170 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XIV 
To give examples of this wide variation in nesting dates of individual 
species I may state I have found scattered pairs of various birds nesting in Lake 
Valley between May 15 and 20, while the majority were still in flocks. To cite 
another instance: on the shore of Lake Tahoe on June 25, 1911, yoiing-of-the- 
year of Carpodacus cassini were noted, while a few yards away I flushed another 
bird of the same species from a nest containing two fresh eggs. 
Two other reasons could also be offered for the wandering mode of life 
of Pinicola. One of these was that the birds were so extremely wary that it 
was impossible to either flush them from a nest or see them return to it and that 
their continued journeying through the woods was simply done in their efforts 
to lead us away from their nesting grounds. Another explanation was that 
many of the so-called pairs observed were not in reality pairs at all but two males, 
as Ridgway, writing of the nearly allied form canadensis states (Birds of North 
and Middle America, i, p. 61) : “Some males (immature?) are exactly like the 
Fig. 69. A meadow-edge near forni’s where a pair 
OF CADIFORNIA pine grosbeaks was seen JUNE 14, 
1912; aeTITude 7500 FEET 
adult females in coloration.” Although Price made no mention of this strange 
condition existing in any of the specimens he secured of calif arnica, yet, on ac- 
count of the close relationship between this bird and canadensis such a condition 
seemed not at all unlikely. 
Basing' my calculations upon my theory in the matter and after a careful 
comparison of nesting dates of certain species for a number of seasons at Forni’s 
(7500 feet), Phillips’ Station (6900 feet) and Lake Valley (6220 feet), it 
seemed apparent to me that June 1 of a normal year would be the proper date to 
visit the region. At this time, I felt, that some birds at least would be found 
engaged in nest building, and nest-building time is often the only period when 
nests difficult to find can be located ; and from the height of the trees and the 
thickness of their foliage it appeared that those of the Pine Grosbeak would be 
of this nature. 
To find just what date in 1912 June 1 of a normal year would be, however, 
