September, 1902. 
THE CONDOR 
unusually early date, as it is nothing 
uncommon to see the young flying 
about during the second week of May. 
The large majority of first sets are laid 
by April 25, at latest, but their habits 
are most irregular as I have found 
fresh sets on the following dates; April 
23, May 25, June 4, and June 26, while 
young just out of the nest on May 28 
would hav^e made the eggs laid about 
May 5. Nor were those all the results 
of the first sets being broken up, as 
many of the birds were seen loitering 
around for over a month before starting 
in on nest building. That a second 
set is often laid, after the first brood 
has been raised is beyond a doubt, as 
several times in the case of late nests I 
have found near by the nest used for 
the first brood. 
The nest found on .April 22 is an ex- 
cellent illustration of how little these 
birds fear mankind. It was found in a 
small park situated in the center of the 
city of Tacoma, and was placed in a 
small fir only ten feet over a path used 
by hundreds of people every day, and 
a favorite playground for children. 
This rule does not always hold good, 
however, as I have found nests situated 
at a distance of several miles from civil- 
ization. 
The nest is a well built, bulk}’’ struct- 
ure, the largest of any of our warblers, 
measuring externally 3 5 inches in 
width by 2.5 in depth; internal dimen- 
sions 2 inches in width by 1.5 inches in 
depth. It is very handsome, as a rule, 
being built of fir twigs, everlasting 
weed, rootlets, moss and dried grass, 
with a thick lining of horse hair and 
feathers. Its location is generally close 
to the main trunk on one of the large 
lower branches of some large, solitary 
119 
fir, or one of a grove of firs, on a dry, 
level prairie. I have never seen a nest 
placed otherwise than directly on a 
large branch, never in a crotch. It is 
always so well protected from the light 
that I have never been able to obtain a 
photograph. The nests are for some 
reason never placed far from the 
ground, the highest I have seen being 
twenty feet up, the lowest only six feet. 
There is never the slightest attempt at 
concealment, and they are so easy to 
see that almost every nest I have found 
has been a surprise to me in this re- 
spect. 
xAll of the nests that I have seen con- 
tained four eggs as the complete set, 
but Mr. P. M. Silloway, of Montana, 
found a nest in the Flathead Take 
region that differs in almost every re- 
spect from anything I have ever seen. 
It was placerl in a crotch of a small 
willow tree and contained five eggs. 
In coloring the\^ vary to a consider- 
able extent, though the ground color is 
always constant, as is the case with all 
the warblers eggs known to me. The 
ground color is a dead white, with a 
tinge of greenish that is inva’'iably 
there though not particularly strong. 
The markings vary in different sets 
from small black spots sparingly scat- 
tered over the entire egg, to eggs hand- 
somely ringed around the larger end 
with dots and blotches of red brown, 
black and lavender. In shape they 
vary from rather short ovate to long 
oval, while they are subject to consid- 
erable variation in dimensions. The 
largest egg in my collection measures 
.75X.55 inches, the smallest .67X.50 
inches. A measurement of sixteen 
specimens shows an average of .70X.54 
inches. 
A Study of the Black-headed Grosbeak. 
BY .A.XNA HEAD, BERKEEEY, C.\E. 
T he scene is a nook in the wooded till well into the summer, a secure re- 
Coast Range of Mendocino county, treat for deer, grouse and mountain 
California. To the east rises the quail. Clear, cold streams tumble 
peak of Mt. Sanhedrim, snow-covered through every gorge and crevice in the 
