£be TOarbler 9 



In these patches of trees we encountered our first Dusky Warblers. 

 Probably a half dozen birds were seen, which were evidently only feeding; 

 we did not pay particular attention to them, however, as we thought it too 

 early for nesting and our time was limited. We made this trip principally 

 for some of the Raptores and for the purpose of locating the country for future 

 work. 



On April ist we made another trip to the islands and this time found 

 several pairs of birds which were evidently nesting. We spent considerable 

 time watching the birds and made a careful search for nests, both on the 

 ground and in trees but principally on the ground, for we naturally expect- 

 ed to find them there. As we went along we found several old nests in the 

 brush, one of which resembled Spurred Towhee and another was undoubt- 

 edly a nest of Western Chipping Sparrow. A third nest was a puzzle and 

 caused us to draw on our imaginations. About that time a fourth nest came 

 to sight which very much resembled the last, only as we came closer it 

 proved to be a fresh nest. 



This nest was well concealed in the outer branches of a small shrub 

 just out of hand's reach from the ground. By pulling the branch down I 

 could just reach the nest which was soaking wet from recent rains and had 

 the appearance of being deserted. The nest was rather a bulky affair com- 

 posed of dead leaves and straw, and from the outward appearance one would 

 take it to be the nest of a bird as large as a Towhee or Chat. Well in the 

 center of the bunch of dead leaves was the nest proper neatly lined with 

 goat hair and fine fibers. 



It at once occurred to me that this was a nest of the Dusky Warbler, 

 and when I saw the two eggs which it contained I felt sure of it, although I 

 was much surprised to find the nest so far above the ground. I waited some 

 minutes for the bird to appear but in this I was disappointed; there was no 

 doubt as to the identity, however, for no other bird on the island could have 

 a nest and eggs of this description. 



The first week in May I again visited the islands hoping to find a com- 

 plete set of Dusky Warbler. One disappointment followed another. I 

 found one nest which contained broken egg shells, probably the work of 

 rats or mice. Another nest contained three young, which left the nest as I 

 aporoached, and still another nest showed the young had hatched and 

 flown. 



I was about to give it up for this season when I was nearing the top of 

 one of the narrow canyons and came to a clump of wild plum trees growing 

 around a spring (at an altitude of about 1500 feet). The continued moisture 

 around the spring was the cause of these trees being of unusual size, and the 

 dense green foliage formed an unusually good retreat for birds on these 

 practically barren islands. I looked carefully through these trees with noth- 

 ing particular on mind when I caught sight of a nest in the very top of one 



