128 



THE OOLOGIST. 



nest was not far away we went to it. 

 The eggs had been laid on large chips 

 in bottom of a nest of a Harrisii, in a 

 dead leaning limb of a live oak and 

 about 5 feet up. Another set, of seven, 

 of Sitia was secured from a nest in a 

 small dead pine, 11* feet up. 



May 12. — I made a trip alone today 

 and took in yesterday's but without 

 success in the latter. At Lake Majella 

 I took some measurements of a dead 

 pine stump. On May 1, '93 five half in- 

 cubated eggs were taken from an old 

 nest of Harrisii 5i feet up in it. Not 

 far from this stump I found two nests 

 of Harrisii, one in a stub too rotten to 

 climb and young occupied the other. 

 Nothing of note was found until I ar- 

 rived in a "patch'' of dead trees at the 

 foot of the Huckleberry Hill. My 

 method being to pound the bases of all 

 dead trees, I soon found a nest of SiUa 

 41 feet up from which a set of six fresh 

 eggs were secured. 



At the summit of the hill 1 took an 

 incubated set of seven of Sitta irom. a 

 nest 35 feet up in a tree from which the 

 bark had not yet fallen. After leaving 

 it a loud screaming was heard and a 

 Red-tail was seen sailing about over- 

 head. Evidently thei'e was a nest near. 

 While descending the Hill I heard sev- 

 eral loud flaps and looked up in time 

 to see a Golden Eagle sail away from 

 the top of a high pine. On the summit 

 of a hill near the *'big one" I took from 

 a nest 28 feet up. a fresh set of eight 

 Sitta. Four birds were about this nest 

 and three about the last one. As it 

 was now past noon I hastily ended my 

 tour. 



May 13.— Accompanied by my broth- 

 er I left for the region east of Monterey. 

 A nest of Harrisii was found in a low 

 oak stub near the Grove, containing 

 three young about feathered. At the 

 Hotel del Monte we entered an open 

 space bordered by trees in different 

 stages of decay. First nest was of Sitta, 

 inaccessible on account of great height 



and condition of limb in which it was 

 situated. Another large tree was found 

 to contain three nests, one of Sitta with 

 seven eggs hatching, another of the 

 House Finch in a cavity with young 

 and lastly one of the Tree Swallows 

 just built. 



This second nest reminds me that I 

 have found both this species and Brew- 

 ers Blackbird nesting in two odd places, 

 namely, in cavities in pine trees, stubs 

 usually, and in and about old nests of 

 our larger Hawks. 



But to return. Turning southward 

 we entered a deep gulch and halfway 

 down, a small tree was found to hold 

 two nests, one not far up with young 

 of the Cala. Chickadee and from the 

 other in the top, about 28 feet up, a set 

 of five fresh eggs oi Sitta was taken. 

 A large stub on summit of other side 

 also contained two nests, one of the 

 Flicker with two fresh eggs and other 

 of Chickadee "hatched and gone." 

 Nearby from a nest 17 feet up an incu- 

 bated set of seven of Sitta was taken. 

 These eggs are marked nearly as heav- 

 ily as eggs of the Western Flycatcher. 



Farther southward we came to a 

 cluster of dead young pines, two of 

 which were stubs. In one of the latter 

 a half incubated set of nine of Sitta was 

 secured from a nest 18 feet up. A set 

 of seven badly incubated eggs were 

 taken from the other stub. The pleek 

 of a Harrisii now called our attention 

 and after listening the nest was soon 

 located owing to the squeaking of the 

 young it held. Taking a "wood-road" 

 we scon came to a small cleared space 

 in the center of which stood a large 

 stub very much decayed and from it, 22 

 feet up, was secured a set of nine fresh 

 eggs of Sitta. We had by this time 

 reached another large gulck and before 

 crossing it I climbed a large dead pine 

 only to find two nests with young, one 

 of Sitta and the other of Bluebird. An 

 unfinished nest of Nuttal's Woodpecker 

 was also found, as the bird flew from it 



