1 66 General Notes. [April 



In the flesh the yellow in the eye-stripe of 3 and 4 appeared sufficiently 

 intense to warrant their being assigned to dominica; but as a skin, the 

 yellow in 3 is less prominent, and it might be referred without violence 

 to albilora. Unless the white adjoining the base of the lower mandible 

 be considered diagnostic, the determination of such intermediates seems 

 to be a matter of considerable uncertainty, depending on doubtful estimates 

 as to quantity and intensity of the yellow in the white line above the eye. 

 — Leverett M. Loomis, Chester, S. C. 



Discovery of the Nest and Eggs of the Western Warbler {Dcndroica 

 occidentalis) . — During the past season (1SS6) Mr. C.A.Allen had the 

 good fortune to find two nests of Dendroica occidentalis in Blue Canon, 

 California. The first contained two eggs on June 4. It was left for a full 

 set, but on visiting it three days later. Mr. Allen found it in a dilapitated 

 condition, the eggs broken, and their yelks smeared over the lining, evi- 

 dently the work of squirrels. Of the eggs, Mr. Allen writes: "I cannot 

 give you an exact description of these eggs, but in size and appearance 

 they resembled those of D. (estiva, only they were more heavily marked 

 on their entire surface. I am very sorry now that I did not take them, 

 but 1 wanted the full set. which, I think, would not have exceeded three, 

 as I found a nest seven or eight years ago with three young, and another 

 with the same number while returning from my second visit to the nest 

 with eggs. All three nests were similarly placed; — in 'pitch pines,' from 

 twenty-five to forty feet above the ground, on thick, scraggy limbs, where 

 they were so well concealed that it would have been impossible to find 

 them except by watching the birds, as was done in each instance. The 

 female of the nest that was destroyed was seen digging up fine roots from 

 a logging road morning after morning, but I could never follow her to 

 the nest, which 1 finally found by accident; happening to shoot a 

 Douglass's squirrel in the adjoining tree, the report of the gun started 

 her out." 



The nest with young, taken June 7, 1SS6, is now before me. It is com- 

 posed of the fibrous stalks of herbaceous plants, fine dead twigs, lichens 

 (/-.':'( miii vulpina), and a little cotton twine, and is lined with the soft 

 inner bark of some coniferous tree and fine long hairs, apparently from 

 the tail of a squirrel. The bright, yellow Ei'ernia, sprinkled rather 

 plentifully about the rim, gives a touch of color to the otherwise cold, 

 gray tone of the exterior and contrasts agreeably with the warm, reddish- 

 brown lining. Although the materials are coarse and wadded, rather 

 than woven, together, the general effect of this nest is neat and tasteful. 

 It does not resemble any other Warbler's nest that I have seen, but rather 

 recalls the nest of some Fringilline bird, being perhaps most like that of 

 the Lark Finch. It measures externally 4.50 inches in width by 2 inches 

 in depth. The cavity is 1.25 inches deep by 2.50 inches wide at the top. 

 The walls at the rim average nearly an inch in thickness. 



The three young taken from this nest, together with both their parents, 

 were also sent me by Mr. Allen. The young are about two-thirds grown 



