THE OOLOGIST 



found that it was placed about ten 

 feet from the ground in among the 

 branches of a drooping limb of a tam- 

 arack and needless to say all drooping- 

 limbs of the trees were ever after 

 closelj' scanned for a nest. On our 

 way back we passed through a grove 

 of Aspen trees and here Ray showed 

 me a nest of the Cabanisss Woodpeck- 

 er which at this date contained young 

 about a week old, also a nest of Park- 

 mans Wren from which he had taken 

 a set of seven a few days before. Hear- 

 ing the note of the Kinglet in the 

 trees near by I spent some time trying 

 to find a nest but was not successful. 

 This note is very unlike the winter 

 note that one hears in the valleys but 

 1 never try to tell what a bird's note 

 is like for it seems that hardly any 

 two hear it alike. By this time it had 

 commenced to get dark and the clear 

 note of the Sierra Hermit Thrush 

 was heard from the trees and a nest 

 was pointed out to me by Ray, placed 

 five feet up near the top of a small 

 taramack. Not wishing to go back 

 without a set I gathered in a fine set 

 of our Western Robin, four Western 

 Chipping Sparrow and three San 

 Diego Red-wing. Thus endea my firs. 

 half day in the high Sierras. 



It was warm during the afternoon 

 and I was surprised to find that as 

 evening came on it grew very cold 

 and all the covers that I had were 

 none too many to afford one a com- 

 fortable rest. In the morning I found 

 all the water about the tent covered 

 with ice but this did not stop us from 

 geting up at 5 a. m. and it was net 

 long till I had a good fire going and 

 Ray, who was the cook, soon had 

 breakfast ready and by six ve were 

 ready to get afield. 



We had previously arranged to 

 spend the day collecting in the marsh. 

 This marsh is several miles long and 

 one or more wide, and in places cov- 



ered with cattails and in others with 

 a water lily. 



A row of two miles on the lake 

 brought us 'to the marsh and here I 

 saw my first Black Tern, quite a num- 

 ber of them being seen flying over 

 the marsh where they were breeding. 

 As we run the boat up to the shore 

 Ray got out and on looking about on 

 a gravel pit he soon found a nest of 

 the Killdeer with one egg. Rowing out 

 into the marsh we found that the 

 weeds were too thick to make much 

 progress and I got out and commen<^- 

 ed to wade about looking for the 

 Terns. Water was about three feet 

 deep and we found a number of the 

 nests placed on floating pieces of drift- 

 wood and made of some dry tules. 

 About the third nest that I found was 

 of four eggs and they are all quite 

 distinct, shewing that they are from 

 the same bird. A number of nests 

 of the Red-wing were found, but all 

 were badly incubated. In a place 

 where the water was only a few inches 

 deep I found a nest of Wilsons Phalo- 

 rope with four eggs. This water was 

 anything but warm, but in our inter- 

 est in the nests we forgot about that 

 part but I soon realized it as we got 

 into the boat and I was only too 

 anxious to do a little rowing. Rowing 

 up the marsh we got out at a small 

 island and here on a dry spot in the 

 grasses, Ray showed me a nest of the 

 White-checked Goose that he had lo- 

 cated a few days before. This nest 

 was placed out in the open and was 

 made of the grasses and lined with 

 feathers from the breast of the bird. 

 On another island he showed me an 

 other Goose nest, this one being built 

 alongside of a tree and made as the 

 other. Rowing to another Island I 

 got off and made a thorough search 

 of same, but only succeeded in finding 

 a number of nests of the Brewers and 

 Red-wing Blackbirds with eggs in ad- 



