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Sept., ?9oo ] THE CONDOR I.o7 remarkable nest. The nest was built on a joist and was made to fill the cav- ity, which was about ten inches long and eight inches wide, and was virtually a deep mat of hair, fur, etc., of these dimensions, wth a deep depression toward one end of the mat for the eggs. The nest was largely made of cow hair picked up in the corrals, and the eggs were but slightly incubated. We visited the nest several times and each time the female would raise her head, and hold- ing her neck apparently at a tension, would deliberately move her head from side to side, describing quite an arc. The male bird spent his time in a tama- rack close by "chickadee-ing" industri- ously. The Mountain Chickadee was in evidence about the stubs of the tam- aracks and doubtless nests commonly. Pine Siskins (Spin,s pinus) were fly- ing about the corrals in a restless way, twittering very nmch as the gold- finches do. The clear, liquid, yet d(lorous song of the White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotr/chia leucopho,s ) sprang u 1) from all over the meadow. In breeding season the birds must colonize to quite an extent in this meadow, for a species of dwared willow grows along all of the small streams, and was leating out on June io. The sparrows were evidently waiting for nest building, which was impracticable until tile bushes should become in leaf. Tile breeding plumage and song of this Zv,otrichia are both beautiful, aud I could distinguish little difference in the breeding note and that heard in the valley in winter, unless the summer song of the bird is more intense. In the forenoon Mr. Atkinson and I went out for a stroll, interested as only orni- thologists can be when an absolutely new field is spread before them. Mr. Atkinson shortly located a Blue-fronted Jay's nest in a red fir tree and inspection showed it to contain young. While we were passing through a de- cided bog, xve met our first California Pine Grosbeak( Pinicola enucleator cal(/br- nica) quietly feeding beside an old log. The bird was a male in brilliant plum- age and doubtless had a nest in the ueighborhood. We saw others of this species, which seems to be a fairly sociable bird, two males conring to a tanmrack within a few feet of our camp, and one found his way into our collec- tion. A persistent tapping called our attention to a red fir tree where a fenrole Williamsoh's Sapsucker (Xphyrapicus thyroidezts) was drilling her nesting hole. We were allowed to approach to the foot of the tree where we watched the bird at work for some time. All through the woods the note of the Olive-sided Flycatcher ((9n/opus borealia') resound- ed, although the birds were apparently not yet uesting at this altitude, 7,500 feet. In the afteruoon we all climbed a granite ridge to 8,500 feet altitude, where snow was plentiful, and about the edge of which Pine Siskins and Cassin's Purple Finches were feeding in flocks. Several finches were secured. At this elevation, on the southeastern exposure of the ridge, a colony of Clarke's Nutcrackers ( ASw(/rag'a colum- bia,a) was located in a gulch lined with hemlocks, and several of the birds were seen flying laboriously in the cold, stiff wind which prevailed. A pair of Mountaiu Bluebirds (Xialia arctica) were. also seen on the ridge. The fifilo?ving day, June ?o, we had set apart to make the ascent of Pyramid Peak, the summit of which appeared to be about two miles in an air line from our camp. So the party started with three cameras, a guu and other necessary paraphernalia, while Mr. Taylor carried a press for plants and secured many iuteresting botauical specimens. I may explain here that Pyramid Peak is the highest point in the range about Lake Tahoe, within the California line, and is credited with an altitude of ?o,o2o feet. The summit of the mountain is roughly the shape of a pyramid, its northern exposure being covered with snow throughout the year. We found our easiest means of ascent hy making