476 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



one side of it, whereupon the female slipped through beneath the mat of 

 the thicket and then hopped across the adjacent opening, unconcernedly 

 picking here and there in the loose earth and debris. A moment's search 

 revealed the nest, examination of which elicited no evident anxiety on the 

 part of the female bird. The observer returned to the spot later and as 

 he approached, the female slipped from the nest when he was only about 

 8 feet away. She was not seen again for some minutes; then she came 

 within 15 or 20 feet giving the sharp call note. The male had meanwhile 

 ceased to sing. 



The nest was well concealed from above, although when once located 

 it was easily seen from one side. It rested on a low dense tangled mat 

 of Ceanothus twigs and foliage, both living and dead, about 6 feet in 

 from the margin of the patch and 3 feet out from where a group of stems 

 emerged from the ground at a common root center. There was a canopy 

 of green Ceanothus leaves 150 millimeters above the nest, the rim of which 

 was 24:0 millimeters above the surface of the ground. The basal portion 

 of the structure was composed of short coarse twigs, not interlaced, and 

 these fell apart when an attempt was made to lift the whole nest clear 

 of the tangle. This basal portion was about 280 millimeters in diameter. 

 Then came a layer of pine needles more closely laid, and finally the lining 

 of the nest cavity, of deer hair (deer are particularly abundant at Chin- 

 quapin), together with a few long black mane or tail hairs of horses. The 

 cavity measured 65 millimeters in diameter by 37 millimeters deep. 



Four nests found near Tamarack Flat on May 25 and 26, 1919, were 

 in various stages of construction and, in practically all respects, were 

 identical with the nest just described. The heights of the nests above 

 the ground were, respectively, 200, 380, 450, and 600 millimeters, and they 

 were all in snow bushes. 



The three fresh eggs which the Chinquapin nest contained were of very 

 dark color, the ground tint of blue being heavily overlaid with brown 

 marks which coalesced in many places and completely obscured the deeper- 

 lying pigment. This heavy coloration is characteristic of fox sparrow eggs 

 generally, as contrasted for instance with those of the Green-tailed Towhee 

 inhabiting the same sort of country, which are notably light colored. 



The contents of this nest indicated that nesting activities had begun 

 some time during the first half of May. The fledgling bird referred to 

 above was found near the same station. Chinquapin (at 5500 feet altitude), 

 on June 13, 1915, which again would place the beginning of nesting near 

 the middle of May. The season continues for some time, for birds at 

 Tamarack Flat on May 25 and 26, 1919, had nests only in process of con- 

 struction or barely completed, and other evidence which we have obtained 

 points to a nesting season lasting until mid-July. 



