64 
THE COXDOR 
Vol. XVI 
cincts. Seven feet up in a small pine nearby 1 found another nest of this jay, a'p- 
parently one of the previous season. 
Most of May i6 was spent in canyons north of Fyffe. Leaving the lat- 
ter place, which by the way is not a hamlet but merely a hotel and postoffice, I 
came u]wn my first pair of Mountain Chickadees {Pcntlicstes' gmnbcli) . Judg- 
ing- from the records of previous workers, these birds were unusually rare here 
the present season. Several times during the day I noted California Woodpeck- 
ers {Mclancrpcs formicivorus bairdi) as not uncommon, although Barlow does 
not record them for Fyffe. Two days before, I observed a pair of Red-breasted 
Sapsnckers {S.phyrapicns varius ruber) hollowing out a home in a lofty dead 
branch overhanging a ditch. Passing the spot now I found them still engaged 
in the work. While not rare anywhere I found Western Wood Pewees (Myio- 
Eig. 28. Nest of the Sierra Hermit Thrush, the first to be recorded 
FROM THE VICINITY OF EyFFE. NoTE THE BACK OF CONCEALMENT, A 
COMMON FEATURE OF THIS BIRD’S NESTING. 
chanes richar.dsoni richardsoiii) particularly abundant in a tract that forest fires 
had swept, leaving only charred tree trunks standing in dense undergrowth. 
Though I saw in all about a dozen birds during my stay, it was here, near 
Blair’s Old Mill, that I saw my first Northern Pileated Woodpecker at close 
range. Approaching the small stream that courses through the canyon, I heard 
a loud hammering in the distance, so loud that the whole ravine resounded with 
the echo, and which I took to be from men at work on some fence or bridge. As 
I neared the spot from which the sound came I was surprised to come upon two 
of these immense woodpeckers, of jet plumage and flaming crest, without doubt 
among the most remarkable and interesting of all Sierran aves. The two birds 
were to all appearances on a foraging- expedition, and unseen I watched them for 
