13(1 



THE OSPKEY. 



tifiil little species of rose called the ilt. 

 Misery. Various smaller trees are scattered 

 throufrh the coniferous forest, such as black 

 oak. (log-wood, and deer brush — the latter a 

 touph little evergreen from four to fifteen 

 feet high, which grows very thickly in some 

 places, and forms a fine breeding place for 

 Warblers and S|iarrows. I am wandering from 

 my subject. 



The day after our arrival in the mountains 

 Mr. IJ. II. lleck. a member of the Cooper Club, 

 who had been in the hills for several days, 

 asked us if we would care to see him [ihoto- 

 graph ;i nest of Thurber's Junco, whii-h lio 

 had prcvioiisly located. Of course \\ c ac- 

 cepted the invitation, and getting the photo- 



songs of our feathered friends. I was famil- 

 iar with most of them, but occasionally heard 

 one from the tops of the trees which I could 

 not recognize. It resembled the song of the 

 Hermit and Black-throated dray Warblers. 

 Hearing it again, and seeing the bird about 

 thirty feet up in a pine, I had it shot, and as 

 it fell to the ground I rushed forward to find 

 on picking it up that it was our friend .Tunco. 

 I foimd the birds often after this; heard them 

 sing morning and evening, and watched them 

 after sunset feeding on the green grass by a 

 spring near the hotel. 



On the 0th. accompanied liy Jlr. C. Barlow. 

 I struck out through the forest long before 

 breakfast. While going through an opening. 



NEST ANn EGi;S OF THDRllER'S .JUN< 



graphic instrviments ready, we started for the 

 place. 



I will here state that we were stopping at 

 a hotel called Fyffc. on the Lake Tahoe road. 

 After crossing the road we entered the forest 

 and followed a small path for about two hun- 

 dred yards, till we came to a dry ditch. Go- 

 ing along this ditch Mr. Beck laid down his 

 camera and showed us the nest, which was 

 very well concealed in thick pine needles near 

 the top of the bank. Xo birds were seen, and 

 as they had been disturbed on several occa- 

 sions, I suppose the nest was deserted. After 

 photographing it we returned to the hotel. 



The eg-gs, four in number, were handsome 

 specimens, and I determined to secure a set 

 before 1 left the mountains. Next morning we 

 were out early, and from every side came the 



covered with \ ines and small deer brush, 1 al- 

 most put my foot on a little bird which flew 

 from some ferns near a large pine tree. 1 

 recognized it as the Junco. and soon located 

 the nest, which was sunk even with the 

 ground under some fern fronds. It was loosely 

 made of dry grasses and a few bark strips, 

 lined with finer grass, and contained tw^o eggs. 

 On June 12th we took the nest and four beau- 

 tiful eggs. 



The photograph, which speaks for itself, is 

 by Mr. Barlow. An extension was used on 

 the camera, and as a result the nest and eggs 

 appear nearly of life size. The other photo- 

 graph was also made by Mr. Barlow, and with 

 the same camera, but without the extension, 

 the use of which makes the camera doubly 

 valuable to the collector. 



