The Nesting of Hepburn’s Rosy Finch 109 
done by holding the camera in my hands, bracing myself against the side of the 
cliff and guessing at the distance. Fortunately I am a pretty good guesser, and 
the result was better than circumstances would seem to warrant. It was so good, 
at any rate, that I kept the plate. 
The nest as will be seen, is situated upon a slight shelf of the rock near where 
the cliff takes a sharp angle. It was composed of dried grass stems, pine needles 
and moss. The structure was poorly made, and I am at a loss to understand 
why the wind did not sweep it away. The eggs, which were about .94 x .50 inches 
were a bluish white, though I am inclined to believe this was due to the incu- 
Pal spy 3 S$ = 
NEST AND EGGS OF HEPBURN’S ROSY FINCH 
bation, as they appeared about ready to hatch. I think that the eggs when first 
deposited are milk-white, from the fact that those in another nest discovered by 
me the next season were of that color. 
The other two nests of this bird were discovered on Lightning Creek, a trib- 
utary of the Clark’s Fork of the Columbia. This swift stream is born in the 
glaciers of the Cabinet Range, and comes roaring down out of the mountains 
like a mill-race. Like the other stream, it flows through a very rocky country. 
We were fishing the stream near its head, at an elevation above sea-level of at 
least 10,000 feet. A slide obstructed our progress up stream, and we were obliged 
to take to the bluffs to get around. While picking our way around a cliff upon 
which tussocks of grass were growing, a Rosy Finch started from beneath my 
