t74 THE CONDOR [ Vol. III west side of the mountains above 5ooo feet. W.W.P.] Cyanospiza amcena. Lazuli Bunting. This species is not uncommon on open hillsides and in the mountain orchards about Fyffe. On June ?o, ?897. Mr. Beck collected a nest and four fresh eggs at Fyffe, the location being a bush about three feet high. Mr. Taylor and I noted the species in June, ?9o?, at about 5,000 feet altitude on Peavine ridge. [A single specimen was shot in September, ?896, on Silver Creek, at about 7,0oo feet. It seems rare above 4500 feet. W.W.P.] Piranga ludoviciana. Louisiana Tanager. Common in the timber from 3000 feet to the summit. It feeds principally in the black oaks, where its gaudy plumage contrasts sharply with the light green leaves. Birds are seen through the forest with all shades of intensity in the red coloration. 'During June, ?9ot, the species seemed unusually abundant, traveling about the forest in flocks es- pecially at Slippery Ford, though the cool summer may have been responsible for late mating and nest-building. At Fyffe on June t7, ?896, I found a nest ?8 feet up on a horizontal pine limb, containing four incubated eggs. June ?2, ?897, a nest built at the tip of a spruce limb 35 feet up was found containing young. June ?6, t898 , a nest was.located 50 feet up on a horizontal pine -limb and con- tained young. On June 9 at Pacific and June ?4 at Echo nest-building was just in progress. The black oak trees are frequently resorted to as nesting sites, the nests being always built on a horizontal limb. [Noted to at least 9000 feet on both Pyramid Peak and Mr. Tallac, but is per- haps most abundant between 3000 and 6000 feet. In August the young are often met with in flocks of a dozen or more, feeding among the tamarack pines in com- pany with several kinds of warblers, vireos and flycatchers. This gathering pre- liminary to migration has been noted each year that I spent at Silver Creek, and also in Glen Alpine. W.W.P.] Progne subis hesperia. Western Martin. On June 4, ?9oo, a number of these martins were circling about the Cary House at Placerville, in the top brick-work of which they appeared to be nesting. They twittered sharply during their flight up and down the main business street of the town. [Found nesting, in July ?896 in holes in a blasted pine stub some sixty feet from the ground. This was on the top of the Peavine ridge, about four miles northeast of Slippery Ford. None were shot, but the nearness of the birds and their notes made identification positive. W.W.P.] Petrochelidon lunifrons. Cliff Swallow. Common about the barn at Fyffe on June 6, t899. Nesting abundantly on the barn at Meyer's Station on June ?5, ?89t. 1tirundo erythrogaster. Barn Swallow. Observed at Fyffe with the preced- ing species on June 6, ?899. At the Brownell place above Slippery Ford a pair were nesting in the barn on June t?, while the species was common at Meyer's Station on June t 5, ?9o?. Tachycineta bicolor. Tree Swallow. Reported by Mr. Beck as nesting com- monly. in dead stubs at Biiou on the shore of Lake Tahoe, one nest found on June 2, ?896, being built in an old woodpecker's hole. Tachycineta thalassina. Violet-green Swallow. [Common in August on the lakes in Glen Alpine, where some have been shot nearly every year. They ap- pear usually on cloudy, rainy days and skim low over the water. The greater part seem to be young and they are probably on a migration. This year ?9o?, I saw numbers August ?2, flying over the lakes in Desolation Valley, on the north side of Pyramid Peak, 8000 feet. W.W.P.)
