THE CONDOR 
42 
I VOL. V 
both nests the top is flaring and extends out to supporting twigs for an 
inch or more, the measurements do not include these extensions. 
These three nests show peculiarities in shape and in the materials used that 
would seem to indicate a fixed purpose and design on the part of their builders 
rather than the result of chance. The wild oats used in the first two is unusual, 
even in small quantities, yet these birds chose it in preference to everything else, 
although other materials that satisfied other orioles were in abundance. Con- 
cealment seems to have been disregarded, in the first nest especially, for the large 
bulky structure of wild oats would be a rather difficult thing to hide in the foliage 
of a white oak and there seemed to be very little if any attempt at it. In the second 
nest the white bark of the sycamore and large lighter colored leaves made it more 
easy. In the third nest the fact that what were undoubtedly the same birds 
built a new nest a few rods away when this was taken, using the same sort of 
material and building a nest of the same shape and nearly the same size, and of the 
same fine weaving would show an individual preference that was as decided as it was 
remarkable. This second nest was not disturbed and the birds raised their brood 
in peace. I shall watch the locality with interest this season and if the same birds 
return 1 am sure I shall know them by their handiwork. 
The Phainopepla. 
BY M. FRENCH GII.MAN. 
T his bird always po.ssessed a fascination for me, though as a small boy, my 
interest and admiration were mixed with some awe and respect. His easy 
graceful flight, dignified bearing and hearse-like plumage and colors placed 
him above the common herd and it were nearly sacrilege to throw rocks at him. 
This immunity did not extend to the nest and eggs could I but find them. For a 
long time I sought in vain and began to think they were like the fabled birds of 
paradise, or like "Topsy.” But finally a nest of young birds was found in July 
and the ice was broken. 
There is a dignity and an air of mystery about the bird that appeals to one. 
His silky, jet plumage, graceful crest and flaming red eyes form a striking com- 
bination, and the revelation, as he flies, of the snow patches on his wings is rather 
startling. As a musician he does not excel, merely repeating at intervals a flute- 
like note, or when another bird interferes with him, uttering a rasping reproach. 
The phainopepla makes his appearance in this vicinity about the 15th of May 
and remains until about October though stragglers may be seen along in Novem- 
ber. I once saw one during a snow storm the middle of January, and he wms still 
dignified though bedraggled. Many of them spend the wdnter in the mesquite 
thickets of the Salton sink and Conchilla valley — in and around Indio, Walters, 
Martinez and Toros. Here they feed on the pinkish berries of the desert mistletoe 
which infests so many of the mesquite trees. A few of the birds remain all winter 
at Palm Springs also, feeding on mi.stletoe berries and the pepper berries of which 
they seem very fond. A pepper tree with several of the phainopeplas clinging to 
