BULLETIN OF THE COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. Nestinl of the Western Flycatcher in San abriel Canon. BV H. J. LELAND, [Read before the Southexn Division HE west fork of the San Gabriel is the longest, most picturesque and most beautiful canon that I have had the pleasure of visiting in the Sierra Nevada Mrs. It was in this canon between the first and fifteenth of June of the seasons of I896 and I898 that I had an excellent opportunity of watching this flycatcher in its summer home. In the darkest parts of the canon where the walls are close to- gether and the alders thickest, one will always find the Western Flycatcher during the breeding season. Nest building begins not earlier than May io and fresh eggs are rarely found after June io, excepting where the bird has been deprived of her first set. Only one brood is reared and after incubation has begun the female, unless disturbed, does not leave the nest, be- ing fed by the male, who is often the cause of the nest being found while performing this duty. In location, these nests vary considerably. In i896 when I visited thls canon in company with Mr. C. E. Groesbeck we collected eleven full sets of eggs with nests, and with a single exception all were taken from various situations in water alders, such as natural cavities, old wood- peckers' holes, between the trunk and loose bark and in the main crotches. The exception was taken by Mr. Groes- beck from one of the sides of the canon, on a small ledge covered with moss. LOS ANGELES, CAL. of the Cooper Orn. Club, Dec. 29, x898. ] When I again visited this canon in ?898 the location of the nests was re- versed. I found more than fifteen nests but only succeeded in collecting eight sets of eggs, the other nests either containing young or eggs in which in- cubation was far advanced. Of these but two were found in trees. The first was taken on June 6 from between the trunk and loose bark of a water alder; the nest was eight feet from the ground and contained four nearly fresh eggs. The other was found two days later and was situated close to the edge of a large hole in the under side of a hollow log which had fallen across the stream. The nest was about four feet above the water and contained three eggs, two of which were pipped. Had I not been fishing this nest would probably have escaped my notice, as I flushed the bird just as I was about to pass under the log. The other nests found were in small holes in the bank, or on ledges, usually where there was an abundance of moss and varied from two to fifteen feet from the bed of the canon. In all cases the nests were well protected from rain and any loose rock which might roll down from the sides of the cliffs. The nests taken from the bank were nearly all composed of moss, while those taken from the trees were lined with fine grasses and other ma- terial. Macgilliway's Warbler in Alameda Co., Cal. ERY little seems to be known of kno_w,n of the nesting of Macgilli- vray s Warbler in Alameda county. Mr. H. R. Taylor found a nest last May containing two eggs, but the birds had deserted the nest on his next visit. A friend of mine found a nest last year among the bracken near the same local- ity. I think it was in i89i that I first noticed the bird in the county, when I saw a male in Redwood canon where I have subsequently seen these warblers in breeding season. In I896 I flushed a pair near Contra Costa Co. from a brushy ravine with a small brook running through it. The birds had evidently nested among the thick 'bracken growing dose to the brook and extending along it about forty feet and up the side hill forty or fifty feet. This was about June 2 and two young birds were noted, not yet
