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170 THE' CONDOR Vol. XIV To give examples of this wide variation in nesting dates of individual species 1 may state I have found scattered pairs of various birds nesting in Lake Valley between May 15 and 20, while the majority were still in flocks. To cite another instance: on the shore.of Lake Tahoe on June 25, 1911, young-of-the- year of Carpodacus cassini were noted, while a few yards away I flushed another bird of the same species from a nest containing two fresh eggs. Two other reasons could also be offered for the wandering mode of life of Pinicola. One of these was that the birds were so extremely wary that it was impossible to either flush them from a nest or see them return to it and that their continued journeying through the woods was simply done in their efforts to lead us away from their nesting grounds. Another explanation was that many of the so-called pairs observed were not in reality pairs at all but two males, as Ridgway. writing of the nearly allied form canadensis states (Birds of North and Middle America, I, p. 61): "Some males (immature?) are exactly like the Fig. 69. A MEADOW-EDGE NEAR FORNI'S WHERE A PAIR OF CALIFORNIA PINE GROSBEAKS WAS SEEN JUNE 14, 1912; ALTITUDE 7500 FEE'E adult females in coloration." Although Price made no mention of this strange condition existing in any of the specimens he secured of californica, yet, on ac- count of the close relationship between this bird and canadensis such a condition seemed not at all unlikely. Basing my calculations upon my theory in the matter and after a careful comparison of nesting dates of certain species for a number of seasons at Forni's (7500 feet), Phillips' Station (6900 feet) and Lake Valley (6220 feet), it seemed apparent to me that June 1 of a normal year would be the proper date to visit the region. At this time, I felt, that some birds at least would be found engaged in nest building, and nest-building time is often the only period when nests difficult to find can be located; and from the height of the trees and the thickness of their foliage it appeared that those of the Pine Grosbeak would be of this nature. To find just what date in 1912 June 1 of a normal year would be, however,