THE CONDOR 
12 
1 VOL. V 
grasses hanging down from the side it very successfully simulated the overhanging 
grasses and rootlets of its surroundings. 
When discovered, the parent was brooding, but left the nest silently and dis- 
appeared, nor was she seen again while I was in the neighborhood. The eggs at 
this date contained small embryos. 
There was no evidence of a former brood having been reared in this nest, nor 
had I seen any young of the species in the month or more I had been in the canyon. 
The following is a description of the nest and eggs kindly supplied by Mr. J. W. 
Preston of Baxter, Iowa. At the base of the nest is a quantity of disintegrated 
trash such as bits of bark, pieces of weed stalks and finely broken old grass stems 
and blades, with some dirt and dust which had evidently been scratched up from the 
bottom of the cavity. On this slight platform are dead sticks and twigs, from larch 
and pine, intermixed with much old faded grass, pine needles and leaves of fir, and 
with some bulbs and rootlets of different grass-like sedges. The materials have been 
drawn into the burrowed-out cavity in the bank, leaving two-thirds of the material 
outward from the true nest, which is of fine dry grass stems and blades finely shred- 
ded and formed into a neat, well-rounded rather shallow cup. I note a few sprays 
of the long, black moss so common among the fir trees of the mountains. The 
structure before me is oblong in outline, being ten inches long by five wide, and 
three and one-half inches deep. In the inner end is formed the neat, symmetrical 
nest, cunningly resting in so great an amount of superfluous matter. The inside 
measurements are one and one-half inches deep by two and nine-tenths across. The 
structure is of course, somewhat compressed in boxing. 
The ground color of the eggs is faint greenish-blue, blotched and marked with pale 
chestnut and lavender. Some of the spots are large, and a number of irregular 
markings resembling written characters appear, well scattered over the surface, but 
heavier about the larger end. Two of the eggs are less heavily marked, the specks 
and spots being smaller. These eggs appear somewhat elongate. The following are 
the measurements: .90X.64, .94X.64, .95X.65, and .96X.66: average .93X.64 inches. 
Nesting of the Abert Towhee. 
HY M. FRENCH GIEM.\N. 
I N PxARTS of the Colorado Desert the Abert towhee {Pipilo aberti) is quite at 
home, and in the breeding season is fairly common. During a three or four 
years acquaintance with the species at Palm Springs, Indio, and Torros, I have 
made a few observations of nesting habits which may be of interest to Club members. 
While more shy and retiring in disposition than the California towhee yet if 
undisturbed the Abert gains confidence and will make it.self at home about the house. 
Its song or rather chirp, is more musical I think than that of its near relative, and 
is pitched in a higher key. 
During the winter of 1899 I saw two pairs of the birds at Palm Springs and 
found one old nest. On May 9 of the same year I found a nest in a desert bush 
about two feet from the ground. The old bird slipped quietly off at my approach 
and revealed a .set of three eggs slightly incubated. I'hey were longer than those of 
the California towhee and not quite so large around. The nest was deeper cup- 
.shaped and not quite so bulky. 
