THE OOLOGIST 



225 



1 have found them breeding in the 

 Sierra Madres, as low as the 3000 foot 

 level, and never above 5000 feet. I do 

 not say that five thousand feet is their 

 breeding limit, but in a period extend- 

 ing over six years, a careful search 

 has never revealed a nest of this spe- 

 cies at a higher altitude. Their favor- 

 ite haunts are the deep cleft canons of 

 the back slopes, where a mountain 

 stream dashes and tumbles over the 

 lichen stained rocks and blusters 

 boldly down the ragged falls, singing 

 gayly through the summer days, and 

 breaking the lonely silences at night, 

 with its unceasing murmur. Here 

 along some mossy cliff where the rocks 

 are draped with ferns and the wild 

 Columbine hangs its trumpet shaped 

 flowers, where the fronds of the mai- 

 den hair ferns are asparkle with the 

 drip, drip of the rock springs above. 

 Given then a small shelf and clump 

 of lush grass amongst the dripping 

 ferns, and a careful search — may — re- 

 veal a nest with the demure little 

 mother sitting close, and hidden from 

 view by the close clinging growths. 



Not always though, do they choose a 

 secluded spot in which to hide their 

 nest, for I well remember a nest I 

 iound that was situated under a small 

 overhanging bank, beside a stream and 

 less than three feet from our burro 

 trail. My wife and I had probably 

 passed within a few feet of the sitting 

 bird dozens of times a day, and when 

 I finally located the nest I found my 

 footprints within twelve inches of the 

 nest; and yet I don't believe the fe- 

 male was ever frightened off. 



As showing the fearlessness of this 

 pair, I may mention that this nest was 

 built and laid in after we had made 

 our camp. So there was no necessity 

 for the birds to keep this spot, as 

 would have been the case if the eggs 

 had been laid before we arrived. This 

 nest was about six inches from the 



waters edge, and built under, and of 

 the small reddish rootlets of a nearby 

 tree that had been washed clear by 

 the spring torrents. This nest was 

 quite dry inside, differing in this re- 

 spect from the majority of the nests 

 that I have examined along the cliffs 

 where they are invariably wet inside 

 and out. This wetting may account 

 for the infertile eggs that I have found 

 at various times, never more than one 

 in a nest though. 



The females of this species so far 

 as my experiences go to show, share 

 with Western Gnatcatcher, the same 

 trait of sitting close to their nests, 

 never moving until your hand is al- 

 most touching them, and then dashing 

 off with a sharp note of protest, and 

 like the gnatcatcher they keep flying 

 close around you, continually keeping 

 up a plaintiff "percheep, percheep," as 

 long as you continue near jthe nest. 

 The males are usually more |wary and 

 keep some distance off, seldom ap- 

 proaching closer than a hundred feet 

 of you, and then keeping pretty well 

 hid in the tops of the nearby trees. 

 While being such close sitters, I have 

 lound it almost impossible to get a 

 picture of the bird on the nest owing 

 to their situations. Most nests that I 

 have found would average ten to fif- 

 teen feet above the stream, and in 

 such a position on the face of the cliffs 

 that they were scarcely less difficult to 

 get at than their near neighbors, the 

 Western Flycatchers, and Black Phoe- 

 bes; but unlike these, in that their 

 nests are never visible until you part 

 the ferns and dripping grasses above 

 them. Four eggs are the rule, al- 

 though I have found them incubated 

 with three, and in one instance, with 

 five, which all hatch. 



The adults could often be seen feed- 

 ing in the underbrush and along the 

 hillsides, scratching among the leaves 

 and rotten bark, much as the Towhees 



