148 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 10 



grcenish-blue, thickly speckled all over with fine 

 brownish spots, mingled wilh traces of lilac. 

 The average size is 1.15x.75, though they vary 

 greatly in size and shape, even in the same set. 

 Nesting commences early in Aprd, my first 

 set this season was taken the 8th, and continues 

 through May. A second set i.s laid in July. 



April '24th, while collecting Warblers, I dis- 

 covered in the branches of a Scrub Oak the nest 

 of a Lead-colored Tit. It was composed of 

 weeds, fine grass leaves, wood and a few feathers 

 so interwoven as to form a comjiact, bottle-shaped 

 structure 71-^ inches iu length, lU in circumfer- 

 ence at the largest and 5^ at the smallest part. 

 The opening on one side near the top, was 

 about one-half an inch in diameter, and was 

 carefully concealed from observation by an over- 

 hanging flap. The interior of the nest was lined 

 with wool. The whole structure was suspended 

 from a small branch some ten feet fiom the 

 ground, its bottom i-esting on a somewhat larger 

 branch, and it was still further steadied and se- 

 cured by the attachment on each side near the 

 bottom of several small twigs. The nest con- 

 tained three pure white eggs, measuring .55.\.35. 

 Later in the season in other localities, I found 

 two nests some twenty-five feet from the ground 

 in Juniper trees ; both contained young birds. 



April 28th, I found my first nest of the Rock 

 Wren for the season. It was under a flat rock 

 on a hillside some twenty feet from a trail over 

 which there was more or less passing every day. 

 The space between the ground and the under 

 side of the rock was not more than two inches at 

 the entrance, gradually increasing towards the 

 rear where the nest was situated, about a foot 

 from the opening. The nest was a slight struc- 

 ture composed of fine roots and lined with hair 

 and a little wool. The eggs were six in number, 

 of a pure white, dotted with fine reddish spots, 

 thickest at the large end ; the small end lieing in 

 most of the eggs entirely free li'om them. A cu- 

 rious hal)it of the Rock Wren is that of paving 

 the ground around and in front of its nest, even 

 to .some little distance from the oveihangiug 

 rock,with small pebbles and bitsof glass. Whether 

 this is done for the sake of ornament, or not, I 

 will not venture to say, but I have found it a 

 very good guide in looking for their nests. A 

 few days later I observed a Rock Wren canying 

 material for a nest towards the wall of a ruined 

 adobe mill. By close watching I located the 

 nest and in due time secured it. A charred beam 

 in the wall had left a hole large enough for the 

 entrance of the Wren, the distance from the 

 ground being some eight feet. On removing a 

 portion of an adobe brick I came to a cavity in 



which was the nest, containing seven eggs, the 

 spots more evenly distributed over the surface 

 than in the first mentioned set. Here, too, was 

 the usual pavement of small stones, some of such 

 a size that it is a mystery to me how they could 

 ever have been carried to such a height by the 

 diminutive owner and builder of the residence. 

 This is the only instance that has come under 

 my observation where the Rock Wren has built 

 its nest elsewhere than on the ground. 



Passing around to the outside of the wall, I 

 saw a Say's Pewec fly from the projecting top of 

 a ruined window casing, and stepping back a 

 few feet I espied her nest. By some hard clindj- 

 ing I reached the window and found the nest, a 

 neat structure of fine roots and grass, lined with 

 wool and feathers, and containing six pure white 

 eggs, measuring .75x.G0 ; incubation pretty well 

 advanced. Nearly a month previous to this I 

 found a nest of the same species cont-aining four 

 fresh eggs fastened to a slightly projecting ledge 

 on a high rock, which rose from one side of a 

 shallow pool of water, at a height of about five 

 feet. The Say's Pewec also builds about the 

 eaves of houses. 



Jan. 1, while hunting quail in a large Cactus 

 patch I found a nest of the Cactus Wren, from 

 which the bird flew at my approach. I exam- 

 ined the nest cpiite carefully and left it. A week 

 later being in the same locality I thought I would 

 take another look at my Wren's nest, but found it 

 had been destroyed. After a little search I dis- 

 covered another nest built in a Cactus at some 

 little distance. This, too, at a subsequent visit 

 proved to have been destroyed, and a third nest 

 built in a new location, and no less than five new 

 nests did I discover between January 1 and March , 

 the last nest remaining unoccupied as late as the 

 last of April when it too was destroyed. 



April 23th, in another Cactus patch I found a 

 nest some seven feet from the ground, shaped 

 very much like a bottle, lying on one side. It 

 was composed of leathers of the Scaled Quail 

 interwoven with fine grass and was lined wilh 

 feathers of the same bird. The length was nine 

 inches, the greatest circumference twenty inches ; 

 the depth of the hole eight inches, with a diame- 

 ter of two inches at the mouth. It contained 

 four eggs of a reddish color thickly covered with 

 spots of a darker hue, measuring l.lOx.75. Some 

 twenty feet distant was a Cactus containing a 

 second nest similar in structure to the first, but 

 containing no eggs. The birds were near at hand 

 and after I had shot one, its mate flew to the 

 nest from which I had removed the eggs, hurried- 

 ly entered it, came out and flew to the second 

 nest, which it also entered. I have been puzzled 

 to know whether the second nest was used as a 



