July, 1912 A JOURXEV TO STAR LAKE COUNTRY AND TAHOE RICOIOX 
14,3 
-swanijLV meadow ami wa.s located by the bird dislodg-ing- one of the eg'g's in 
leaving, which rolled out on the meadow grass unbroken. A hard climb 
forty feet up an aspen showed a nest of the Cabanis Woodpecker (Drxobatcs 
z'illosns hyloscopus) to contain four very small young. This is the earliest 
nesting woodpecker of the region. 
i\Iay 22 a tramp was taken to Cave Rock and return by the lake beach. 
Killdeers {Acgialifis z’oeifenis) and Spotted Sandpipers {Actifis iiiociilariiis ) 
were common most of the way, and a nest of the former was noted, a slight 
hollow in the sand lined with pebbles and bits of driftwood, with four eggs well 
along in incubation. A nest of the Blue-fronted Jay { Cyaiiocifta stcllcri fron- 
talis) in a Jefifrey pine six- 
teen feet up. was found to 
hold three near fresh eggs, 
while not far distant in the 
cavity of an old stump 27 
inches above the ground and 
lined with grasses, bark strips 
and feathers, was the large 
complement of eight eggs of 
the ^Mountain Bluebird (Si- 
alia curnicoidcs) . Six of 
these appeared well incubated 
and two addled. 
The following day was de- 
voted to work at the Row- 
lands Marsh, where the cus- 
tomary colonies of the Red- 
wings (Agclaiiis phoeniccus, 
subsp?). Brewer Blackbird 
( Euphagiis cyanoccphalus) , 
Yellow-headed B 1 a c k b i r d 
{ Xaiitlioccphalus) and Black 
Tern { H ydrochcUdon nigra 
surinaincnsis) were found 
nesting'. The only noteworthy 
finds were two nests of the 
Canada Goose (Branta cana- 
densis canadensis ) described 
in a previous Condor, and j.-jg 59 star lake; at the: e'Oot oe’ .job's sisti4r, 
a nest of the Mountain in lati2 ,jun]<:; ioi.e^vation nejarly 9000 fe:e:t 
Song Sparrow (iMclospiza J’hoto by Oluf .J. Ileinemann 
melodia montana) at the foot of a small willow with five young. ()n 
May 24 a fully-fledged Western Ro1>in (Planesficns inigratorins pro- 
pinquus) was noted, which is the earliest record I have for Lake 
\Tlley. Although many bird homes were located during the next two days it 
was not until the 27th that 1 made a noteworthy find. This, a nest of the 
Sierra Hermit Thrush {Hylocichla guttata seqnoiensis ) , was found on the floor 
of the valley in a lodge-pole pine sapling and made of moss, g'rasses and stems 
and lined with fine grasses. It held four eggs, slightly incubated. Another 
nest of more than passing interest was one of the Mountain Song Sparrow 
(Melospiza melodia montana) placed in a lodge-pole ])ine eleven feet up, with 
