192 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol.12 



Not one was observed anywhere below the last-named station, and this 

 fact we ascribed to the lack of mesquite at the remainder of the points 

 visited, this wood having been cut out for fuel. 



It was a particularly gratifying: circumstance that a nest of the 

 Lucy warbler was found by us on California territory, thus adding 

 a species to the state list of breeding birds. As above implied, indiv- 

 iduals were encountered in fair numbers at our station twenty miles 

 above Picacho. Here, as usual, they affected the mesquite belt, but 

 strangely enough the nest found was situated in a nearly dead iron- 

 wood, at the base of a hill rising abruptly from the river bottom. This 

 tree (see pi. 12, fig. 19) evidently owed its failing condition to the 

 rising water level in the ground in which it grew, a circumstance as 

 fatal to an ironwood, as it is, up to a certain degree, propitious to a 

 mesquite. There were young mesquites in the immediate vicinity. 



The nest was built thirty-five inches above the ground in the crotch 

 where a steeply inclined branch sprang from the main trunk, which 

 was here about one foot in diameter. The nest was sheltered from 

 above by a two-inch strip of loosened bark and an outstanding twig. 

 The nest was thus practically within a closed cavity save for an 

 approach in one direction, as shown in the photograph (pi. 13, fig. 20). 

 This falls within the known predilection of the species elsewhere, as in 

 the upper Gila Valley of south central Arizona (Gilman, 1909, p. 168), 

 where out of ' ' twenty-three nests observed, twelve were in natural cav- 

 ities, four under loose bark, four in woodpecker holes, and three in 

 verdin's nests." 



The nest in question was evidently a relining of a previous year's 

 structure, the latter being distinguishable by its compactness and 

 admixture of dried mud, as if it had been sifted full of wind-blown 

 dust and then drenched by heavy rain. There was no evidence that 

 the tree had been submerged to this depth. The new portions of 

 the nest (no. 754) are loosely formed of various feathers (mostly 

 down-feathers of desert quail), mingled with weathered shreds of 

 grass. There is a scanty lining of fine hairs. The cavity of the 

 nest is 45 mm. across, by 22 mm. deep. 



The three eggs, taken April 12, were considerably incubated, and 

 thus constituted a full complement. The shells are pure white, with 

 a fine and abundant speckling of vinaceous, vinaceous-cinnamon and 

 cinnamon-rufous, chiefly in an agglomerated ring about the large 

 ends. Some of the markings nearest the pole at the large end are 



