130 
THE CONDOR 
VOL. VI 
flower plant and close to the ground on the bank of a stream; a fourth was placed 
six inches up, right in the center of a tussock of rushes growing on a small inland 
in an almost dry water course. 
A strange site was that of one pair which built their nest right in an old nest 
of bicolored blackbird that was placed three and a half feet up in a very small wil- 
low sapling, standing in water. Only five out of the great number of nests exam- 
ined could be classed as truly typical. They were built in clumps of stranded tule 
and varied in height from six inches to five feet. 
June 12 was a red letter day. I had the good fortune to enjoy the companion- 
ship of my friend, Mr. H. R. Taylor, the esteemed president of the Cooper Club. 
We put in a long, hot day’s work, exploring by aid of our boat the banks of a 
large slough, both sides of which had many thickets of willow and alder with here 
and there large patches of wild rose upon them. We located no less than twenty- 
two nests of yellow-throats. One nest held young birds, nine, eggs and the rest 
were in various stages of construction. With all due acknowledgements to Mr. 
Taylor I transcribe a few extracts from the notes he made: “No. 6, nest building; 
ten feet from ground in willow near banks of slough. No. 14, nest and egg; three 
and a half feet up in willow, standing in water, willow catkins freely used in com- 
position of outer walls of nest. No. 17, nest and four eggs; built in wild mint, 
compact and standing high, evidently out of place in its odd situation being only 
partially concealed: six inches from ground, built on side of stream now dry and 
about one hundred yards from the nearest water. No. 18, nest just completed; 
built on the ground in sunflower on bank of same stream as No. 17, and thirty 
yards from it and about seventy from lake. No. 20, ne.st building about twelve 
feet up in willow on edge of lake. One nest, number five, with three eggs, was 
placed five and a half feet up in a willow standing in water near bank. A heron’s 
feather was fixed into one side of the nest and its top projected three inches or 
more beyond the rim.’’ 
In connection with nest 14, composed partly of willow catkins,! found in the last 
week of May a very large nest built almost entirely of willow catkins and placed 
four feet up on a pendant branch of a willow standing in water. This nest is now 
in the possession of Mr. Taylor. 
On June 13 we took careful line measurements of the two highest nests dis- 
covered up to that time. The first was placed in a crotch of a small black oak on 
a knoll near the lake and was exactly seventeen feet six inches from the ground. 
The other nest was built in a cypress on a hillside and near a residence. It con- 
tained young birds just hatched. It was eighteen feet ten inches up, and about 
three hundred yards from the nearest water. Both these measurements have the 
advantage of being checked and verified by Mr. Taylor. The record nest as to 
height was I believe a second nest of the cypress pair. It was built in a crotch of 
a blue gum standing in the same grove as the cypress, the bases of the two trees 
being only sixteen feet apart. On July 12 when measurement was taken the nest 
held, judging from their appearance, three highly incubated eggs. The height of 
this nest from the ground was twenty-two feet eleven inches. One other nest 
needs special mention. On June 18 it contained two apparently deserted eggs. 
Its situation was an extraordinary one, at least a quarter of a mile from either 
lake or slough though a small stream was within two hundred yards. The nest 
was built four and a half feet up in a rose bush trained against the eastern wall of 
an unoccupied house, standing upon a hill, just such a site as the house finch de- 
lights in. I have often seen their nests in this bush. Curiously enough no set of 
