4S 



TIIK NIinotOClST. 



these birds are very bold, sometimes ap- 

 proaching within two feet of an intruder 

 near their nest. 



How well I remember one evening about 

 dusk. I was opening a nest of a Nuthatch, 

 which was situated near the top of a large, 

 dead pine tree, when presto ! a shower of 

 Nuthatches (seven in all) alighted on and 

 about me ; one on my hat, another on my 

 breast, another on a short limb to which I 

 was holding, within six inches of my hand, 

 and the others not far above me. I could 

 stand the strain of not moving a muscle 

 but a short time, so owing to a slight 

 movement they departed as swiftly and 

 silently as they came. Soon after I re- 

 ceived a sharp blow on the back, and, 

 looking in the direction from whence it 

 came, I perceived a Screech Owl alighting 

 in a tree near by. 



The Pygmy Nuthatch is either polygam- 

 ous or else it obtains the aid of its friends 

 and acquaintances to construct its nest, as 

 I have seen at different times five or six 

 birds at work excavating one cavity and 

 l)ut two of them occupied it afterwards. 

 The Slender-billed is said to nest in natural 

 cavities in trees, but I have found but few 

 nests of the Pygmy in such places, as the}- 

 seem to prefer constructing their own nest- 

 ing cavities. The size of the cavities vary 

 from six to twelve inches in depth, with 

 an average width of about four inches. 

 They are placed at all heights, from one 

 foot to sixty feet from the ground. The 

 usual place for a nest is in large, dead pine 

 trees that have decayed sufficiently for the 

 birds to dig a cavity easily after they have 

 ])ecked an entrance, which is usually one 

 and a half inches high by one inch wide, 

 through the tough bark. 



Davies quotes the nests as " hard to 

 find." Not .so in this locality, for if one 

 taps loudly on the base of a dead tree the 

 birds will immediately come into view, 

 uttering their notes, if a nest happens to 

 be in it. The material of which the nests 

 are made is fine moss and litchens, mixed 

 with small feathers, and often they contain 



one or more tail feathers of some bird such 

 as the Woodjiecker. Some nests are made 

 of moss and litchens and lined with feathers. 

 The number of eggs is from five to eight, 

 usually seven. I have never observed a 

 set of nine, as yet. The average measure- 

 ments of twenty-five specimens before me 

 are .63X.5S. 



Salvias, Cal. 



(Read before the Cooper Orn. Club, 

 September 12, 1893.) 



WHITE EGGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 

 QUAIL. 



The eggs of this bird are normally cream 

 colored, blotched and speckled over the 

 entire surface with reddish-brown, the 

 heavier and larger markings being at the 

 larger end of the egg. 



Among a set of thirteen eggs I found 

 this year one of them was almost pure 

 white, the cream-colored ground color be- 

 ing totally absent, while a few faint marks, 

 representing the blotches and speckles, 

 were perceptible upon close examination. 

 This ^%% was a chalky white, lacking the 

 gloss so familiar to eggs of this species and 

 many other birds. 



Frequently I have found single eggs on 

 road.s, and on flower beds, and in the fields, 

 all these eggs having been dropped at ran- 

 dom with no attempt to make a nest; and 

 the greater percentage of them were simi- 

 lar to the white egg described, with slight 

 variations as to the size and di-^tinctness of 

 the marking, and nearly all of them were 

 slightly below the average size of eggs of 

 this species, and more elongated in propor- 

 tion. My theory for the absence of color 

 and smaller size is that the q.%% had not lain 

 in the oviduct long enough to attain proper 

 size and markings; and to bear out this 

 theory I take the fact that the eggs were 

 found mostly in places remote from the 

 nest, where the bird must have been at the 

 time .she was forced to deposit them. 



Alameda. Cal. I). A. C. 



