Jan., 1912 
THROUGH TAHOEAN MOUNTAINS 
13 
trail Heinemann flushed a Sierra Jmico {Junco hyemalis thurberi) from its nest, 
well concealed among weeds and containing two small young and an infertile egg. 
It was nearly dark when we reached the lake, which we found almost entirely 
frozen over, while most of the surrounding country was covered with snow. 
During the chilly night the ice-covered lake and its snowy shores, glittering in the 
moonlight, presented a landscape that seemed more like one in the dead of wdnter 
than on the first of July. In strange contrast to the cold nights, in these altitudes 
often so cold as to cause hard- 
ship to one camping out, the 
days were usually warm and 
pleasant, and at times ex- 
tremely hot, wdiich the snow 
by reflection increased rath- 
er than diminished. When 
the light of the welcome morn- 
ing sun came filtering through 
the trees about our camp, we 
became aware of the presence 
of a pair of California Pine 
Grosbeaks i^PtnicoIa e. cali- 
foi’nicii) which were watched 
with that extreme interest 
which must ever be given to 
birds whose eggs remain un- 
known to science. The gros- 
beaks remained about our 
camp for some time, feeding 
on the ground and in the trees. 
If the birds were nesting I 
failed to gain any clue of it 
from their actions, for they 
flitted from branch to branch, 
and from tree to tree in a 
leisurely and unconcerned 
fashion, finally taking wdng 
across the lake and disappear- 
ing ill the heavy timber. 
After a refreshing swim 
in the frigid waters of the lake 
we rambled along its shores 
for some distance. Near the 
water’s edge where the snow 
had melted I found beneath an 
overhanging bush a well con- 
cealed nest of the Sierra Junco 
with four large young. Farther on, one of the Audubon Warbler {Dendroica audubo- 
ni) was found eighteen feet up in a hemlock, also with four large young. The nest 
was made of weed stems, grasses, bark strips and rootlets, and lined with feathers. 
The limbs had the characteristic droop of trees in high altitudes and made the 
climb rather difficult. The most interesting nest found about the lake, however, 
was one of the Sierra Junco placed in a cavity of a fir stump three feet above the 
Fig. 6. AN UNUSUAU NESTING SITE OF THE SIERRA JUNCO 
AT ■' LAKE-OF-THE-WOODS 
