Sept., 1917 NESTING HABITS OF CLARKE NUTCRACKER IN COLORADO 155 



lining, about one inch thick, is a firm, compact, warm mailing of fine shredded 

 cedar bark fibre, practically no weeds, grass, feathers or other matter enter- 

 ing into its composition. This construction, with the depth of the nest, makes 

 it especially well adapted to protect its contents from freezing and severely 

 inclement weather. 



Measurements: Outside diameter, average about 11 inches, depth 7U 

 inches. Inside of cup, diameter 4 inches, depth 2% inches. 



Eggs: Ground color light lichen green. Light mottlings or shadings of 

 pale drab-gray and minute spottings of Saccardo's olive distributed over the 

 entire surface, with a slight confluence at the larger end where a faintly 

 defined banded effect is noticeable. (Colors from Ridgway's Color Standards 

 and Nomenclature.) Measurements (in inches) : 1.25x0.92. 



The nest taken this year is practically the same as the one taken last year, 

 except somewhat larger in outside measurements and of fresher material. (See 

 fig. 53.) The three eggs of .this year's take differ but little in color or mark- 

 ings. Their measurements (in inches) are as follows: 1.27x0.91; 1.26x0.87; 

 1.31x0.90. It would appear from the foregoing that three eggs were a normal, 

 if not maximum, clutch for this species. 



Denver, Colorado, June 13, 1917. 



RED LETTER DAYS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 



By FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY 



BEFORE visiting Venice, in the field season of 1907, we had some delightful 

 encounters with water birds, in passing, for between Capistrano and the 

 San Jacinto Mountains our work took us to the two alkaline lakes, San 

 Jacinto and Elsinore, both evidently popular with water fowl. 



When Ave drove out from Hemet to San Jacinto Lake on August 14, in the 

 cultivated valley we saw a harvester, drawn by a band of horses, entering 

 fields of straw-colored waving grain, and leaving behind stubble fields and 

 rows of fat grain bags. But in the immediate neighborhood of the alkaline 

 lake the soil was too permeated with salt for grain fields — one plant of the 

 country actually shone with salt crystals — and the only signs of human habi- 

 tation were a ruin and an abandoned house and barn. On the roof of the barn 

 a Red-shafted Flicker rested, and inside a Barn Owl napped, while two Ravens 

 perched on rafters enjoying the cool shade in the heat of the day. 



Here the level floor of the San Jacinto plain presented a characteristic 

 desert picture, the soft blue bulk of the San Jacinto Mountains having a fore- 

 ground of pale desert colors brightened by acres of pink abronias, wide 

 stretches of yellow tar weed, and fields of sunflowers with faces turned toward 

 the sun, fields that went well with the fresh, uplifted song of the Meadowlark. 

 The strong smell of the tar weed suggested the pleasing tang of the desert creo- 

 sote, and along the base of the foothills near the lake grew desert willows, mes- 

 quite, and other desert plants, and masses of pale green cactus topped with 

 pink fruit. Roadrunners and Cactus Wrens and their nests were passed here. 

 and two Cactus Wrens dashed across the road ahead of us, one of them lighting 

 on a fence post with its grating chut, chut, clint. 



