Mar., 1918 SIX WEEKS IN THE HIGH SIERRAS IN NESTING TIME 75 



a lodgepole pine limb that slanted downward. Dissection showed the parent 

 would not have laid a second egg for a considerable time. The egg is large for 

 the size of the bird, it being but little smaller than an egg of the Anna Humming- 

 bird. This is the first nest I have found of these tiny midgets, which seem espe- 

 cially diminutive among the great forest trees that characterize their home. 

 Later, Carriger and I came upon a nest of the Slender-billed Nuthatch (SiUa 

 carolinensis aculeatea) fifteen feet up in a natural crotch-cavity between two 

 great twin Jeffrey pines that branched out from a single trunk. The nest was 

 not only notable in that it was one of the very few that I have found of this spe- 

 cies in the region, but also in that an immense colony of black ants which was 

 continually journeying up and down the trunk past the nest did not molest the 

 small unfeathered young which lay in open view a few inches farther in. Equal- 

 ly interesting was discovery by Littlejohn of a nest of the Thick-billed Sparrow 

 (Passer ella iliaca megarhyncha) in buck brush two feet up. The nest, made al- 

 most entirely of bark-strips and rootlets, was collected with its three fresh eggs 

 and one of the parents. 



We made a long journey by boat on June 9 through the Rowland's Marsh. 

 While going through the tules I called attention to what, some distance off, ap- 

 peared to be a bird upon a floating nest. My companions laughed, and Carriger 

 said it would no doubt prove to be but a stick amid drift wood. As we came near- 

 er we were all amazed to behold an American Bittern (Botaurits lentiginosus) 

 with outspread wings and upright bill. Surely we had left our camera in camp 

 at a very inopportune time. The bittern taking flight disclosed five eggs (fair- 

 ly well incubated) lying upon the floating nest of cut tules. Owing to the back- 

 ward growth of the marsh vegetation, the nest was in open view ; later, however, 

 it would have been difficult to locate. We also found three nests of the Canada 

 Goose as previously related (Condor, loc. tit.). A nest of the Mallard (Anas 

 platyrliyvchos) was also found on a sand spit by Carriger with nine eggs in an 

 advanced state of incubation. 



Next morning, June 10, we left afoot for the Pyramid Peak region. En 

 route I noticed a Parkman Wren (Troglodytes aedon parkmani) engaged in nest 

 building in an old barn along the road, while at the upper end of Lake Valley, 

 Carriger and Littlejohn engaged in wild pursuit of a bird which they declared 

 must be entitled to a new number on the California check-list. After a spirited 

 chase, the specimen was secured and proved to be but a partial albino Thick- 

 billed Sparrow. 



At Meyer's Station, in looking into some nests of the Cliff Swallow in a shed 

 over the stock-scales, while Carriger jokingly derided me for showing a backward 

 tendency toward the collecting tactics of more youthful days, I made a most un- 

 usual discovery. In one of the nests which was in no wise peculiar I found two 

 eggs, fresh and of a crystalline whiteness, unmarked and considerably larger 

 than eggs of this swallow usually are. Greatly interested, I awaited the return 

 of the birds, which proved to be Cliff Swallows, and although but a partial set, I 

 decided to take the specimens as we were about to leave on a trip of undeter- 

 mined length. On June 14, on our way back, I found the birds had rebuilt that 

 portion of the entrance which I had torn away and deposited another egg of 

 glossy whiteness. By another trip to this site on June 21, 1 secured a fourth sim- 

 ilar egg, slightly incubated, thus completing one of the most unusual sets of 

 eggs of the Cliff Swallow of which I have knowledge. Except for their very 

 glossy shells and for being slightly longer and more narrow, they closely re- 



