404 General Notes. \^l^^ 



and the other in a dead quaking ash about twenty feet from the ground 

 and at an altitude of about 7S00 feet. 



In neither case was there any nest built, the eggs being deposited on 

 the litter at the bottom of the hole. Diligent search did not secure the 

 male birds. 



These nests were in the foothills about thirty miles nearly west south- 

 west from Pueblo, Colorado. — D. P. Ingraham, Beulah, Colorado. 



Nesting of the Short-eared Owl in Southern California. — On March 27, 

 1896, Mr. H. L. Rivers and the writer found a nest of this bird [Asio 

 acctpiirinus) containing six eggs, the incubation varying from very slight 

 to well advanced. The location was near low meadow ground about five 

 miles from the coast in this County, but the nest was about twenty- 

 six feet up in the top of a thick-foliaged oak, among some sycamores 

 bordering a dry stream bed. Another unoccupied nest was placed two or 

 three feet higher in the opposite side of the same tree. Both nests were 

 composed of sticks, lined with oak leaves and a few feathers, the depres- 

 sion in each being very slight. 



When within a few feet of the occupied nest the bird flew off and being 

 joined by its mate, the pair held a ' pow wow ' in the grass, uttering 

 squeals like a rat. While the nest was being examined one bird perched 

 almost at arm's length in the foliage of the tree. 



Two weeks later, when I revisited the locality, neither bird was seen, 

 but the nest, which had previously been empty, contained a dried up egg 

 without a shell. 



Of this bird Captain Bendire said " it is not improbable that it may 

 sometimes breed in California and Nevada." — M. L. Wicks, Jr., Los 

 Angeles, Cal. 



Partnership Nesting of Valley Partridge and Long-tailed Chat. — The 

 nest was discovered by a little girl, and was composed of grass and straws 

 placed in a small depression of the ground above which it projected 

 slightly; over all was a dead eucalyptus limb to which the dry leaves still 

 clung. The locality was this County, within five feet of a road which 

 had been quite frequently traveled up to a week before, at which time the 

 road had been changed. Not thirty feet from the spot a cluster of wild 

 blackberry vines had been burnt down a few months previous ; in them 

 a Chat {Icieria vtrens longicauda), probably the same one, had nested for 

 years. 



The Partridge [Callipepla calif ornica vaUicola) was flushed from the 

 nest when first discovered ; it had been covering two of its own and three 

 Chat eggs, the Chat itself not being seen. On a second visit that after- 

 noon the Chat flew off; the Partridge was not visible. The next dav at 

 noon a third trip was made ; the Chat was on the nest, the female Par- 

 tridge being in the vicinity. The number of Chat eggs had been increased 

 to four; the Partridge eggs were still two in number. — M. L. Wicks, jr., 

 Los Angeles., Cal. 



