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VOL. XII 
NESTING OF THE _GR AY-HEADED JUNCO 
By ROBERT B. ROCKWELL 
WITH ONE PHOTO BY THE AUTHOR 
R EFERENCE to back files of The Condor reveals the fact that nothing 
has been publisht in this magazine regarding the nesting habits of Junco can- 
iccfis ; hence a few notes on the subject may be of more or less interest to 
Condor readers. 
On June 16, 1910, a short trip was made from Grand Rake, Grand County, 
Colorado, where I was then camping, to Columbine Lake, a beautiful body of water 
about 100 acres in extent lying two and one-half miles northwest of Grand Lake, 
at an altitude of about 9,000 feet. Columbine Lake is a typical mountain lake of 
Fig. 55. NEST AND EGGS OF THE GRAY-HEADED JUNCO 
crystal clear water, surrounded by lofty mountains, with a dense growth of 
pine and spruce timber extending in places to the water’s edge. 
Along the west shore extends a narrow strip of boggy ground lying between 
the hevy timber and the water’s edge and covered with a variegated growth of rank 
grass, moss, low scattered bushes and down timber. As I made my way around 
the lake two Spotted Sandpipers fluttered from their nests each containing four 
eggs, and a few feet farther on, in a precisely similar location a Grav-headed Junco 
flusht noisily from under my very feet. The location was altogether incompatible 
with my ideas of junco nesting sites, but a careful search was made nevertheless, 
and finally the nest containing four eggs was discovered, wonderfully concealed in 
a deep cavity in the ground completely rooft over by a projecting clod of moss- 
covered earth and entirely hidden and protected by the dense branches of a small 
bush. The parent bird flew directly to the dense pine timber close by, where it 
