Vol. XXII j RaYj a Third Trip to the High Sierras. 365 



roaring camp fire and dried our outfit. Echo lies at the foot of the 

 high granite cliffs of the summit, a vast area of virgin forest, full 

 of surprises for the ornithologist. 



June 11. — After due deliberation, this morning, we decided to 

 press on to Lake Tahoe, and so began to climb up the winding 

 road that leads to Phillip's Station, which came in sight at noon. 

 We flushed a Sooty Grouse {Dendragapus obscurus sierrce) along 

 the road, and in a pine stump, ten feet up, I found a nest of the 

 Red-shafted Flicker ( Colaptes cafer collaris) with six nearly fresh 

 eggs. Near camp I also found a nest of the Sierra Hermit Thrush 

 {Hylocichla aonalaschkcs sequoiensis) in a tamarack, six feet up, with 

 four fresh eggs. The nest is 3^ inches across by 2 inches deep, 

 composed externally of moss, grass and weed stems and lined with 

 fine dry grass and leaves. 



June 12. — This morning I located a nest of the Cabanis 

 Woodpecker {Dryobates villosus hyloscopus) in a tamarack stump, 

 six feet up. Fine bits of wood, dislodged in excavating, were the 

 only lining for the four eggs, in which incubation had begun. 

 One of the parents was collected with this set. I also discovered 

 to-day two more nests of the Hermit Thrush ; one, in a small 

 tamarack, held two fresh eggs, and the other, also in a tamarack, 

 eight feet up, held three fresh eggs. The latter was at the head 

 of a narrow canon. Near by a brook of snow water flowed past, 

 and below the nest the snow was three feet deep. The nest itself 

 was a very beautiful one, being outwardly made of a very bright 

 yellowish green moss which clings to the bark of the older trees in 

 these high altitudes. I closed the day with a find, ten feet up, 

 in a small tamarack by the roadside. The compact, well-feathered 

 nest contained five richly marked and nearly fresh eggs, and on 

 the return of the anxious, but gayly attired owners, I entered 

 Dendroica auduboni in my note-book. 



While on the summit, where both the Sierra Hermit Thrush 

 {Hylocichla aonalaschkce sequoiensis) and the Russet-backed 

 Thrush {Hylocichla ustulata ustulata) occur, although the latter 

 but sparingly, I had the first opportunity for a comparison of 

 their songs. That of the Hermit Thrush is clear and ringing, 

 like a merry brook of snow-water in the open ; that of the Russet- 

 back, indistinct yet sweet, like some whispering stream overhung 



