XTbe Mariner 39 



any of the others observed, though the composition was in no way peculiar. 

 The bird was flushed from the nest, revealing a single egg apparently fresh. 

 But a subsequent visit was disappointing, for in the interim Jays devastated 

 the site. 



I located the seventh nest on July 5 when a bird was discovered sitting 

 closely upon it. The nest, though empty, seemed to be finished. On July 

 10 Dixon revisited it and secured the set of three eggs, a complete comple- 

 ment as shown by dissection of the female parent secured with it. This 

 nest was 9 feet up, saddled onto a horizontal black oak limb two inches in 

 thickness. It was located just beyond where three twigs diverged so that 

 the walls of the nest were supported by them. In fact the rim was woven 

 over a down-curving branchlet on one side much after the fashion of a Vir- 

 eo's nest. An oak leaf was fastened in on the opposite side. Spider's web 

 was identified as the stuff used to bind the constituent material together and 

 to fasten the whole structure to its supports. The nest was composed ex- 

 ternally of gray weathered grasses and shredded strips of the inner bark from 

 dead willow trunks. It was lined within with fine strips of brown bark and 

 other plant fibres, with a few down-feathers admixed. The whole structure 

 was unusually compact. It measured in inside diameter 1.80 inches by 1.60 

 in inside depth; and in outside diameter 3.15 by 2.25 in height. This nest 

 with the eggs and female parent is now in the collection of Mr. John E. 

 Thayer. 



The eighth and last nest was found on July 21 at Bluff Lake, 7500 

 feet altitude. It was only two feet above the ground in a chinquapin thick- 

 et on a low hillside. The nest rested in a spray of upright shoots; but little 

 could be judged of its structure for it was flattened down by the full com- 

 plement of four two-thirds-grown juvenals which it held. 



The seven eggs of the Gray Flycatcher which I preserved agree in be- 

 ing plain cream-buff, or to express it in another way, white tinged with 

 cream-buff, but with not a trace of spotting. The set of four are all ovate 

 in shape and measure in inches .75 x .56, .74 x .55, .74 x .56 and .75 x .55. 

 Of the set of three, one is rounded ovate, and two are short ovate. They 

 measure .70 x .57, .70 x .57 and .67 x .56. The average of these seven eggs 

 is thus .72 x .56, or substantially larger than the average of in eggs of the 

 Wright Flycatcher (the nearest relative of the Gray), as given by Bendire — 

 .68 x .52. 



Pasadena, Calif. 



