36 
THE CONDOR 
VOT.. VI 
a nest, also placed high in a clump of willow and blooming elder, within three 
3-ards of the first, the presumption in my mind was strong that it was built by the 
same pair. When the mother proved to be a brave bird, and stood my gaze 
steadily, and when, as last year, this brood was the first to leave the nest, and took 
the same course through the bushes, my conviction amounted to certainty. 
Another pair last year had chosen a hazel bush overhanging a little path leading 
to the spring. Of these I wrote in my notebook that they were very wild and 
that the female refused to go on the nest as long as I was in sight, although I went 
to a distance and kept very quiet. Her mate went on at last, bvrt he, too, was a 
timid bird. This year the same nest was in place, for slight and apparently care- 
lessly built as they are, they will outlast many a more elaborate nest, and endure 
the storms of winter remarkably well. In the very next bush, and at about the 
same height was another nest, with a pair whose actions were exactly like these of 
last year. When I looked at the nest, although I did not touch it, the female 
raised such an outcry that she drew about her a pair of tanagers, a handsome male 
spurred towhee, a pair of Macgillivray warblers, and a Cassin vireo, who had a 
great deal of advice to offer in his loud, preaching tones. The male grosbeak sat- 
isfied himself with taking up a post of observation on a high twig, and driving 
away another male, whose sympatln^ was evidently offensive to the husband. I 
have noticed that each pair regarded as their private property a circle of perhaps a 
hundred yards about their nest, and resented the appearance in that ground of 
any of their own race. They were never far enough away from another nest- 
however, to be out of ear-shot, and one male seemed to vie with another in 
musical display, at leisure moments. 
Another pair had managed to conceal their nest from me last year, but I knew 
its whereabouts in the thick woods, and had noted the song as having a peculiar 
refrain of four descending notes. This year I traced the male by this song, and 
happened to sit down at the very foot of a young madrone in which the nest was 
placed." I found this pair most engaging and fearless, and although the young 
were nearly fledged, I felt repaid for the time that I gave to watching them. I 
found that the male was much the bolder bird, although the female, after starting 
back several times at sight of me, overcame her fear and delivered the mouthful of 
green caterpillars which she was carrying. I found that they fed in perfectly regu- 
lar rotation, at intervals of about twelve minutes, and that the one bird remained 
on guard while the other was seeking food. They spent this time differently, 
however. The male always took up a position on a tree near by and sang till his 
wife returned. Once after a prolonged absence, he grew silent and anxious, and 
finally went off to look for her. When she was left in charge, she either sat 
silently in the same tree or on the edge of the nest, seeming to have a soothing 
effect on the young, who slept as long as she was there. She would not stir and 
waken them for any movement of mine. The different influence of the two 
parents was marked. When the father was heard returning with his loud, cheery 
song, which did not seem to be interfered with by his big mouthful of wriggling 
worms, every youngster was alert and standing on tiptoe to get first taste. The 
father always brought more food than the mother, and the fledglings seemed 
inspired by his bustling ways to be adventurous. One stretched his wings and 
crawled up to the edge of the frail nest, and I could see that it would not be long 
before he would fly. Only the father attended to the cleansing of the nest as 
long as I watched them. The father’s singing so constantly near the nest, com- 
bined with his generous feeding, would certainly make an impression on the 
