Mar., 1914 
SOME DISCOVERIES IN THE FOREST AT FYFFE 
67 
Later, near the State Road, I stole up on a Red-breasted Nuthatch that was 
industriously hewing out its modest dwelling in a very slender dead tree-trunk 
only six feet up. In fact this trunk was so narrow in diameter that I drilled a 
small hole into the nesting cavity from the opposite side of the trunk, and on 
later visits, by taking out a close fitting plug, I was able to see just wbat progress 
was being made. The nest was about completed the day before I left. 
The most agreeable surprise of the day was finding a nest of the Audubon 
Warbler {Dendroica audnhoni auduboni) with two fresh eggs, in an apple tree 
eight feet up and close to the hotel. On May 21 this held four typical eggs, they 
being heavily and richly marked. In fact I believe the eggs of no other Califor- 
nian warbler can show coloring as rich or markings as varied and heavy as those 
of this species. The nest was of rootlets, stidng (an indication of its nearness to 
the habitations of man), bark strips, and plant fibers, and was profusely lined 
Fig. 30. Young Saw-whet Owls found May 20, 1913, in Webber Can- 
yon NEAR Fyffe. This constitutes the first definite breeding 
RECORD for this owl IN CALIFORNIA. 
with feathers and horsehair. 
The weather became clear and pleasant again next morning (May 19), and 
I decided on Webber Canyon for my day's ramble. While not as heavily tim- 
bered as the canyons north and east of Fyffe, it nevertheless supports a wider 
variety of bird-life, owing to the diversified character of the country. In addi- 
tion to the predominant coniferous woods there are also vast forests of oak, 
brush-covered rocky tracts, open fields and, to me not the least important, the 
wide patches of mountain misery, where I continued my long, and so far unsuc- 
cessful, search for a nest of the Calaveras Warbler. 
Four feet up in a cedar I found a deserted nest of the Black-throated Gray 
Warbler {Dendroica nigrescens) with a single fresh egg. A White-crowned 
Sparrow {Zonotrichia Icncophrys leucophrys) , evidently a straggler, was noted 
in a patch of deer brush, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch was seen nest-excavating 
