170 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
[Vol 7-No. 22 
AVe were ascendinf^ the Rteep {^rade wliieli 
leads from the floor of the Ahdley towards 
Inspiration Point, when a single individnal 
was seen perched npon a top-most twig of 
a tall sngar-jnne. now and then giving ut 
terance to its peculiarly sad call-note. A 
few days later, while in camp near Fresno 
Flats, twentj' miles east of Madera, we 
again met these birds. Our camp was 
among the foot-hills of the Sierras, where 
live and white oaks are about the only 
trees. Among these this bird was com¬ 
mon and was undoubtedly breeding,though 
I was not fortunate enough to discover any 
nests. AVe left this locality late in July, 
drove leisurelj’ down out of the foot-hills, 
crossed the bimiing plains of the San Joa¬ 
quin, and iq) over the Coast Ranges to 
Hollister, Gilroy, and San Jose, but though 
I was constantly on the watch, I saw no 
more of this species during the trip. So 
the evidence seems pretty conclusive that 
the Black crested Flycatcher is greatly re¬ 
stricted in its habitat and is found only in 
localities the most favorable. 
Upon my retura to Santa Paula in Au¬ 
gust, I found it rather common in the 
canon where I first saw them. They were 
feeding upon the berries of the choke- 
cherry, and remained in the locality until 
October, when they disappeared, going 
farther south. 
Fai'ly in the Sj)7-ing of 1881, they again 
returned to the same canon, where they 
continued to be seen throughout the Sum¬ 
mer. Their love for canons, or narrow val¬ 
leys. is shown by the fact that, although 
the mouth of Santa Ihiula Canon is only 
half a mile from where I lived, yet I sel¬ 
dom saw any of the species nearer my 
house than the mouth of the canon.—only 
one ])air nesting outside the canon, as far 
as I could discover. During this season I 
made frequent excursions to various small 
valleys and canons of A'entui-a Cr)unty. and 
found the Bhuk-crested Flycatchers in 
oidy two pbu-es besides Santa Paula canon. 
One of these was the small but beautiful 
Ojai (0-hi) Ahilley, about seven miles from 
Santa Paula canon, and connected with it 
by Si-Sa (See-Saw) Canon ; the other was 
among the moss-covered oaks on the Caci- 
tos Pass from San Buenaventura to Santa 
Barbara. In each of these jilaces it was 
quite common, but I was unable to find a 
single nest. 
During April and Alay I kept pretty 
careful watch on these birds in Santa 
Paula Canon, determined to find their 
nests if possible ; but up to the first of 
Alay they did not seem to have paired off. 
but continued to feed in a flock of twelve 
to sixteen. So anxious was I that I had 
interested several of my most observing 
pupils to assist me in watching them. On 
Alay 4th. Bennie and Eugene Scott, two 
of my most energetic assistants, came run¬ 
ning to me saying that they had found a 
Phiihiopejdds nest with three eggs in it. 
I told them they must be mistaken about 
the number of eggs, but they knew there 
were three, and were i-eady and anxious to 
To be Continued. 
Thrushes. 
I noticed in the (). and O. for October 
that E. 1). AA’intle. of Alontreal, Canada, 
asks for description of nests and eggs of 
some of the TnrdUhp.. I have had very 
limited experience in collecting, luit can 
report finding three nests of the AA’ilson 
Thrush and one of the AA’ood Thnish. with 
eggs, during the jtast Summer. 
June .5th I found a nest of the AA’ood 
Thrush, containing four fresh eggs, and a 
nest of the AA’ilson Thrush with three eggs 
(one a Cow-l)ird’s.) I took one egg from 
the AA’ood Thrush’s nest, and from the nest 
of the AA’ilson Thrush I took the Cow- 
bird’s egg and one Thrush’s egg. I suc¬ 
ceeded in blowing the fonner, but broke 
the latter ; both were well incubated. I 
visited the nest the next day and found 
that they were bound to j)reserve the <»rig- 
inal number, there being four eggs in it. as 
when I found it. 
