106 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 7-No. 14 



which evidently had been used as a nest- 

 iu": site by either a sparrow hawk or red- 

 shafted flicker the previous season fiu'ther 

 confirmed me in this view, and caused me 

 to jump at the conchision that the youii^' 

 birds I saw on that tree clamoring for food 

 had been raised in this very nest. Judg- 

 ing from their size they had left it aboiit a 

 week jjreviously, and I conchided that in 

 order to find eggs I must commence look- 

 ing for them at least a month earlier or 

 about April 1st, and gave up further search 

 for the season. I waited impatiently for 

 the opening of the season of 1876, which 

 was a very late one. To maJce sure I 

 started on a systematic search for the nests 

 of these birds as early as March 20th. the 

 snow being at the time from two to four 

 feet deep in the localities frequented by 

 them. During the next four- weeks I made 

 at least a dozen trips to the haunts of 

 these birds and I lielieve I examined every 

 hollow tree and woodpecker hole known to 

 me within a radius of eight miles of the 

 post, the trees examined being mostly ju- 

 nipers. As I found nothing m them, other 

 species of birds not having commenced 

 nesting yet, and being positive that the 

 Clarke's Crow was then breeduig some- 

 where in the immediate vicinity, from see- 

 ing a few about constantly I commenced to 

 examine the pine trees growing amongst 

 the jvmipers on the outskirts of the for- 

 est proper. I saw nothing as I thought 

 which might be taken for a bird's nest in 

 any of the pines (Pinus pondei-osa), but 

 noticed now and then a round bunch or 

 ball composed seemingly out of the long 

 hji^num moss taken from the trees them- 

 selves in some of them, which I supposed 

 to be squirrels' nests, particularly as the 

 little Fremont's chickaree (Schtnis hud- 

 son icns frenumt! , Allen) is quite commonly 

 found in this vicinity. As the majority of 

 these quasi squirrels' nests were by no 

 means easily got at, and having tried to 

 start their occupants with sticks, stones 

 and now and then even with a load of shot 



and failed invariably to bring anything to 

 light, I ceased to troiible myself any fur- 

 ther about them, and more puzzled than 

 ever was about to give up the search when 

 on April 22(1 I saw a Clarke's Crow flying 

 quietly and silently out of a large pine tree 

 about fifty yards in front of me. This 

 tree had a rather bushy top, was full of 

 limbs almost from the base and easy to 

 climb. As I could not see into the top I 

 climbed the tree, failing to find any sign of 

 a nest therein, and completely disgusted I 

 was preparing to descend again when I no- 

 ticed one of the supposed squirrel's nests 

 near the extremity of one of the larger 

 limbs about the centre of the tree and 

 about twenty-five feet from the ground, 

 and setting therein, in plain view from 

 above, not a squirrel but a veritable 

 Clarke's Crow. 



Well, so I had foiuid their nest at last, 

 quite imexpectedly, and not any too soon, 

 either. As it was, I was almost too late, 

 for the nest contained a young bird just 

 hatched and two eggs with the shells al- 

 ready chipped and on the point of hatch- 

 ing. However, as even damaged speci- 

 mens, particularly rare ones like these were, 

 are better than none, I took them along 

 but left the young bird in the nest. The 

 parent bird allowed me to almost lay my 

 hand on her before she fluttered oft', and I 

 had scarcely gotten two feet from the nest 

 before she was on it again. During the 

 whole time she remained perfectly silent. 

 Not half an hoiu" after finding the first, I 

 had found a second nest which contained 

 three young birds perhaps a week old. 

 These I sacrificed to science, making a skin 

 of one and preserving the other two in al- 

 cohol. They are now, as well as the nest, 

 deposited in the National Museum at 

 "Washington, D. C. Between April 24rth 

 and 3()th. '76, 1 found at least a dozen more 

 nests : these, however, contained all yoimg 

 in different stages of grow'th, some of 

 them nearly large enough to leave the nest. 

 Each of these contained but three young. 



