4 THE OSPREY. 



in the thick growth of a tree, about same distance from the ground, and part 

 of an egg shell on the ground, under the nest, established the bird to be the 

 fourth ptlr mentioned. Their third set must have been destroyed considering 

 the length of time elapsed since the second set was taken. 



On May 6, a nest in an apple tree contained large bunches of red cow hair 

 as well as the balance of the usual lining. Two slightly incubated eggs reclined 

 in the nest while a third, fresh, was over the brim, prevented from falling by 

 the foundation twigs. April 16, 1 noted a parent feeding nestlings in nest in 

 top of an oak, and was attracted by their clamor for food. The parent left 

 the vicinity immediately upon catching sight of me. April 25, after an unu- 

 sually hard climb of 25 feet among small branches of an oak with droopmg 

 branches I found the parent brooding newly hatched young. The nest was 

 hardly visible from the ground, owing to an unusual amount of dead twigs 

 screening many of the branches on the inside, and had escaped previous scru- 

 tiny. May 12, after visiting a lot of foundation twigs for a period of ten 

 days, and seeing no owners about, I had concluded it was abandoned, but pass- 

 ing along on June 22, a missile thrown at it sent several young fluttering about 

 to the tops of the branches. I had noticed the birds here carrying twigs extra 

 early in March, and why it was twice abandoned before being used I cannot 

 say. On May 17, a very small oak, not over 10 feet high, in a little clearing, 

 held a nest near its crown containing 4 eggs about to hatch. They were much 

 less pointed than usual, extra large, and of darker tone than any I have ever 

 taken, much the type of dark eggs of the Crow {Corvus americanus). There 

 is considerable variation in size and shape as well as character of markings in 

 eggs of a season's take. Those of the reddish phase were rare, but Mr. 

 Carriger says the Sonoma County sets often run that way, and I have heard 

 the same from other localities, but have never seen the counterparts of the 

 Woodhouse Jay's eggs except in the case of the fourth pair of birds above 

 described. In the cases of the birds (four pair) robbed twice there was faithful 

 similarity in every character between the first and second sets of a pair of 



birds. 



Taking it for granted that the female does all the incubating, she is a 

 fairly close sitter, but a stick thrown at the branches about the nest will always 

 flush her. She darts away screaming loudly, attracting her mate, who returns 

 with her to aid in the protest, both of them swooping about or hopping from 

 perch to perch so long as I am present, and perhaps joined by some of their 

 tribe who help make more fuss. They are suspicious enough at times to abandon 

 an incomplete set just because they saw me climb up and look into the nest, 

 without touching it. The young when hatched are almost black and devoid 

 of down, and are cautiously quiet at all times. Young or old, they are pugna- 

 cious to the last when captured. In the latter part of July and until late in 



