Page:Condor4(4).djvu/5

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July, I902. I THE CONDOR 8i backed thrush (l?ylocichla uslulala) con- taining four eggs, placed in a small, dense fir tree in a meadow. This ap- parently extends the vertical breeding range of this species, since the Big Tree hermit thrush appears at less than x,ooofeet above Echo. An interesting nest of the mountain bluebird (Sialia arctica) was also found by Mr. Taylor at Echo, built in a fence post beside the road and containing seven eggs. A day was spent at Echo Lake (alti- tude 7600 feet) about .the borders of which the unmelted snow of winter still lay, and a passing band of Clarke nutcrackers served to accentu- ate the impression that we xvere in the boreal zone. Journeying back to Echo t?vo nests of the Big Tree thrush (?,locichla .?uttata sequoiensis) were discovered. Mr. Taylor found one rather conspicuously located ten feet up in a young tamarack pine beside the road. It contained three eggs quite well incubated. A short distance farther I secured a nest with four eggs about one-third incubated, built only two feet up in a small tanmrack sapling. Both nests Were built in trees directly next to the stage road, where the heat and summer's dust would seemingly prove undesirable to a bird of a thrush's tendencies. In both instances the birds had slipped from their nests before we found them. The nests were deeply cupped and substantially built. This was on June t7. The Big Tree thrush apparently sings but infrequently during the heat of the day, but for a few hours preced- ing twilight it makes the mountain meadows resound with rare melody. On June 7 Mr. Hanford secured a Lin- coln sparrow (3felosfiiza lincolni) on a meadow at 7,200 feet elevation, where it was probably about to breed. On June ?9 near the summit a western goshawk (?Iccifiiter atricapillus sirlain- lus) flew across the stage road in front of us, disappearing into the timber. Mr. L. E. Taylor collected two sets of Calaveras warbler, one on May 27 at Fyffe and another on June ? near Pacific. D and Nesting of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet. BY H. F. BAILI?'? SANTA CRUZ? CAL. URING a season of "experience" ed the spot but the birds were not about and observation in Alaska I was and I could flush nothing ?ut of the fortunate enough to take the nest tree. However, I could hear the male eggs of the ruby-crowned bird repeating his whistling song, very kinglet (J?e?ulus calendula calendula). The birds were abundant during the summer months in the neighborhood of Kenai, Cook's Inlet, where I was located, and bred in the dense spruce timber. Although I spent nmch time looking I was never able to find but one nest. On May ?5, x9o?, while going through the woods I noticed a kinglet carrying material into the top of a tall spruce and I watched her. She was very busy. The nest was not visible on account of the thick foliage, but I noted the place, marked the tree, and blazed a trail to it. Two weeks later, May 28, I revisit- much in the style of the olive-sided fly- catcher, front the top of the tallest tree in the vicinity. His note can be heard as far as the olive-sided flycatcher's and is all out of proportion to the size of the bird. I decided to wait a while longer be- fore investigating the nest. June 6 when I jarred the tree again the bird flew out. The mosquitoes were terri- bly numerous and hostile by this time, and I reluctantly removed my head covering, before ascending the tree, to prevent its getting torn on the short wiry branches. The nest was about thirty feet up where the branches did