132 THE CONDOR VoL. XII gives the rocks their name, however, I came upon a nest of the Canyon Wren ( Calh- erpes mexicanus punclulalus?) in a little cleft in the rock near the roof of the cave. Luckily, a rude ladder, bilt by some industrious visitor, enabled me to reach the nest which was made of twigs and moss and lined with plant down, and held five half-grown young. The wrens soon became ax2customed to my presence and went back and forth to the nest with food for their ever-hungry brood. This bird has somewhat the manners of the Rock Wren in its way of peering into every nook and crevis and in the remarkable way in which it patters up and down the almost perpendicular walls of rock. These were the first Canyon Wrens I have seen in the lake country; in fact all the wren family are peculiarly rare in the region. Whether these individuals were referable to conspersus or punclulalus must remain an open question as I felt the rising generation had certain rights in the matter. Leaving the wrens and their tiny abode in the massive, hollow-sounding cliff, the return to Bijou was made by following the lake shore for the entire distance. Encouraged by previous success in finding nests of the Blue-fronted Jay I spent some further time looking for them. Not far from Cave Rock a nest was notist 7 feet up in a small pine. On account of its low and open situation I took it from a distance to be of the ever-common Western Robin. On approaching I was sur- prised to flush a Blue-fronted Jay from the nest which held three practically fresh eggs. Identical in construction with my previous nest, yet this, by its lack of con- cealment was as easy to find as the other was difficult.' Two more nests of the jay were found, one 10 feet up in a willow, the other 18 feet up in a fir; but both proved to be of a previous season. Owing to the fact that the birds used. bleacht twigs outwardly, all nests have a weather-worn appearance making it hard to dis- tinguish those newly bilt from old ones. A third nest was found on the very ex- tre,rnity of a pine branch 20 feet up. The parents soon came about the nest, but I was unable to reach it or to see from above what it contained. Farther on in a willow swamp tenanted by American Magpies (Pica pica hunsonia) a careful search was made but resulted in the finding of but three old nests. This was not far from Bijou and a short walk brought me to camp at dusk. The last day of May was spent in the vicinity of the camp, a locality that was sometimes as productive of results as some of the longest trips. One week of my allotted six had past, and while it seemed I had trayerst a wide area, yet these trips were really but a few trails in an endless wild and it is this vastness of the Sierran woodland that makes even a vacation of six weeks seem all too short. In some future CoNboa will perhaps appear some notes on further field work about Lake Valley and along the higher ranges.
