8 Bl'LLKTIN No. :',:\. 



An incident of the ascent up Pershall Creek toward 

 Wright's Peak was the discovery of a Calaveras Warbler's 

 nest containing three fresh eggs. The nest was a bulky affair, 

 composed of coarse grasses, with a lining of finer grass ; and it 

 was placed three feet high in the top of an elkweed or " devil's 

 club," in the brushy tangle of a draw. 



Strange voices filled the air as we made the first reaches 

 of the mountain proper. The Western Winter Wren poured 

 forth his tiny cataract of song. Cassin's Finches trilled or 

 hummed tunes softly to themselves. The Mountain Creeper 

 peeped lustily as if to shame my complete oversight on a pre- 

 vious trip ; while that rarest sound, the ravishing sweet call of 

 the Dwarf Hermit Thrush, penetrated the woods like an angel 

 voice which haunts the groves of Paradise. If birds of a 

 feather may flock together, count me always among those who 

 babble through the woods or wing at will over the glaciers 

 and awful heights of Wright's Peak. 



Our camp was pitched on a heather meadow just bursting 

 into flower. Within a stone's throw I gathered a bouquet of 

 thirty-three species, and I suppose the resources of the season 

 were only half developed. Beside us was the glacier, and only 

 the barren aiguilles rose above. Bird life at that height was 

 fairly abundant. Leucostictes, Pine Siskins, Juncoes, Moim- 

 tain Bluebirds, Grouse and Ptarmigan were the characteristic 

 species. Of the last named species we found one bird moult- 

 ing and unable to fly. He had been hiding in the rocks of the 

 main ridge. We came, I suppose, as near as any one has to 

 finding a Leucosticte's nest. We were accomplishing the a.s- 

 cent of the peak proper by a new route, and were within 200 

 feet of the top when we came upon a bulky nest of grass 

 placed on a ledge of rock, without attempt at concealment. It 

 was on the exposed south slope, and doubtless for a purpose. 

 The nest was in good condition, and the bod}^ cavity would 

 tally with the requirements of a Leucosticte. The birds which 

 hovered about did not betray any particular emotion at our in- 

 spection of the old nest, but they evidently called that vicinity 

 home . 



The panorama this year from Wright's Peak was all that 

 heart could wish. Mounts Stuart, Rainier, and Baker, with 

 Glacier Peak, were in the horizon, while Manchehorner and 



