Page:Condor14(1).djvu/14

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14 THE CONDOR Vol. XIV ground, with four eggs well advanced in incubation. Being the first we have ever found in a situation of this kind we desired very much to secure a photograph of it. In this we experienced considerable difficulty and it was only by cutting a strip of wood out from the lower edge of the hole that we succeeded in making the eggs visible on the ground glass. Inspection showed the nest to be made of light- colored grasses and weed stems, and lined with the hair of various wild animals. After a long journey over the ridge, down through Glen Alpine Gorge, along Fallen Leaf Lake and Lake Tahoe we came into Bijou at midnight. Before we left for home on July 5 a nest of particular interest was found, one of 'the Pacific Nighthawk (Ckordeiles virginiamrs hesperis). This was found by Mr. Charles Young, on July 3, while riding horseback along one of the lower ridges' southeast of Bijou. Returning with Mr. Young I found that the two fresh eggs were simply laid on the bare, rocky soil, surrounded by pine needles, the latter, however, not having been brought by .the birds. A little pine sapling close by gave the eggs some slight Fig. 7. EGGS OF THE PACIFIC NIGHTHAV?'K ill siltt shelter. The elevation was about 6350 feet. On July 4 Heinemann and I accom- panied by Mr. Richard Duttke, who had just arrived, revisited the spot, and the photograph shown herewith was taken. An interesting addition to the Lake Valley checklist was the Bullock Oriole (Icierus bzdlocki), first noted on the Bijou camp ground on June 7, and several times afterwards. This bird, or these birds, were without doubt stragglers from Carson Valley, Nevada, which lies just over the summit east of Bijou. The fact that this summit is but very little higher than Lake Valley, accounts, I believe, for the presence of the oriole, as well as the many other lower zone birds more or less abundant in Lake Valley, such as the Mourning Dove (?7enaid?ra macfotura caro- linenss), House Finch (Carpodacus meacicamts rontalis), Western 'Bluebird ( Sialia ?nexicana occldentalis) and Western Meadowlark (Stttrnella neglecta).