Nesting Time, 



first syllable long drawn out. At other 

 times an entirely different cry was heard, 

 uttered very rapidly, thus: a-chick'- 

 way chick'-wa, chick' , The two or three 

 eggs laid by this species are white, 

 heavily marked and blotched with 

 brown. When I observed them at 

 Mount Diablo, in the month of July, 

 the old birds were carrying food to their 

 young among the rocky cliffs. It was 

 probably the second brood of the year. 



The turkey-buzzards nest upon rocky 

 cliffs about Mount Diablo, and the 

 western great-horned owl breeds there 

 among the trees, both species laying 

 their first set of eggs in March. Dur- 

 ing 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, 

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