38 Cbe Warbler 



upright dead willow stalk, and outwardly supported by two diverging 

 branchlets. In this sort-of-tripod crotch the nest was built up, loosely at 

 the narrow bottom, until the divergence permitted space enough to complete 

 the rim with sufficient internal diameter. Some of the nest material strao- 



o 



gled down between the upright supports, but the sides towards the top, and 

 the rim, were compactly woven. The composition was almost wholly of 

 strips and finely-shredded fibres from the silvery-gray weathered inner bark 

 of old willow stems. The inside lining was finest-grained and mixed with 

 very fine plant fibres, bits of plant down, and a few feathers. One Bluebird 

 wing feather was woven into the wall. A curious addition was a penny- 

 sized tuft of flying squirrel fur which occupied the centre of the bottom of 

 the nest cavity, and against which the four eggs rested. In fact the fur 

 kept the eggs from quite touching one another. This nest measured 3.00 

 inches in outside diameter by 3.15 in outside depth, and 1.80 in inside di- 

 ameter by 1.60 in inside depth. It is pertinent to note that the inside meas- 

 urements of the nests of any species of bird are constant, while the outside 

 dimensions may vary greatly, of course dependent largely on location. 



The fourth nest was found June 21 at about 9000 feet elevation near 

 Dry Lake. It held four eggs in which incubation was so far advanced that 

 I was unable to save them. The nest was situated ten feet above the ground 

 in a Murray pine sapling growing among larger trees on the mountain side. 

 It was a large loose affair lacking the compactness characterizing all the 

 other nests examined. It was built against the slanting pine stem, support- 

 ed by a cluster of twigs with their foliage. The material was the usual 

 weathered inner bark of the mourtain willow, and its light gray color rend- 

 ered the structure quite conspicuous against the dark pine trunk and foliage. 

 At the sides and bottom skeins of this material straggled down loosely and 

 bits adhered to the twigs and bark for several inches from the nest proper. 

 The inner lining consisted of the same stuff mixed with fine brown bark 

 strips, slender rootlets and a few down-feathers. In external measurements 

 this nest was 3.70 inches across by 3.20 high; and the inner cavity was 1.85 

 across by 1.60 deep. 



I found the fifth nest on July 5. This was at about 6700 feet elevation 

 in the black oak belt a half mile southeast of Fish Creek. The nest con- 

 tained three half-fledged young, and was situated 6 feet above the ground 

 among the dead twigs of a fallen branch which leaned inverted against the 

 main trunk of a medium-sized black oak. This nest was compact like num- 

 bers two and three already described, and in general size and composition 

 resembled them closely. 



Yet another nest was found in the lower Fish Creek canyon, 6500 feet, 

 on July 6. It was saddled into the upright forks of a small balsam cotton- 

 wood, each of the forks being about two inches in diameter. Very likely 

 because of its cramped location, the bulk of this nest was less than that of 



