Page:Condor15(2).djvu/35

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Mar., 1913 GREAT DESTRUCTION O1? BIRDS' EGGS AND NESTLINGS 85 within fifty-one hours two handsome eggs were deposited in the still moist nest. They were gone and nest badly mussed when next examined by me, July I. Seven nests of Audubon Warbler (De?,droica auduboni). One nest and set of eggs collected by myself. Two nests were destroyed by snow. The other four were probably emptied by the jays. A jay was seen to carry a nestling from one of them. Three nests of Macgillivray Warbler (Oporornis tolmiei). I collected one nest and set of eggs. The others were visited by the jays. They left two sucked eggs in one nest and numerous fragments of sticky shell on the foliage of the bush in which nest was hidden from view. Six nests of Golden Pileolated Warbler (14/ilsonia p. chryseola). I collected two sets of eggs. The eggs in four nests hatched but seemed to have met the usual fate within one to three days. One nest Of Rock Wren (Salpinctes o. obsoletus). It was placed out oi sight and reach, in crevice in face of a small cliff. Entrance to the nest was paved with pebbles and pieces of coal. Two nests of Sierra Creeper (Certhia [. zelotes). Young in both of them. One nest of Slender-billed Nuthatch (Sitta c. aculeata). Not closely ex- amined. A bird was seen to chase a chipmunk away from a tottering pine stub and then enter a crack at an estimated height of thirty feet. Eight nests of Mountain Chickadee (Penthes.tes g. gambeli). Eggs were taken from one nest by a guest at hotel. Two nests held well-incubated eggs; and five held big families of young birds. Three nests of Western Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus s. olivaceus). One contained a set of ten eggs' on point of hatching. Two nests were torn out by the jays (?). Two nests of Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula). One contained a set of eight highly incubated eggs on June 20. The other held a single fresh egg on July 6, and was empty the next day. Three nests of Russet-backed Thrush (I-tylocichla u. ustulata). One nest and five eggs, an unusual number for set of this species, was collected by myself. One new nest was tilted over by snow. One nest was partially emptied of fresh eggs by jays. Twenty-four nests of Western Robin (Planesticus m. p*'opinquus). One nest placed but four feet [rom the ground on small branches of a young fir, was tilted over by weight of snow, causing an egg to roll out and break. As the bird was endeavoring to incubate the remaining eggs in this poorly secured nest, I thought it best to remove the hazard by lifting the nest up from its original site and fastening with twine to the next higher whorl of branches. The eggs were successfully hatched, and the young reached the age of about sevei? days, when they, and probably one parent, were destroyed by an enemy unknown to me. Feathers of an adult robin were scattered beneath the empty nest. Two nests and sets of eggs were collected by myself, one of these sets consisting of six eggs, certainly an unusual number. Seven sets of two to four eggs were known to be successfully hatched. The snow-water flooded one nest and caused four eggs to be abandoned. Many nests were not looked into, but some that were known to be occupied previous to the snow-were apparently deserted after June 23. Three nests of Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides). I removed a nest and set of six eggs from a pigeon-house that was on the inside of the railroad freight-house. The birds constructed another nest and presumably raised a fam-