A Collecting Trip. 



245 



On San Miguel Island, and in other places in this section, 

 the writer has found the rude 

 tools by which ornaments like 

 Fig. I were made, and the specimens 

 in various stages of development. 

 The study of this kind of aboriginal 

 work is invested with much interest. 



A seventy-five barrel oil well has 

 just been struck in the Adams canon 

 in Ventura County, by the Stuart & 

 Hardison Oil Company. The wells 

 are now producing about 300 barrels 

 daily. The company has about 80 

 miles of pipe-line carryin^gf oil. 



Figure 5. 



A LOLLECIING TRIP. 



On June third, of last year, the writer arrived at Donner, Placer 

 County, Cal., for a short collecting trip among the birds which 

 breed on the high Sierra. The altitude at>the Summit is about 

 seven thousand feet, and when F arrived, there was still in places 

 considerable snow. The Mountain Chickadee (Parus Montanis) 

 is a common bird both but at Summit and at Blue Canyon. At 

 half the elevation, where I stopped over one day, I found two of 

 their nests at Blue Canyon, both of which contained youug. The 

 first one was in a natural hole in a dead and fallen tree, only two 

 feet above ground. The nest was discovered by seeing the hole, 

 and then I found it well nigh impossible to get her out again, for 

 she resisted my efforts to frighten her from the nest with all the 

 pertinacity of the species. 



The other nest was in a decayed stump and only about three 

 inches above the ground. Both nests were of wool and other soft 

 materials. During my stay in the mountains I found three nests 

 of the rare white-headed Woodpecker (Xenopicus albolarvatus). 

 The first set was taken at Plue Canyon, and was in a dead stump 

 about eight feet above ground. It contained four eggs, with in- 

 cubation commenced. The hole was about nine inches deep by 

 four inches wide. The other two nests were found at the Sum- 

 mit, and each had three fresh eggs. The holes were excavated in 

 dead stumps about as high up from the ground as the first, and 

 their dimensions were about the same: The difierence in sizes of 

 the eggs of the several sets was very noticeable, but I am not at 

 this writing prepared to give the measurements. A nest of the 

 white-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia Cuoophrys) with three eggs, 

 I found on the ground near a stream of water. It was built of dry 

 grass and placed at the base of a clump of small willow trees. 

 The nests of the Western Robin (Merula migratoria propinqua) 

 and Blue-fronted Jay (Cyanocitta stellari frontalis), are often found 

 built in the snow sheds. H. R. Taylor. 



