36 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



entrance while we were arranging the camera, we dis- 

 pensed with using the long rubber tube. In fact, we 

 soon found that so persistent was the mother-leucosticte 

 in her efforts to reach the nest, that it was necessary time 

 and again to drive her away in order to keep her from 

 entering. I noticed particularly that this bird never 

 used the broken-wing tactics as we had seen others do 

 on our previous visit. The method she employed was to 

 disappear for a time among various nearby rocks, en- 

 deavoring to draw us away from the spot. It was on 

 one of these occasions, after our patience had been almost 

 exhausted, that I decided it might be barely possible she 

 had returned to the nest by some of the under-rock pas- 

 sages. On looking in towards the nest all appeared dark 

 and I knew at once the bird must be sitting. It was only 

 due to the fact that the nest and eggs were light colored 

 that they had been visible at all. I experienced consid- 

 erable difficulty in flushing the bird, almost touching her 

 before she finally left the nest; and then the way she went 

 fluttering along the narrow passage made me fear for the 

 safety of the specimens, which had not yet been collected. 



Gently persistent, with those little cheery, pleading 

 notes, over the rocks she came again and again, although 

 repeatedly driven away, and the solicitude she showed 

 could not have but touched the heart of any observer. 

 I must say, even in spite of their extreme rarity, it was 

 not without a certain feeling of compunction that the 

 eggs were taken. Every time the bird returned, when it 

 was possible, a picture was taken and in all we secured 

 nine photos, the best ones being herewith produced. This 

 work covered a period of two and a half hours, and dur- 

 ing all this time the male did not appear ; in fact, no other 

 birds at all were seen. 



At last, for it seems even the patience of the leucosticte 

 has its limitations, the bird would no longer come within 

 camera range, and we turned our attention to the eggs and 

 nest. In order to reach these it was only necessary to 

 move a single boulder, and this, weighing only about too 



