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Volume Xll September-October, 1910 Number 5 
THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEST AND EGGS OF THE GRAY-CROWNED 
LEUCOSTICTE 
By MILTON S. RAY 
WITH TWELVE PHOTOS BY OLUF J. HEIN EM ANN 
A FTER baffling scores of searching oologists during the long period since 
the bird was first described by Swainson in 1831, the nest and eggs of 
the Gray-crowned Leucosticte ( Leu cost icte tephrocotis tephrocotis) have 
at last been brought to light. The place of discovery is Pyramid Peak, a lofty 
mountain of the great Sierran chain, in the eastern portion of Eldorado County, 
California. And now, a nest having at last been found, the reason why the small 
army of collectors have searcht in vain becomes more apparent, the nests being 
either invisible or inaccessible, probably as a rule both. 
I had reacht Bijou on Lake Tahoe on the 20th of May, 1910. It was not 
until after Mr. Henry W. Carriger joined me on the third of June, however, that 
the trip to Pyramid Peak', in quest of those eggs which have hitherto seemed 
almost as impossible to secure as those of the Roc or of some fabled Halcyon, was 
definitly determined upon. In the matter of a proper date for eggs, we had, of 
course, but little to guide us. Chester Barlow, who no dout based his calculations 
upon the dissection of birds shot, has stated that he was of the opinion that the 
birds begin to bild around the first of June. From this we figured that if the peak 
was reacht by the tenth it would be in ample time for eggs, should a nest be 
located. 
Having previously ascended Pyramid Peak, however, on July 5, 1902, 1 and 
having spent some hours searching for the homes of those finches of cloudland, the 
prospects to me did not seem very promising. In addition, too, was the long list 
of unsuccessful attempts, and particularly those in recent times in this very locality, 
by such experienced men as Chester Barlow, W. I,. Atkinson, J. M. Willard, and 
2 Auk, Vol. xx, pp. 187, 188. 
