NESTING-TIME 



The turkey-buzzards nest upon rocky cliffs about Mount 

 Diablos and the western great-horned owl breeds there among 

 the trees, both species laying their first set of eggs in March. 

 During the same month the barn-owl is busy with nesting cares, 

 occupying, for the purpose, a corner in a deserted or little used 

 barn. 



Early in April the butcher-bird and jay build their nests 

 and commence setting upon their eggs. Next follow the smaller 

 raptorial birds, the screech-owl in her snug hollow in an oak 

 tree, the burrowing-owl in her tunnel appropriated from a 

 ground-squirrel, and the sparrow-hawk in a deserted flicker's 

 nest or similar retreat. 



The eighth or tenth of the month has now been reached 

 and the green-backed goldfinch and Samuel's song-sparrow 

 have begun nest-building, or even, if the season be favorable, 

 laid an egg or two. During the first half of April few other 

 species conmience their family labors, so that at this season the 

 list of breeding birds includes all the hawks and owls (the 

 smaller ones just starting, the larger, for the most part, well 

 advanced in their nesting duties) , the bush-tit and plain-crested 

 titmouse, the three species of humming-birds, the jay, shrike, 

 song-sparrow and goldfinch, the last two named having barely 

 commenced their task. 



By the middle of the month, or shortly after, our list is ex- 

 tended by several new species. Brewer's blackbirds, which 

 have been holding meetings in the top of some convenient 

 cypress tree, bowing, bobbing and scraping before the objects 

 of their devotion, have settled down to housekeeping, and have 

 made their bulky nests either in a tall pine or cypress tree, 

 or, perhaps, in some low bushes in a swampy patch. Their 



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