July, 1902. 
THE CONDOR 
89 
with a ridge cr rim next to the entrance 
tube or neck, to prevent the eggs rolling 
out. In the winter nest there is merely 
a slight depression, little more than a 
shelf on which to rest. The one in- 
stance which leads me to think the 
young are sometimes raised in the 
winter nest is as follows: 
In the early part of March, 1899, - 
the 7th I believe — I found a male win- 
ter nest and about tw'enty feet from it 
what I supposed to be a female winter 
nest, both in the woolly 5^erba santa or 
Eriodictyon tomenlosuin. A few weeks 
later, about April 15, I examined the 
nests and found four fresh eggs in the 
female’s nest, 'fhat evening after dark 
I returned to the nests and captured 
both male and female in their nests. I 
took them to my camp and in the morn- 
ing the female had added another egg 
thus completing the set for me, for 
which I rewarded her with liberty. 
I^ooking over my notes I find most of 
the verdin entries date from March 20 
to May 2, most of the fresh eggs being 
found the last week in March, though I 
have found fresh eggs on March 10. 
The number in a set is four or five 
about evenl}^ divided a to frequency. 
This season I have found three com- 
plete sets of four each and two of five. 
Most frequently the nests are found in 
mesquite trees and the smoke tree or 
Dalca spinosa, Daley’s thorn tree. But 
any spin}^ shrub will answer, as I have 
found nests in the screw-bean, cholla 
cactus, desert willow, tree-sage, cats- 
claw, Eriodictyon, and last month I 
found one in a grapevine growing up 
in a cottonwood tree. The nests will 
average about five feet from the ground 
though I have found them as low as 
2j^ feet and as high as ten or twelve 
feet. 
The bird is easily, flushed from the 
nest and can be heard chipping in the 
nearby brush but takes care not to 
approach the intruder. But there are 
exceptions; as this season a pair of them 
came only four feet from me and scold- 
ed while I examined their nest of fresh 
eggs. Infertile eggs are often found 
especially toward the end of the breed- 
ing season, and in most of the sets of 
five eggs one is infertile. I do not think 
I ever found five young in the nest 
though often four and one rotten egg. 
The eggs resemble those of the gnat- 
catcher, pale green with brownish spots 
on them, but are a little smaller and the 
markings paler and often coarser, 
approaching blotches. 
Last December I found two female 
winter nests and later saw several of 
both sexes. One of them in a mesquite 
tree was ten or twelve feet from the 
ground and measured more than eight 
inches long by seven wide and seven 
deep. Lining was about one and one- 
quarter inches thick and composed of 
feathers — quail, chicken and others. 
The cavity was spherical, about one 
and one-half inches in diameter. The 
exterior was of mesquite and other 
thorny twigs, grass and weed stems, fine 
leaves, and any woolly or sticky fibre 
or weed that would hang together and 
help bind the nest. 
The birds seem almost independent 
of water as I have found nests and 
young about five miles from water and 
have seen old nests at least ten miles 
from any known water. The problem 
I am now at work on is that of the use 
of winter nests for breeding and if a 
number of nests can be located and 
marked next fall and winter and exam- 
ined in the spring the question can be 
settled. Perhaps some of The Condor 
readers can answer from personal ex- 
perience or some other knowledge. 
The Southern White-headed Woodpecker. 
BV JOSEPH GRINNEEE. 
Xenopicus gravirostris, new species. 
Sppx. Char. — -.S iniilar to but hill much heavier, and size in general 
