74 THE CONDOR Vol. XXIII 
Of the eight nests built above the ground three were placed in ceanothus or 
buckthorn bushes at heights ranging from eight inches to one and a half feet, 
the nesting site varying from the edge of a thicket well into the interior. One 
nest was placed on a mass of fallen and drooping dead willow limbs, about two 
feet and a half above the ground, and was soon well hidden by the rapid growth 
of the wild gooseberries interspersed throughout the accumulation of dead 
branches. Another was situated two feet from the ground in the fork formed by 
a two-inch shoot and the main trunk of a large willow, the nest being placed 
against the latter. Yet another was on a mass of dead branches and debris under 
a clump of willows, and was also two feet from the ground. A nest was found in 
a gooseberry tangle under a willow, about four and a half feet from the ground, 
while a further variation was found in the last one of this species for the season, 
discovered on July 5, in course of construction. This was upon the dead branches 
of an aspen, over, and three feet above, a small running stream, eighteen inches 
out from, and twelve inches above, the level of the stream bank. While quite 
open above, it was well shaded by gooseberry bushes. 
Whatever the situation of the nest, all seemed to follow a well established 
form of construction, variations being practically hmited to the amount and kind 
of material used in the wall of the structure. In the case of nests in elevated po- 
sitions this material consisted of varying quantities of dead twigs, often of re- 
markable length considering the size of.the builder. In one instance a twig of 
fourteen inches, and in another of twelve and a half inches, was used, with diam- 
eters at the base of over a quarter of an inch. Nests on the ground were often 
banked up with vegetable debris in place of twigs. 
In all instances the nest proper was composed of combinations of shreds of 
old bark, small dead twigs, old chips and small chunks of wood and dead leaves. 
All of this material, more or less decayed and very light in weight, was used in 
varying proportions in the different nests, sometimes one or two of these con- 
stituents being omitted. The wall of one nest contained several chips of wood, 
the largest of which was five and a half inches long by one and a quarter wide, 
and very thin, possibly a piece of berry basket. The lining of the nests was of 
finely shredded bark, dead rootlets, old dry grasses and sometimes horsehair. 
Extreme measurements of nests, in inches, are as follows: 
Maximum Minimum 
Diameter outside 14 _ 6 
inside 3 2% 
Depth outside 5% 3 
inside 1% 1 
Owing to the great shyness of this species but few opportunities for obsery- 
ing the actual nest building presented themselves. In one instance a bird was 
watched as it dragged a twig, at least eight inches in length, along the ground 
and up through and over the mass of dead branches and debris upon which, at 
a height of two feet from the ground, the nest was placed. Previously, the same 
bird had been seen carrying a small twig to its nest by direct flight. In another 
instance, where a nest was four feet and a half from the ground in a gooseberry 
tangle, the bird picked up twigs but a few yards from‘the nesting site and ear- 
ried them to it by direct flight. These twigs varied greatly in length, the longest 
being estimated at ten inches, and several were dropped on the way. In a heroic 
effort to maintain a proper balance with a coveted twig while striving to reach its 
destination, the bird’s body was almost perpendicular, its attitude and rapid 
