Page:Condor18(6).djvu/24

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230 THE CONDOR Vol. XVIII Fig. 56. DRAIN PIPE USED AS A NESTING SITE BY A PAIR OF ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS. Peculiar Nesting Site of Ash- throated Flycatcher.--We had just discovered a Phainopepla's nest in a pepper tree along side of a road in Linda Vista, four miles west of Pasa- dena, California, when a women ap- peared and asked us what we were doing. After explaining, to her sat- isfaction, that we did not intend to disturb any of the nests in her vicinity she gs, ined sufficient confidence in us to ask the identity of a bird nesting in her yard. Investigation disclosed an Ash-throated Flycatcher (Myiar- chus cinerascens cinerascens) carry- ing food in its bill to a peculiarly sit- uated nest. At the northeast corner of the house a four-inch galvanized pipe about three feet long had been soldered to the outlet of the eaves trough in order to prevent rain 'water from falling against the house. In the elbow of this three-foot length of pipe a pair of Ash-throated Flycatch- ers had built their nest (see fig. 56). We were told that in build- ing the nest the birds first entered the open end of the pipe, but later Used 'the entrance through the eave trough, which was little more than two and one-half inches in diameter. At the time of our visit, June 23, 1916, the nest contained young, which, by their calls, must have been partly feathered. Although the Crested Flycatcher of the East (Myiarchus crinitus) is known to nes? occasionally in aft artificial environment this is the first instance that has come to our notice of the Ash- throated Flycatcher, with its notably retiring disposition, taking kindly enough to civi- lization to nest in a door yard.--HAROLD C. BRYANT and A? M. BRYANT, Berkeley, Cali- iornia. Bird Notes from Palo Verde, Imperial County, California?--Querqueclu?a cyanoptera. Cinnamon Teal. On June 30, 1916, I was out in the flooded country when I found a duck's nest with seven creamy white eggs. No bird was on the nest but there were lots of duck tracks in the mud close.by. The nest was under a small bush on the top of a levee about three feet from the water's edge. It was not very well lined but contained some grass and a few feathers. On July 2 I was back, but the young had hatched; on looking around I saw six young, with the mother teal trying to get them away. The old male was on hand and tried to lead me away with the broken-wing game. The young were seen often after that but would always be in the brush. Porzana carolina. Sora Rail. One pair was seen all summer in a large bunch of rules on the lagoon about half a mile south of Palo Verde; no nest found. Plegaclis guarauna. White-faced Glossy .Ibis. Himantopus mexicanus. Black-necked Stilt. Both these were seen all summer from May 12, till the fall migration, but no nests were found, though sofne young birds were seen flying around. Oxyechus vocqerus. Killdeer. Several nests were found and lots of young seen,in the flooded country during high water. Melopelia asiatica. White-winged Dove. No nests were found this year, but several seen in 1915. This year the birds were mostly back on the mesa or along the edge of the valley. They may have moved back on account of the flood. Chaemepelia passerina pallescens. Mexican Ground Dove. Two nests found in 1915. Only one pair of birds seen regularly this_ summer. Several se'en in August and Septem- ber in the grass flats where the overflow had been.