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THE CONDOR 
VOL. VI 
ever, the young grosbeaks were be3'Ond the reach of the camera. Theirwings had 
developed strength and they were beginning to hunt for themselves. 
Por/lattd, Oregon. 
MALE GROSBEAK AND THREE YOUNG 
Extracts from Some Montana Note-books, 1904 
liV 1>. .M . SIl.I.OWAV 
W illow Thicket, spring Creek, Lewistown, Mont. May 7. — A most dis- 
tressing event occurred today in our usually quiet little grove, an event 
that occurs annually about this time, though, and tonight I am mourn- 
ing the loss of embryonic offspring. It was a magnificent setting, although it was 
the traditional unlucky number thirteen. I might have known, experienced old 
magpie that I am, it would turn out unlucky for me, and I should have stopped at 
the number twelve, as I did last year; but now it seems that my treasured thirteen 
is to rest on a cottony bed beside my lost twelve of last year. Today that same 
voracious egg-hog, genus Homo, called Silloway, came wandering through the 
thicket, I was sitting quietly in my earthen cot, meditating on the numerous 
cares awaiting me as the proud mother of thirteen infants, when a rude shock at 
base of the small haw I had chosen for my home site caused me to flit from the 
nest. The Homo collector hurried up to my snug tenement, anchored himself 
among the many thorns which beset the surrounding branches, adjusted a cigar 
box in front of him, and began to remove one by one my precious clutch. There 
is no thorn without its rose, however, and even in my distress it was amusing to 
watch him try to pack thirteen eggs with cotton intended for only nine eggs, in a 
space intended for only nine eggs. He stretched every bit of cotton to its utmost 
capacity, poked unwrapped eggs into cavities between wrapped eggs, and finally 
worked his way down in an apparent condition of hilarious bewilderment. Here- 
