196 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XIV 
Fresh eggs may be looked for after the 20th of May though some pairs breed much 
earlier. I found one nest containing three newly hatched young May 25. The young did 
not appear to be over a day or two old, yet I heard them cheeping at a distance of about a 
rod, and by following the sound, located the nest. 
No amount of watching on my part has ever enabled me to locate a nest being built. 
I have found a number of occupied nests, but it has always been by flushing the bird as I 
passed close by. The first week of June is the height of the nesting season. The male sings 
quite continuously in the vicinity of the nest. The latter is built of grass and lined with 
fine grass, closely resembling the nest of the Arizona Junco, but better built. The eggs are 
pure white, usually three in number. They are slightly smaller than the eggs of the Junco, 
and can be distinguished from immaculate specimens of the latter by this difference in size, 
and by the fact that they show no trace of a blue shading as Juncos’ eggs always do. 
When flushed from the nest the bird flies silently away, close to the ground, until the 
shelter of a bush is reached. Then she begins to scold vigorously but does not come back 
near the nest. When the young begin to fly, both parents are kept busy supplying them 
with food, which they demand most vociferously. At this time both the adults are very 
solicitous and set up a terrible scolding if the young are approached at all closely. The 
nest is carefully concealed under a rock overhung with dead grass, or under the leaves 
of a mescal plant. The nest, of which a photograph accompanies this article (see fig. 79), 
was found May 24, 1907, and is typical in every respect. Incubation was advanced. — F. C. 
Willard. 
White-winged Dove in the San Diegan District. — I have recently examined a 
mounted specimen of the White-winged Dove (Melopelia asiatica trudeaui) in the posses- 
sion of Mr. John Johnson, Jr., of Escondido. The bird was shot at a point not over five 
miles from the Pacific Ocean, at an elevation of about 200 feet. The locality is about ten 
miles due west from Escondido in an air line. 
I am inclined to think that the specimen is a bird-of-the-year, as there is a rusty tinge 
at the tips of the feathers. It was in company with Mourning Doves, but seemed to feel 
out of place. 
As to the date of capture, Mr. Johnson said it was three weeks before the quail season 
opened last year (1911). That would bring it about September 25. — Joseph Dixon. 
Paroquet Auklet in Humboldt County.— Buzz-z-z-z-z Bang! Was the way one 
Andy Aiton described the first appearance of this little auklet. It was about 8 o’clock in 
the evening of February 7, 1909, near the corner of First and E Streets, Eureka, California. 
Mr. Aiton was standing on the street in front of his barber-shop, when a whirl of wings 
and a sharp crack, was followed by the dropping of a Paroquet Auklet (CyclorrhyncJms 
psiftacitlus) to the street from above. 
It was a dark stormy night; the drizzling rain growing into a dense fog, with a strong 
wind blowing, turned the night into a dreary haze. The auklet was evidently lost, and, 
probably attracted by the street lights, flew blindly against an overhead telephone wire, 
thereby stunning itself and causing it to fall to the street below. On picking it up, Mr. 
Aiton found the bird alive. 
He gave the bird to a local taxidermist, who after skinning it, failed to ascertain the 
sex. I secured the skin in its fresh state and afterwards turned it over to Mr. F. J. Smith, 
in whose mounted collection it was placed. 
1 his is probably the second record and the sixth specimen, of the rare little Paroquet 
Auklet for the state of California. — C. I. Clay. 
An Elevated Camp.— Last spring I wanted to lead the simple life close to nature 
l,)y camping out, and built the usual camp on the ground, but hogs and cattle, besides skunks 
and rattlesnakes, run free about here. The accompanying photo shows the alternative 
chosen in preference to building a fence around the tent; and such a camp has several ad- 
vantages over the ground camp. The platform, if anything, is easier built than a “hog-tight” 
fence, as isTisually done here; I never heard of a “skunk-tight” fence being attempted. Pos- 
sibly the yarns about skunks are stretched, as they never bothered me. If food is not drop- 
ped on the ground, rats and mice are much less troublesome, as they apparently do not 
climb oak trees in search of food ; and ants are entirely eliminated by painting a ring of 
kerosene, or smearing pitch around the main poles between tent and points of support. The 
platform is about eight by sixteen feet. 
The available dry space is more than doubled, and I have shelves and a punching bag 
on the “first floor”, and considerable chemical apparatus to occupy my time profitably dur- 
