48 



THE OSPREY. 



of a pine. Thus the borders of the clearing afforded 

 much of interest in bird life. 



Climbing the fir tree in which the Olive-sided Fly- 

 catchers had their nest, the female left the nest when 

 I was perhaps ten feet below it, and was very pugna- 

 cious. By climbing above the nest I could see it 

 contained four eggs, and left the set to be photo- 

 graphed. Next day, June lo, we repaired to the tree, 

 taking a photograph showing the position of the nest, 

 after which I climbed the tree with camera, basket, 

 saw and other paraphernalia to collect the set. After 

 much difficulty, by holding on with one hand, I suc- 

 ceeded in focusing the camera and making three views 

 of the nest and eggs on the horizontal limb, one of 

 which is herewith presented. The tree was a silver 

 fir, and its dark green foliage made a striking setting 

 for the nest and its creamy eggs. 



Upon climbing the tree no birds were about, but 

 as I neared the nest the female left with a great snap- 

 ping of her beak, frequently darting close to my head 

 and uttering a harsh note. She remained about 15 

 feet away, on a pine most of the time, now and then 

 changing her location and darting pugnaciously at 

 me. The male did not appear until I had been in 

 the tree half an hour or more, and made no attack 

 when he arrived. 



The nest was on the end of a limb of the fir, 6 feet 

 from the trunk, and about 8 feet from the top of the 

 tree. It was, by measurement, 71 feet from the 

 ground. The nest was collected by supporting the 

 limb with a string fastened above and sawing it oft. 

 It is a handsome affair, built on the needles of the 

 fir limb at a point where small twigs branch out 

 and support it. It is composed almost entirely of 

 bright yellowish moss, such as is found commonly on 

 trees in the Sierras, with which is intermixed a few 

 dried pine needles, giving a striking effect. A few 

 small twigs form the base. The nest measures 5x4 

 inches in diameter ; outside depth 2 inches, and inside 

 depth ^4 of an inch. 



The eggs, four in number, were one-third advanced 

 in incubation, and are of a rich, creamy color, marked 

 heavily in a wreath about the large end with shades 

 of brown, cinnamon and lavender. They measure 

 .81X.57, .81X 61, .86X.63 and .82X.63 inches 



When the male is on watch in the vicinity of the 

 nest a call is given of three sharp, decisive notes, 

 resembling ' ijHirk-cjuirk-quirk,' accompanied by a 



jerking of thetail. Sometimes the female will answer 

 from the nest in a subdued chuckle, but rarely of 

 sufficient volume to enable one to locate her. When 

 the nest is being disturbed both birds will show great 

 anxiety, flying from tree to tree and uttering this call 

 vivaciously. It is their alarm note, and on such oc- 

 casions I found it was sounded every two seconds 

 with regularity, the birds now and then darting past 

 the nest and snapping their beaks furiously. 



On June 14 I watched an Olive-sided Flycatcher 

 for two hours, in a burnt district, during which time 

 it once flew into the top of a dense spruce tree over 

 100 feet high. Not being satisfied that there was a 

 nest, I did not venture to climb. The bird remained 

 on the dead limb of a spruce, and once when a 

 Western I^obin ventured into the tree it was quickly 

 driven from the neighborhood. This Flycatcher is 

 usually found high up in the trees, but the individual 

 I watched once flew to a stump about six feet high 

 and remained on it for some time. 



The 'song' or note of the Olive-sided Flycatcher 

 consists of three syllables, which I should write qiiit- 

 'ivht'e' r-qiiee, which is given with a slight interval after 

 the first syllable and the accent on the second. This 

 song is the only one I heard aside from the alarm 

 note, and could be heard a long distance in the forest. 

 The bird I observed sounded the note at regular in- 

 tervals of four seconds, when it would cease for a 

 short time and resume the call. Occasionally the 

 first syllable, or sometimes the last, will be dropped 

 from the song. 



On June 14 Mr. Carriger watched an Olive-sided 

 Flycatcher which finally flew to its nest on the end 

 of a spruce limb 70 feet up. The nest was about 8 

 feet from the trunk of the tree, on a large, drooping 

 limb, which made it impracticable to saw oft the 

 limb. Mr. Carriger secured a scoop in order to col- 

 lect the set, but, unfortunately, two of the eggs were 

 rolled out and the others were left in the nest. Four 

 eggs were in the nest. Major Bendire records sets of 

 four as rare, but the three nests found this year each 

 held four eggs. 



On June 15 the day was dark in the mountains, the 

 previous night having witnessed a heavy thunder- 

 storm. A walk through the woods found bird-life 

 very quiet, and during the day I heard but one Olive- 

 sided Flycatcher, whereas they could usually be heard 

 every few hundred yards. 



A WARBLER CENSUS. 



FRANK L. BURNS, BERWVN, PA. 



DOUBTLESS to a great many to whom the Study tem, would prove irksome enough if not altogether 



of our feathered friends is necessarily inciden- impossible. 



tal — the recreation of an occasional half-hour A somewhat more difficult scheme of observation, 



or afternoon — the recording of the number of every yet peculiarly adjunctive to the work of the ornithol- 



species from day to day and from year to year, even ogist, has been suggested by Mr. W. L. Dawson in 



with the convenience of those ingeniously contrived Bulletin No. 14, Wilson Ornithological Chapter, and 



blanks formerly known as the Batchelder record sys- is well worth the perusal and consideration of all. 



