28 



THE OSPREY 



' ' I have found the nests only by flushing the parent, 

 and even then it is quite difficult to locate, unless one 

 catches sight of her at the very start. One gets a 

 glimpse of a little brownish bird swiftly gliding away 

 from her home in a zigzag course, dodging through 

 and around the tufts of grass until she is sheltered 

 behind the nearest bush. It was some time after 

 finding their nests that I could succeed in shooting the 

 female and make sure of the identity. 



■ ' While climbing up one of the steep canyon's sides 

 on April 23. 1893, I discovered my first nest of this 

 species. The bird flushed from under a bunch of 

 grass a few yards ahead and the nest was found to 

 contain four fresh eggs. I'nder the tuft a slight hol- 

 low had been scratched for the nest, and was lined 

 with coarse grasses and had an inner lining of fine, 

 dry grass stems and a few horse hairs woven loosely 

 together. It was rather deep but not much larger 

 in diameter than was necessary to accommodate the 

 bird's body. I have data for six nests taken since 

 then but the above description answers very well for 

 all of them. Some of the nests were comparatively 

 closely woven and bore transportation, but usually 

 the nest was flabby. Three nests contained no horse 

 hair in the lining. All of these nests were located in 

 such a manner as to catch the morning sun. 



■■The earliest record of their nesting was a nest of 

 half-grown young found on April 26, and the latest 

 a set of fresh eggs taken in the middle of June. The 

 other nests were found respectively on April 18, 189G, 

 April 22 of the same year, and on May 2 and 20 of 

 the present year. The eggs are unspotted and ellip- 

 tical in shape. Four or five eggs seem to be the 

 complement In his ' Nests and Eggs of North Amer- 

 ican Birds,' Mr. Maynard describes the eggs of this 

 sparrow as ' plain white or bluish tinted ' in color, but 

 fresh eggs found in this locality have been plain white 

 or have had a pale rosy blush before blowing, and 

 after that operation are crystalline white." 



A paper entitled 'El Dorado County Notes' by 

 Wilfred H. Osgood was read, treating of the nesting 

 of Thurber's J unco. Mountain Chickadee, Black- 

 throated Gray Warbler, and Thick-billed Sparrow in 

 the Sierra Nevadas, and appears in full in The 

 OsPREY. Henry W. Carriger, of Sonoma, contribu- 

 ted a paper on 



NESTiNc; OF Hammond's flycatcher. 



"One of my most interesting ornithological trips 

 was made this year, and from June S to 16 I was with 

 the birds of El Dorado County, Cal. at an altitude 

 of 3700 feet. Among the birds I met in this locality 

 was Hammond's Flycatcher and I was fortunate 

 enough to obtain two sets of their eggs. The birds 

 were not at all common and not more than half a 

 dozen were seen. 



'■From what I saw of them they were not unlike 

 the Western Flycatcher in habits, remaining in the 

 trees near an irrigating ditch and frequently uttering 

 a single note as they flew from limb to limb or after 

 some passing insect. I had seen the birds on several 

 occasions near a certain place and on June 14 while 

 searching for nests in the locality I found my first 

 nest of this little flycatcher. The nest was in a some- 

 what exposed place in the forest in a small manzanita 

 tree which grew near a large pine. It was about five 

 feet from the ground, in a triple crotch near the cen- 

 ter of the tree, and at that date contained two fresh 

 eggs. No birds were seen about the nest, but next 

 day I looked at it and found three eggs and could 

 hear the bird chirping in a tree near by. The nest 

 was of light grayish bark or wood strips and light- 

 colored grass, giving a very light-colored grayish ap- 

 pearance. It was neatly lined with reddish-colored 



roots and a few feathers. The nest with female par- 

 ent was collected on June 20, when it contained four 

 slightly incubated eggs. 



"On June 15 while walking along a road about 50 

 yards from the above nest, I caught sight of a little 

 bird on a nest about 20 feet up in a dogwood tree. 

 The bird remained on the nest until I was within a 

 foot of it. The nest contained but two eggs, but as I 

 saw they were incubated I decided to collect them, 

 and on the next day, accompanied by C. Barlow, I 

 collected the set. As the bird flew from the nest she 

 was secured, and Mr. Barlow photographed the nest 

 and eggs in the tree before they were disturbed, the 

 illustration showing clearly the situation. The eggs 

 were about four days incubated. The nest was sim- 

 ilar to the first but com.posed of coarser material 

 with several pieces of cedar bark scattered through 

 it, and was neatly lined with feathers. This nest 

 measured as follows : Inside diameter, 2 inches ; out- 

 side, about 3 inches; inside depth, i^ inches; out- 

 side, 2 '4 inches. The eggs of the set are much alike, 

 being of a light cream color, unspotted. One egg in 

 the set of two has a few minute specks scattered over 

 the surface. The birds would escape the notice of 

 the casual observer and it is only by accident that 

 one might run across a nest." 



'After the Golden Eagle,' was the subject of a 

 paper by C. Barlow and which will appear later in 

 The Osprev. W Otto Emerson read a paper re- 

 cording the capture last fall of a specimen of Dtji- 

 droica palinarum at Pacific Grove, Cal., which is sup- 

 posed to be the first record of this species in Califor- 

 nia. H. R. Taylor humorously entertained the meet- 

 ing by the reading of a collection of jokes, based upon 

 real and imaginary experiences of the members, and 

 styled The Monthly Turkey Buzzard.' It showed 

 Mr. Taylors vein of humor at its best, and the next 

 number is awaited with interest, although he an- 

 nounced that the next issue would be published in 

 100 years ! A flash-light photograph and smoker con- 

 cluded the meeting. 



The Northern Division meets at Stanford Univer- 

 sity, October 2. — C. Bari;ow, Sec'y. 



SOUTHERN DIVISION. 



The regular monthly meeting was held August 28 

 at the residence of F. S. Daggett in Pasadena. The 

 name of J. Maurice Hatch of Escondido was pro- 

 posed, to be acted upon one month hence. Lee 

 Chambers of Santa Monica was elected to active 

 membership. The resolutions adopted by the North- 

 ern Division at their .\ugust meeting, regarding the 

 retiring official organ, were heartily endorsed by vote. 

 Mr. W. B. Judson presented a note regarding the 

 unusual abundance of dead bodies of Dark-bodied 

 Shearwaters found on the beaches during the month 

 of August, 1897. Se\eral were found by him at Santa 

 Monica. 



The Southern Division meets September 25. — Hor- 

 ace A Ga^i.ord, ^('('i' SoKtJuTii J)i-,'isioii. 



COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB NOTICE. 



Members are hereby notified that owing to the 

 suspension of 'The Nidologist,' The Osprey has been 

 established as official organ of the Club, and that, in 

 accordance with the constitution, each member is re- 

 quired to be a paid-up subscriber of said official or- 

 gan in order to insure his recei\ing the monthly pro- 

 ceeding. You are therefore requested to remit $1 to 

 The Osprey as annual Club dues, at your early con- 

 venience, if you are not already enrolled as a sub- 

 scriber. Respectfully, C. Barlow, 



Siuretary A'cr/I/rrii /)i''isioii mid Cliihtit-largi'. 



