Mar., 191,S 
81 
GREAT DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS’ EGGS AND NESTLINGS 
IN THE SIERRA NEVADA 
By A. M. INGERSOLIv 
WITH TWO PHOTOS BY MRS W. W. COOTKY 
A S WE approached Ci.sco, Placer County, California, toward evening of 
June 7, T912, the air seemed filled with the songs and call-notes of moun- 
tain birds. Observing that we had reached a section where birds were 
more numerous than is usual at so high an altitude as 5900 feet. I stopped my 
.automobile at the only hotel in that charming resort and engaged accommodation 
for Mrs. Ingersoll and self. Knowing- of no locality in the Sierras where small 
birds ne.sted more plentifully than in that particular place, I anticipated the pleas- 
ure of adding much choice material to my collection of eggs. A few days’ search, 
however, convinced me that I was not the only nest hunter, and that the Blue- 
fronted Jays had a great advantage over one who collects full sets only. Jays 
were no more abundant than in similar places elsewhere, but these particular 
birds doubtless had an extra strong desire for eggs and naked birds. No jays 
were detected in the act of eating well-feathered young. Other natural enemies 
were doubtless the cause of some of the nests being tenantless. But as the jays 
were the only robbers caught in the act of taking eggs and young, the principal 
havoc is attributed to them and to an unseasonable snow fall. It is to be hoped 
that birds in the surrounding localities were more fortunate in raising their 
young. For a wide spread destruction like that at Cisco would tend to wipe 
some species out of existence. 
Following a week of delightful weather, a cold rain began falling on the 
morning of June 22, by night turning to sleet. At six o’clock on the morning of 
June 23 there was a depth of three and one-half inches of snow on the level. 
This snow was of a wet, clinging nature, weighing down every leaf ana twig, 
and causing large branches and limbs of some deciduous trees to break. Clumps 
of bushes were generally weighted down to about half their height on the pre- 
vious day. 
Many nests that were on flexible branches had their contents spilled out, 
while those built against trunks of small trees or between the main stems of 
bushes were later in the day bombarded with huge chunks of snow dislodged by 
the wind. This permitted branches to spring violently up to their accustomed 
position, a further cause of destruction. Horizontal branches of large fir trees 
drooped and crushed nests that chanced to be located between them. It is easy 
to imagine that many sleeping birds were crushed to death as the snow-laden 
l.iranches quietly settled on them. Personally I know of two instances. A brood- 
ing Audubon Warbler was killed, and two of her three eggs broken, in the nest 
situated thirty feet above the ground on the branch of a fir. The other instance 
was that of a Western Wood Pewee picked up from the ground with nest on dead 
aspen limb that had broken off and fallen from a height of some twenty feet. 
Another Wood Pewee’s nest destroyed in the same manner, was found later in 
the day. While searching a large pine stub for the nest of a Sierra Creeper, T 
discovered a female Calaveras Warbler under a partially detached piece of bark. 
Her feathers were quite wet, and as the crevice was rather dry, I presume this 
ground-nesting bird was flooded out of her home and sought shelter as death ap- 
proached. 
