May, 1913 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN PINE GROSBEAK IN UTAH 
109 
July 3. — Today I took two boys with me to the cabin of the Iowa Copper, 
quite sure that bv tins time a full complement of eggs awaited me, and npoii 
reaching the tree the female could be seen sitting upon the nest. After climlhng 
the tree I was compelled to give the branch on which the nest rested several sharp 
raps at close range before she flushed; then only did she fly to a neighboring- 
limb, to immediately return to the end of the nest-branch. By -leaning far out 
the nest was seen to contain three eggs. Several attempts to reach them proving 
futile, another course was decided upon. So returning to the ground I went in 
search of a dead aspen of sufficient length and strength to take me up to the nest 
independent of the branch on which it was placed. While in search of such tim- 
ber I located, in a bunch of young firs^ nests of Cassin Purple Finch and Audubon 
Warbler in course of construction, and Western Robin with four fresh eggs. 
Snow was here six feet deep. The Y-topped aspen selected proved to be five feet 
sliort, but fortunately the crotched top just fitted a crotch in the limb underneath 
that on which the nest was located. This formed the main support for the crad- 
led platform, made of sawed oif branches laid crosswise, and resting on limbs on 
either side of the supported branch ; 
and a young aspen leaning toward the 
platform, proved an additional sup- 
port, for with my weight it bent over 
sufficiently to allow me to lash the 
whole mass together, making it quite 
rigid. During all this time the bird 
had remained on the nest with ap- 
parent unconcern, nor did she move 
until my hand was within a few inches 
of her, and then only to a position 
within two feet of the nest, there to 
hover with drooping and quivering 
wings. Then away to a neighbor- 
ing fir with a call, to meet her mate. 
Both birds then returned to the tree, 
the male to immediately depart to 
another nearby tree, there to be heard 
but not seen. The female on a 
branch two feet above the nest, 
took a position from which she did not move, until I had collected both nest and 
eggs, then flying to the ground some seventy-five feet away she apparently com- 
menced feeding; but very shortly she took wing across the little creek and around 
the mountain, to be seen no more that day. 
General Remarks . — The total number of nests of this species actually seen 
and examined, is nine, and covers a period of six years, although several addi- 
tional pairs of birds have been noted and watched during the breeding season, 
whose nests could not be located. The nests in all cases have been plainly visible 
from the ground, as they are not especially small, placed at no great elevation, and 
with no apparent attempt on the part of the birds at their concealment. The lo- 
cating of a pair of these birds does not always, however, mean the easy finding 
of their nest ; for they have a very wide range, the male radiating from a quarter 
to a half mile in all directions. Onr trips in quest of these birds have not been 
of two or three days duration ; but of from two to six weeks, and all the ground 
covered has been carefully worked, so we therefore know that the number of 
pairs are few and limited in range, being spread over a considerable territory. 
Fig. 35. Nest and Eggs oe the Rocky Moun- 
tain Pine Grosbeak; the IMarkings on 
THE Eggs Consist of Fine Brown Dots 
Generaeey Distributed over the entire 
Surface, and Accumueated Most Dense- 
ly about the larger Ends 
