60 THE CONDOR Vol. XX1V 
Ill HIGH RANGING BUT RATHER LOW NESTING 
Nesting height Wing minus tail 
iin. 
Great Crested Flycatcher Generally less than 20 ft. 10.9 
THRUSHES NESTING ABOVE GROUND 
mm. 
Wood Thrush About 8 ft. 37.5 
Gray-cheeked Thrush Low trees or bushes 31.0 
Olive-backed Thrush About 4 ft. 50.8 
Average 33.1 
THRUSHES NESTING ON GROUND 
Hermit Thrush 24.2 
Wilson Thrush 27.9 
Average 26.0 
Other birds ranging and nesting high are the Tanagers, Cedar Waxwing, 
Kinglets, Robin (at times), Bluebird, Crows, and Grackles. These are all long 
and pointed of wing. Apparently the only short and round winged bird in 
eastern North America to nest high is the Blue-gray Gnateatcher, ten to sixty 
feet; this is the only exception to the law. 
All our passerine birds that fly at any considerable elevation above the 
ground have the long, pointed wing, as Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Cow- 
birds, Rusty Blackbird, Longspurs, Shore Larks, Titlarks, Robin, Jingbirds, 
Bluebirds, European Starling, Crows, Ravens and, of course, the Swallows. 
Even such as fly in flocks in the open above the trees are of the same wing 
form, as Goldfinches, Siskins, Redpolls, Crossbills, Purple Finches, Cedar 
Waxwing. 
To sum up: Birds with long pointed wings may nest high or low, but the 
short and round winged are low nesting. In short, among groups of similar 
passerine Norti American birds the power of flight is closely related to the 
elevation of the nest in species that are arboreal. 
Bridgeport, Connecticut, January 8, 1922. 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
Red-wings of the Imperial Valley, California.w—During the comparatively few 
years since agricultural development in the Imperial Valley of California has been in 
progress, many species of birds have extended their ranges to include this favored area, 
some have multiplied apace, and not a few of them are, to some extent, changing their 
habits to conform to new conditions. Chief among these in numbers is probably the 
Sonora Red-wing (Agelaius phoeniceus sonoriensis). Coming in from the valley of the 
Colorado River, where they were practically limited to the riparian association, the 
blackbirds have spread over the broad and fertile plain of the Imperial and, fattening 
unmolested on the grain crops, have become amazingly abundant. There seems to have 
been little competition in their ecological position, and, with few apparent enemies, their 
untold thousands have already become such a serious menace that it is being loudly and 
insistently demanded that some steps be taken to control their depredations. 
Red-wings seem to be rather evenly distributed over the valley floor dur'ng the 
