210 LAND BIRDS 
California Breeding Range: Locally in the upper Boreal along the 
Sierra Nevada from Mt. Shasta south to Mt. Whitney. 
Breeding Season: June. 
Nest: Carelessly arranged on a ledge of a bluff, or in a small crevice ; 
composed of wild parsnip stalks, coarse grass stems, and lined with 
finer grasses. 
Eggs: 4 or 5; white. Size 0.97 x 0.67. 
WueErke the range of the Pipilo ends that of the Leucos- 
ticte begins.” Far above the timber line, amid a wilder- 
ness of snow-clad peaks these Alpine 
dwellers have their home. Only the 
d 4 ee 
severest storms of winter are able to 
drive them to the shelter of the 
forest. Flying high over the top- 
most peak of the range, searching in 
the snow for beetles and bugs that 
a kind Providence sends there for 
their special nourishment, they lead 
charmed lives. Even bumblebees and 
butterflies are on their menu, coming 
as mysteriously as do the birds them- 
selves. When storms swirl over the 
summit, they crowd together in the shelter 
of a rock or a snowbank. When the sun 
comes out again, they are off for a frolic 
over the chasms and gulches, or a dip in 
_the icy water of the glacial lake. They 
Se are constantly in motion, and their 
Bole (ne: clear, low “churr” is the embodi- 
CROWNED 
LEUcosTICTE. ag, , . 
«Searching inthesnow. during the breeding season, as soon 
Jor beetles and bugs.”’ 
ment of gayety. Somewhat shy 
o—- i Al a NS 
