72 THE CONDOR Vol. XX 



their mud nests, forty-seven in number, along the rafters of an open cow-shed. 

 As I came near, the birds began circling upward until they were almost lost in 

 the clouds. Later they came down again and resumed building, but six hoars 

 afterwards when I passed the spot on my way back to camp, every one of the 

 birds had disappeared. The day closed without any other than the usual species 

 being noted and no nests, save a second Modoc Woodpecker's with three fresh 

 eggs and a Red-shafted Flicker's (Colaptes cafer collaris) in course of excava- 

 tion. 



On May 18 it stormed until 3 :15, when I went abroad on a short ramble. The 

 only interesting discovery was the finding of a Western Belted Kingfisher 

 (Ccryie alcyon caurina) which had met its death by becoming entangled in wire 

 fencing on the hotel grounds and which is shown in the accompanying photo- 

 graph (fig. 6). 



Having heard of the former nesting of Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) 

 on the range of mountains southeast of Bijou and as the weather had now become 

 clear and still, I decided next morning on making a trip to this region. During 

 the whole of a long day's tramp afield, I saw three eagles, but found no nests, al- 

 though I did locate, in a massive Jeffrey pine about 150 feet up, an occupied nest 

 of the Western Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo borealis calurus) to which, however, I 

 did not climb. In one respect this nest is worthy of notice being the only tree- 

 nest of a large raptore that I had ever found up to this time in the High Sierras. 



On May 20, on the edge of a swampy tract, I came upon a pair of Sierra 

 Red-breasted Sapsuckers ( Sphyrapicus varius daggetti) engaged in nest-drilling 

 in a tamarack pine. The birds worked alternately for about equal periods and I 

 watched them for a considerable time. 



On the 21st, in company with two friends, a tramp was taken over the eastern 

 summit and down into Carson Valley, Nevada. Here numerous nests of common 

 species were noted, and, owing to a lower elevation, most of them contained eggs. 

 Some nests noted held young which, in the case of the Nevada Redwing (Agelaius 

 plioeniceus nevadensis) were as yet unfeathered, while those of the American 

 Magpie (Pica pica hudsonia) were almost ready to leave the nest. Of more than 

 passing interest were colonies of Brewer Blackbirds (Euphagus cijanoceplialus) 

 nesting in tules along fresh-water sloughs, although there existed abundant op- 

 portunity for tree-nesting. Seven nests examined were made of mud, manure, 

 grasses, weed-stems and rootlets, and were lined with horse and cow hair. They 

 held from two to six eggs, all apparently in a fresh condition. 



On my return to Bijou, May 25, the first find worthy of record was a nest of 

 the Mountain Chickadee in the top of an old stump, with five nearly fresh eggs, 

 and one of the Williamson Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus) the day follow- 

 ing, with six eggs in which incubation had just begun. The nesting cavity was 

 fifteen feet up in a dead lodsrepole or tamarack pine and the eggs lay on a bed of 

 bits of wood excavated by the birds. While I was in the tree both the parents, 

 so wonderfully unlike in coloration, made their appearance, the male uttering 

 from time to time, as it went up and down the nearby tree trunks, the remarka- 

 bly loud and characteristic call-note. 



At Rowland's Marsh, two days later. I noticed at least a thousand Cliff 

 Swallows in migration. The birds rested for a time in the same strove of dead 

 pines in which the Tree Swallows had been seen previously and where many of 

 the latter had since taken up their abode. T came upon a pair of Western Ruby- 

 crowned Kinglets (Begulus calendula cincraceus) engaged in tearing the nest of 



