ORNITHOLOGIST 
[Vol. 7-No. 14 
1()(; 
wliicli evidently had been used as a nest- 
iii" site by either a sparrow hawk or red- 
shafted dicker the previous season further 
confirmed me in this view, and caused me 
to jump at the conclusion that the young 
birds I saw on that tree clamoring for food 
had been raised in this very nest. Judg¬ 
ing from their size they had left it about a 
week ])reviously, and I concluded that in 
order to find eggs I must commence look¬ 
ing for them at least a month earlier or 
about April 1st. and gave up further search 
for the season. I waited imjjatiently for 
the ojiening of the season of 187G, which 
was a very late one. To make sure I 
started on a systematic search for the nests 
of these birds as early as March 20th. the 
snow being at the time from two to four 
feet deep in the localities frecpiented by 
them. During the next four weeks I made 
at least a dozen trips to the haunts of 
these birds and I believe I examined every 
hollow tree and woodpecker hole known to 
me within a radius of eight miles of the 
post, the trees examined being mostly ju¬ 
nipers. As I found nothing in them, other 
species of birds not having commenced 
nesting yet. and being positive that the 
Clarke’s Crow was then breeding some¬ 
where in the immediate vicinity, from see¬ 
ing a few about constantly I commenced to 
examine the pine trees growing amongst 
the junijjers on the outskirts of the for¬ 
est proper. I saw nothing as I thought 
which might be taken for a bird’s nest in 
any of the pines {Phtus ponderosa), but 
noticed now and then a round bunch or 
ball composed seemingly out of the long 
hypnum moss taken from the trees them¬ 
selves in some of them, which I sujjposed 
to be K<phrrels’ nests, particularly as the 
little Fremont’s chickaree (Sciitntu hud- 
soniciis f'renio7iti, .llleii) is(juite commonly 
found in this vicinity. As the majority of 
these cpiasi scjuirrels’ nests were by no 
means easily got at, and having tried to 
start their occupants with sticks, sttmes 
and now and then even with a load of shot 
and failed invariably to bring anything to 
light. I ceased to trouble myself any fur¬ 
ther about them, and more puzzled than 
ever was about to give up the search when 
on April 22d I saw a Clarke’s Crow flying 
quietly and silently out of a large pine tree 
about fifty yards in front of me. This 
tree had a rather bushy top, was full of 
limbs almost from the base and easy to 
climb. As I could not see into the top I 
climbed the tree, failing to find any sign of 
a nest therein, and completely disgusted I 
was preparing to descend again when I no¬ 
ticed one of the supposed squirrel’s nests 
near the extremity of one of the larger 
limbs aboiit the centre of the tree and 
about twenty-five feet from the ground, 
and setting therein, in plain view from 
above, not a squirrel but a veritable 
Clarke’s Crow. 
Well, so I had foimd their nest at last, 
quite unexpectedly, and not any too soon, 
either. As it was, I was almost too late, 
for the nest contained a young bird just 
hatched and two eggs with the shells al¬ 
ready chipped and on the point of hatch¬ 
ing. However, as even damaged sjieci 
mens, particularly rare ones like these were, 
are better than none. I took them along 
but left the young bird in the nest. The 
parent bird allowed me to almost lay my 
hand on her before she fluttered oft’, and I 
had scarcely gotten two feet from the nest 
before she was on it again. During the 
whole time she remained jierfectly silent. 
Not half an hour after finding the first, I 
had found a second nest which contained 
three young birds perhaps a week old. 
These I sacrificed to science, making a skin 
of one and preserving the other two in al 
cohol. They are now, as well as the nest, 
deposited in the National Museum at 
Washington, D. C. Between Aj)ril 24th 
and noth. ’76, I found at least a dozen more 
nests; these, however, contained all young 
in diflTerent sbiges of growth, some of 
them nearly large enough to leave the lU'st 
Each of these contained but three young. 
