The Black-headed Grosbeaks 



where ventilation, rather than conservation of heat, is the object sought. 

 Some nests are so thin that the eggs may be counted from below. As a 

 usual thing the nest is composed almost entirely of coiled rootlets, with, 

 at best, a little chevaux de frise of plant-stems. One nest in the M. C. O. 

 collection is composed entirely of slender blackish twigs cunningly inter- 

 laced, a very durable, if 

 also airy, structure. A 

 pair of Grosbeaks nest- 

 ing on the Salinas River 

 near San Ardo hit upon 

 an ingenious plan for 

 keeping cool. Instead of 

 the usual lace-work con- 

 struction, they heaped 

 up a mass of green wil- 

 low leaves, plucking for 

 the purpose the terminal 

 twigs of the youngest 

 trees, and wedging them 

 to a height of nine inches 

 in a convenient crotch. 

 In the top of this mass, 

 kept cool by reason of evap- 

 orating moisture, they set 

 the conventional root- 

 lined cup. We have also 

 a nest from Arizona where 

 the same idea has been 

 followed out less boldly, 

 — a root cup surrounded 

 by a two-inch stratum of 

 green leaves of the nar- 

 row-leafed willow. 



Like many another 

 species, the Black- 

 headed Grosbeak dis- 

 plays a strong local attachment, and will return year after year to a given 

 copse or tangle, or even to the very bush. The nests, although so light, 

 are sturdy enough, and the occupation of former years is evidenced by 

 contemporary cabins in successive stages of disrepair. 



A Grosbeak family makes a pretty group at, or just before, nest- 

 leaving time. Few birds show more clearly the essential values and 



Taken in Ventura County 



Photo by Donald R. Dickey 



TAKING ORDERS 



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