Nesting Habits of Two Flycatchers at Lake Tahoe 155 



their large, deeply cupped nest to be; but when the parents did not betray 

 its presence by their restless anxiety, it very easily escaped notice, so well 

 was it matched with its surroundings. It was usually placed in a horizontal 

 limb, near the main stem and about twelve or fifteen feet from the ground. 

 As bunches of cones and rolls of bark were often to be seen in the same 

 situation, it was not conspicuous, especially as the color exactly matched 

 that of the dead limb. Those which I took to pieces were woven very 

 firmly of strips of woody fiber and thin gray bark stripped from manzanita 

 and ceanothus bushes after they had been fire-killed and had weathered 

 several winters. This bleached and seasoned material gave a very soft and 

 firm structure, which was softly lined with feathers by the little builders. 

 It was totally unlike in appearance to the green mossy nests built high in 

 oak trees by this bird when it nests among the oak-grown hills of the Coast 

 Range. The only quality they had in common was their beauty of finish 

 and their perfect adaptation to circumstances. 



These birds showed great affection and solicitude for their young, re- 

 turning to the nest immediately after I had left the tree, and flying at my 

 face with snapping beak, even when I was removing an empty nest. A 

 female was still engaged in incubation August 14, but, as this nest was stolen, 

 I do not know if she would have been able to rear the young before migrating. 



KINGBIRD AND NEST IN A DEAD BRANCH PROJECTING OVER WATER 

 (Published by courtesy of the Geological Survey of Canada) 



