82 THE CONDOR V?,l. IV not spread more than a foot and a half or two feet from the stem, and about six or eight feet from the apex. It was suspended among some dead twigs near the trunk and hidden by the surround- ing dense foliage. It was beautifully made, pyriform in shape, with the small end downwards, about six inches long and five inches through at the thickest part. The cup was very deep and the rim very much contracted enclosing a spherical space with a small opening at the top. The material used in construction was moss, fur, and silky, fibrous substances woven compactly together. The lining was of moose hair and feathers f'4?m the nor44? er4v? ( Ca na c h ites ' crtr?adens4?' labradorius___4?Bangs). Some of these att'7-T4?iere woven into the rim, the stems firmly secured and the free tips curling inwards until they met, thus forming a curtain over the contracted opening and completely enclosing the interior. A very warm house was the result. The number of eggs was eleven, incu- bation slightly advanced. Ground color, light buff almost white with numerous fine, pale, brown spots, so pale as to be indistinguishable, thickest near the larger end. The effect is as if a fine layer of dust had settled on the eggs. As to size, not having any calipers or other means of measuring them accurate- ly, Icanonly state in a general way that they resemble in shape the eggs of the California bush-tit, but are consid- erably larger. Notes on the Black-throated Gray Warbler. BY C. W. BOI,VLES? T seems rather superfluous to write anything more about Oendroica rescens, as it has been written up several times, but there may be no harm in having descriptions fr,,m differ- ent points of view. Its habits seem to me about the same as the combined habits of the black-throated green and prairie warblers of the Eastern states. Like the former, it likes tall trees (with a preference for conifers) to climb around and nest in, but it wants them well scattered, so as to have plenty of light and air and to give bushes a chance to grow if they do not grow too thickly, so that it can build in a bush if it happens to feel that way. Like discolor they prefer high and dry places but do not seem to object if a swamp cr river is nearby, if the ground beneath the nest it dry. On the line between Oregon and Cal- ifornia, about thirty miles east of the coast, it seems to prefer oak trees in the spring because of the small green cater- pillars that are very numerous on them and which are devoured on all occa- TACOMA? V?'AS H. sions. One female must have eaten nearly half its weight of them (from three-fourths to one and one-half inches long) while its nest was being taken, so that it is difficult to understand how it could hold them all, unless their diges- tion is as rapid .as that of the genus ?ulex (sometimes called flea.) Two pairs that were watched while build- ing had the same way of going about it. The male followed the fenrole very closely, scolding almost continuously, or perhaps making suggestions, as she did not seem to mind it and gathered materiMs and acted very much as if he was not there. This con- tinuous scolding generally seems to in- dicate nest-building and is apparently the only direct method of findingthe nest. After the eggs.are laid the male is never near while singing and their skill in reaching the nest without be- ing seen can only be accounted for on the principle of the survivfil of the fit- test, forif they were any less careful they would certainly be exterminated by Steller and California jays and
