Sept., t9oo I tents, and even after the snowfall-of the ?8th, which completely whitened the ground for several days, I could hear their clear, musical notes every few minutes as they flew past along the creek or up on the hills. Several were even seen on October t among the houses in Nome City, where they were being shot at whenever they alighted. The last two weeks of September be- came steadily colder and we were finally unable to carry ou sluicing. So we
returned to Nome City, and set sail on
our schooner "Penelope," for California, on the 2d of October. Thus, but 32 species were observed in the vicinity of Cape Nome during more than two months time. But of course this list would be largely increased if one should collect systenmtically, espec- ially in the earlier part of the season. The Nestino of Clarke's Nutcracker [Read before Northern Division o the Cooper Orxxitho- logical Club Sept. ?$, I9oo. ] N giving an account of the recent addition to the collection of Miss Jean Bell of the nest, eggs and par- entcf the conl?nonly styled Clarke's Nutcracker (Arucffra.?-a ro/umbiana), I record an experience of difficulty and privation endured under the stimulus of eager desire and well-fimnded hope. I ftfilowed the assertion of a logger that he had seen several pairs of the onmiv- orous nutcrackers at a certain point in Salt I,ake county. The place indicated was between Big Cottonwood and NeWs canons at an altitude of about 3,ooo feet at?ove Salt Lake City, and it wason the ,th day of April that I turned search into divcovery and cap- tured the reinate bird sitting on her nest and three eggs. That the breeding was a second one was clear from the loss of feathers on the bird's breast. The eggs all perfect- ly fresh, the late date and the early season indicate this instance of nzsting as particularly late f(,r this bird. As to THE CONDOR ? t 5 characteristic features, the eggs were ?.2ox.92, x.22x.92 and L22x.93, pale grayish-green, spotted chiefly on their larger ends, of properly ovate form, the markings being of different shades of brown, gray and lavender. My pilot to my covey was the male bird, whom I saw making a bee-line rapidly to a point which I suspected to be a nest. I listened eagerly and heard a chirp, then the nmle bird flew away. I quietly climbed the tree and at a height of 40 feet and on a branch at a point eight feet from the truuk my prize was visible. Slowly crawling to it, I succeeded in capturing the female, then the eggs and lastly the nest. This nest was constructed between growing shoots and acconxmodated its irregular shape to them. It is, in outside diam- eter, ?2x? 4 inches, with a depth of 43zj inclies. The inside cavity has a diam- eter of 43 inches and a depth of 3 inches, and the nest is composed of coarse dead twigs of pine and heavily lined with fiber front pine bark. The pine in which the nest was built was near the sunuuit of the moun- tain and cn its south slope near the outer edge of the forest. ()n April 26 I nmde another trip to the locality, reaching the suminit shortly after day- light. I stationed myself on a high point and watched the movements of the nutcrackers through my field glass, and after nmking several false poiuts which caused considerable rough climb- ing, I finally lccated a nest containing four young birds which would have left the nest in two c.r three days. The nest was on a horizontal 1)ranch about fifty feet up and five feet froin the trunk, saddled on a four-inch limb, sur- rounded by a heavy growth of small twigs. In both cases the nest could not be seen from the ground. The tree in which this tiest was situated was (m the same mountain side, and about yards farther down on the south side of the tinlber. W. H. ,Salt La/ec (D'(I', z't#.'. 29, 1900.
