150 



THE OOLOGIST 



or more and returned to rest at foot 

 of very large tree and as I was stand- 

 ing looking at the tree I saw o Quail 

 on its nest and so well did it blend 

 with surroundings that I had over- 

 looked it at first and I had hit the 

 bushes about this same tree it had 

 clung to its nest and did not leave till 

 I had put my hand within a few incheb 

 of it and on flushing bird 1 found nesc 

 to contain nineteen slightly incubated 

 eggs, and later on I found another 

 nest of this bird under some dry 

 brush and 1 hit the brush several 

 times, the bird did not flush; there 

 are, no doubt, many nests passed by 

 the collector. 



Along about 4 p. m. dark cloud ; 

 appeared and frequent peals of thun- 

 der were heard, followed by flashes 

 of lightning and heavy hailstorm, 

 many of the hailstones were over 

 three inches in circumference (actual 

 measurements) and were hard, nor 

 breaking at they hit the ground, un- 

 der cottonwoods was covered with 

 broken twigs and leaves though 1 saw 

 no broken eggs or killed birds. 



June 18th. Being informed that 

 that country up the river was not so 

 steep and rocky, I walked up same for 

 about six miles and reached a fair 

 sized meadow where I found Audu- 

 bons Warbler with young, also Sierra 

 Woodpecker and on way back I lo- 

 cated a nest of Dipper and spent some 

 time watching the bird as it flew un- 

 der the water fall with food for the 

 young. Under a fallen tree a Thick- 

 billed Sparrow was flushed from a 

 nest and two eggs which later was 

 found empty, in fact this was the 

 usual thing with nests that I found 

 incomplete. 



June 19th, Rained most of night 



and well through the day. In hills 



back of hotel I saw a pair of West. 



Eve. Grosbeaks and spent over an 



hour with them and though it was 

 raining lightly at no time did I lose 

 sight of both birds so feel sure that 

 they did not have a nest, male kept 

 in tree while female fed on the 

 ground, she often moving some dis- 

 tance, he following but not feeding on 

 ground at all. 



These Grosbeaks often fed at the 

 kitchen door with Cassins Purple 

 Flinches and several were caught in 

 box traps and in one instance one was 

 caught in a butterfly net. 



June 20th. While working up a 

 small canon I located at the foot of a 

 large tree a nest of Sierra Grouse from 

 which the young had just left, many 

 of shells still being in nest, twenty 

 feet away was a nest of Plumed Quail 

 with one egg, both nests very much 

 alike and in same kind of place, at 

 foot of big tree in low manzanita 

 bushes. 



In a bunch of wild cherry vines at 

 foot of large rock, I flushed a Green- 

 tailed Towhee from a nest of four 

 fresh eggs and though I waited for 

 three-fourths of an hour the bird did 

 not return to nest or vicinity while a 

 parent from a nest and three eggs 

 found later kept close to nest utter- 

 ing its cat-like call quite often. 



Grosbeaks were noted again today, 

 and the rest of my stay, but at no 

 time did I note anything that would 

 lead me to think they were nesting, 

 and I often saw several birds together. 



A Red-breasted Sapsucker had 

 rilled it's nest in a live cottonwood 

 tree and on chopping it out I found 

 but three eggs, later on the eggs were 

 gone as was likewise two eggs from 

 a nest of Tolmie Warbler nearby. 



Just what got so many eggs I am 

 at a loss to say as but few Jays werfe 

 found here and not many chipmunKS 

 or squirrels but it seemed to return 

 to an incomplete set and find it to 

 have full set. 



