Sept., 1910 DISCOVERY OF NEST AND EGGS OF GRAY-CROWNED LEUCOSTICTE 157 
Leucosticte with the gorgeous tints of the sunset clouds or liken its eggs to the 
drifted snow that characterizes its home. The student of birdlife cannot, however, 
indulge in any such fancy flights, if lie is desirous of following the strait and nar- 
row path of science. Thus it behooves me to simply state that the eggs are pure 
white, unmarkt, ovate-pyriform in shape, and in size measure in inches: .89x.62, 
.90x.63, .91x63, .92x.62. The sharply pointed end and the peculiarly fine text- 
ure of the shell make the eggs at once distinctive. After being carefully taken 
from the nest, one by one, the specimens were well wrapt in cotton and placed 
in a partitioned box made of heavy block tin. 
Our time was next devoted to the nest. To show how difficult this was to see, 
I may state that I pointed out the aperture to Duttke and askt him if he could see 
the nest within. After viewing it from seemingly every possible angle he declared 
he could see nothing of it and was rather amazed when it was later shown him. 
Altho but three feet in, yet 
from the fact that the passage 
first ran south, then south- 
west and then south again, 
the nest, being placed at the 
latter turn, was rendered al- 
most invisible from without. 
Investigation showed the nest 
was situated in a small patch 
of soil, in a depression 1 % 
inches deep which had un- 
doutedly been hollowed out 
by the birds themselves. As 
the nest was 2/4 inches high 
it was thus equally above and 
below the soil. It is a very 
curious fact that this spot was 
one of the very few places on 
the entire peak where soil was 
visible; and if in all cases the 
birds penetrate to the soil to 
bild, it would explain why 
they go to such great depths. 
The nest is almost entirely Fig. 51. gray-crowned leucosticte in one of many 
and very compactly made of poses, as it flitted about over the rocks 
dry grass stems and roots. 
These have the appearance of having been uprooted and are of course of 
the previous season. As the nearest available grass is half a mile or more 
from the nesting site the reason why the bilding birds made such long trips for 
material is explained. Fine light-colored grass forms the lining, with the addition 
of a few feathers. One of the latter runs lengthwise across the bottom of the nest 
cavity, dividing it in half. Unfortunately a fluffy feather belonging to the nest 
was blown away on the peak and lost. The nest is oval in shape and the dimen- 
sions are as follows: top, 5x3)4 inches; cavity, 2)4x3 inches; depth of cavity, 1 
inch; depth of nest over all, 2)4 inches. 
We found the location to be 150 feet below the top of the peak. The altitude 
of Pyramid is 10,020 feet. We did not see Leucostictes on either trip below 
9,300 and the majority were noted between 9,500 and 10,000 feet altitude. After 
