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Sept.,1917 NESTING HABITS OF CLARKE NUTCRACKER IN COLORADO 155 lining, about one inch thick, is a firm, compact, warm matting of fine shredded cedar bark fibre, practically no weeds, grass, feathers or other matter enter.- ing into its composition. This construction, with the depth of the nest, makes it especially well adapted to protect its contents from freezing and severely inclement weather. Measurements: Outside diameter, average about 11 inches, depth inches. Inside of cup, diameter 4 inches, depth 26 inches. Eggs: Ground color light lichen green. Light mottlings or shadings of pale drab-gray and minute spottings of Saeeardo's olive distributed over the entire surface, with a slight confluence at the larger end where a faintly defined banded effect is noticeable. (Colors from Ridgway's Color Standard5 a?d Nomenclature.) Measurements (in inches): 1.25x0.92. The nest taken this year is practically the same as the one taken last year, except somewhat larger in outside measurements and of freshet material. (S('c fig. 53.) The three eggs of this year's take differ but little in color or mark- ings. Their ?neasurements (in inches) are as follows: 1.27x0.91; 1.26x0.87; 1.31x0.90. It would appear from the foregoing that three eggs were a normal. if not maximum, clutch for this species. Denver, Colorado, June 13, 1917. RED LETTER DAYS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA By FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY EFORE visiting Venice, in the field season of 1907, we had some delightful encounters with water birds, in passing, for between Capistrano and the San Jacinto Mountains our work took us to the two alkaline lakes, San Jacinto and Elsinore, both evidently popular with water fowl. When we drove out from Hemet to San Jacinto Lake on August 14, in the cultivated valley we saw a harvester, drawn by a band of horses, entering ficlds of straw-colored waving grain, and leaving behind stubble fields and ,ows of fat grain bags. But in the immediate neighborhood of the alkaline lake the soil was too permeated with salt for grain fields--one plant of the country actually shone with salt crystals--and the only signs of human habi- tation were a ruin and an abandoned house and barn. On the roof of the barn a Red-shafted Flicker rested, and inside a Barn Owl napped, while two Ravens perched on rafters enjoying the cool shade in the heat of the day. Here the level floor of the San Jacinto plain presented a characteristic desert picture, the soft blue bulk of the San Jacinto Mountains having a fore- ground of pale desert colors brightened by acres of pink abronias, wide stretches of yellow tar weed, and fields of sunflowers with faces turned toward i.he sun, fields that went well with the fresh, uplifted song of the Meadowlark. The strong smell of the tar weed suggested the pleasing tang of the desert creo- sote, and along the base of the foothills near the lake grew desert willows, mes- quite, and other desert plants, and masses of pale green cactus topped with pink fruit. Roadrunners and Cactus Wrens and their nests were passed here, and two Cactus Wrens dashed across the road ahead of us, one of them lighting on a fence post with its grating ch ut, chut, chut.