remaining to eat 

 it or, as the case might be, carrying it back to the hole. Sometimes her exit would 

 be delayed, obviously due to her inability to catch the sound [of his call], and 

 occasionally she was obdurate and refused to appear. 



Since Leo K. Wilson (1925) also describes a nest in an oak at 

 LeConte Memorial Lodge, it is probable that it was the same nest, 

 but he gives additional details. He said: "On June 10 the birds were 

 under observation for a period of about three hours. During that time 

 the male came three times to the nest hole with food for the setting 

 female. * * * At the fourth trip the female refused to come to 

 the mouth of the hole to receive the offering of the male. The male 

 kept up an incessant calling, that, in spite of its low tone, could be 

 heard for some fifty or sixty yards. After waiting about five minutes 

 the bird flew." 



J. A. Munro's (1919) experience in British Columbia is much like 

 these in California, except as to kind of tree and size of brood, for 

 he says: "The only nest I have found was in an old woodpecker's 

 hole, thirty-five feet above the ground in a western larch. There were 

 seven downy young in this nest. This was in a thick forest of Murray 

 pine, Douglas fir, and western larch, where they were more plentiful 

 than in the yellow pine stands at lower altitudes." This nesting note 

 from Mr. Munro is the only one I have for this subspecies from that 

 part of the habitat north of Fort Klamath at the Oregon-California 

 line. No doubt this subspecies also nests in the central part of 

 Washington and Oregon as well as in California. 



J. C. Braly (1930) says: "On May 21, 1930, 1 was hunting * * * 

 near Fort Klamath, Klamath County, Oregon. While passing through 

 a grove of unusually large quaking aspen trees at the edge of the 

 marsh, I noticed an old flicker excavation about twelve feet from the 

 ground in one of the largest aspens. Upon striking the tree, a Pigmy 

 Owl (Glaucidium gnoma californicum) flushed." This nest seems to 



