September, ?9o2. I THE CONDOR ?9 unusually early date, as it is nothing uncommon to see the young flying abont during the second week of May. The large majority of first sets are laid by April 25, at latest, but their habits are most irregular as I have found fresh sets on the following dates: April 23 , May 25, June 4, and June 26, while young just out of the nest on May 28 would have made the eggs laid about May 5. Nor were those all the results of the first sets being broken up, as many of the birds were seen loitering around for over a month before starting in on nest building. That a second set is often laid, after the first brood has been raised is beyond a doubt, as several times in the case of late nests [ have found near by the nest used for the first brood. The nest found on April 22 is an ex- cellent illustration of how little these birds fear mankind. It was found in a small park situated in the center of the city of Tacoma, and was placed in a small fir only ten feet over a path used by hundreds of people every day, and a favorite playground for children. This rule does not always hold good, however, as [ have found nests situated at a distance of several miles from civil- ization. The nest is a well built, bulky struct- ure, the l?rgest of a?y of our warblers, measuring externally 35 inches in width by 2.5 in depth; internal dimen- sions 2 inches in width by ?.5 inches in depth. It is very handsome, as a rule, being built of fir twigs, everlasting weed, rootlets, moss and dried grass, with a thick lining of horse hair and feathers. Its location is generally close to the main trunk on one of the large lower branches of some large, solitary fir, or one of a grove of firs, on a dry, level prairie. I have never seen a nest placed otherwise than directly on a large branch, never in a crotch. It is always so well protected from the light that I have never been able to obtain a photograph. The nests are for some reason never placed far from the ground, the highest I have seen being twenty feet ut?, the lowest only six feet. There is never the slightest attempt at concealment, and they are so easy to see that almost every nest I have found has been a surprise to me in this re- spect. All of the nests that I have seen con- tained four eggs aq the complete set, but Mr. P.M. Silloway, of Montana, found a nest in the Flathead Lake region that differs in almost every re- spect from anything I have ever seen. It was placed in a crotch of a small willow tree and contained five e,?gs. In colt)ring they vary to a consider- able extent, though the ground color is always constant, as is the case with all the warblers eggs known ta me. The ground color is a dead white, with a tinge of greenish that is inva4ably there though not particularly strong. The markings vary in different sets from small black spots sparingly scat- tered over the entire egg, to eggs hand- s')mely ringed around the larger end with dots and blotches of red brown, black and lavender. In shape they vary from rather short ovate to long oval, while they are subje-t to consid- erable variation in dimensions. The largest egg in my collection measures .75x.55 inches, the smallest .67x.5o inches. A measurement of sixteen specimens shows an average of .7ox.54 inches. A Study of the Black-headed Grosbeak. BY ANNA HEAD, BERKELEY, CAL. HE scene is a nook in the wooded till well into the summer, a secure re- Coast Range of Mendocino county, treat for deer, grouse and mountain California. To the east rises the quail. Clear, cold streams tumble peak of Mr. Sanhedrim, snow-covered through every gorge and crevice in the
