48 
THK CONDOR 
i VOL. V 
of three eggs, in which the ground color is pale green. An abundant fish in the 
marsh called “chubs” is the principal food of these birds, and they may be seen all 
over the marsh restlessly flying back and forth or hovering and dropping with a 
sudden splash after their prey. 
Hydrochelidon surinamensis. Black Tern. This tern is even commoner than 
the preceding specie.s. Occasionally substantial nests of tules in deep water like 
those of forsteri were found, but nearly all were scantily or carelessly made of fine 
tules and marsh grass and placed on floating driftwood in a foot or so of water. 
forsteri this bird usually lays one, two, or three eggs, but a single set of four 
were found. It nests a little earlier than Foster tern, small young being rather 
common at the end of June. The birds breed in colonies, from ten to twenty nests 
NEST OF THE MALLARD. 
phOto by o. heinemann. 
being found together. A single specimen of a tern with a white breast not larger 
than SHri?ianie7isis was seen, but we were unsuccessful in our attempts to secure it. 
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos. American White Pelican.* Abundant about Row- 
lands marsh but does not breed. I also noticed large flocks about the numerous 
mountain lakes in Desolation Valley (altitude about 8000 feet). By the protuber- 
ance on the bill the males can be distinguished for (piite a distance. 
Merganser serrator. Red-breasted Merganser. Recorded as a winter visitant 
at Lake Tahoe in Grinnell’s “Check-list of California Birds.” 
Anas boschas. Mallard. By far the commonest duck about the marsh. Also 
numerous along the various streams and marshy meadows. The majority breed 
in May as several dead ducklings were seen and numerous nests were found, in 
