Mar., 1919 NOTES FROM THE FEATHER RIVER COUNTRY miles from Sierraville. A pair had been noticed flying about on the edge of the coni- ferous forest for a couple of days, and on Jun? 15 the male was taken for the record. While this swift must nest in many places in the state, actual breeding records seem to be rare, especially away from the coast. Grinnell, in his "Distributional List of the Birds of California" (Pacific Coast Avifauna, no. 11, 1915, p. 85) gives no breeding localities outside of the humid coast belt, and I have not come across any other published record for California since that work appeared. Sayornis sayus. Say Phoebe. Not having met with this species elsewhere in the localities visited on this trip, I was rather surprised, on my arrival at Loyalton, Sierra County, to see outside my window a pair of Say Phoebes giving a brood of youngsters a good flying start on the voyage of life, the date being June 6. At the same time, this pair appeared to be putting the finishing touches on a new nest upon a beam in a low shed in the adjoining yard, though this may have been only the repairing of the old nest from which the brood was practicing its first flights. On June 9, a small boy mistook the adult female for an English Sparrow (Passe?' do?nesticus), upon which he was wag- ing warfare, and killed it with an air gun. This bird was in badly worn plumage and contained an egg almost ready to be laid. Apparently there is no published breeding record of the species for this part of the Sierras. Pica pica hurlsonia. Black-billed Magpie. A pair of magpies, apparently of this species, was seen at the edge of the town of Loyalton on June 8, flying among some old mill buildings. As this magpie is a common resident of the territory only a few miles east, in country ?not separated from Sierra Valley by anything more than the open, gent- ly graded Beckwith Pass, and with but little difference in altitude, there seems good reason for believing that a few individuals occasionally wander westward into this val- ley, and that more would be found ff a greater territory were covered than was explored on this particular trip. Passerculus sandwichensis nevadensis. Nevada Savannah Sparrow. Along the railroad from Hawley to Loyalton, through the meadowy part of the Sierra Valley, small sparrows were often seen from the car window, and in the outskirts of the town some specimens were taken that proved to be of the above form. These birds were evidently nesting in suitable spots all through the valley, as far as Sierraville anyway, but no nests were actually found. Considerable water flows into the comparatively level valley from the surrounding mountains, forming swampy meadows that are ideal places for their nesting grounds. Melospiza melodia fisherella. Modoc Song Sparrow. This proved to be the form common to all the localities visited on this trip, from 4000 to 6000 feet elevation, but it was really numerous in only one spot, a swampy meadow about a mile up the stream that flows through Mohawk, where there was a thick growth of short, brushy willows, and plenty of long grass. In all other places where noted it was more scattered, and was seldom seen far from streams. Three nests were found. The first, on May 21, con- taining a set of three eggs about half incubated, was in a swampy spot near a low bank of the Feather River, and was situated in long dry grass among some dead limbs in the edge of a small willow clump, and placed about ten inches above the ground. The other two were in thinly scattered willow trees in the midst of the little settlement of Mo- hawk. One of these was found on June 4, with nestlings almost ready to leave their domicile, and was in a thin bunch of willow trees, under which, and only a few feet from the nest, the small boys of the village noisily played the greater part of the day. The nest was about three and one-half feet ab. ove the ground and built on some very open
branches.
I had noticed the parents of this nest for some time, but never dreamed that the birds would build in such an open spot right in the boys' playground, where the embryo farmers had dammed up a little irrigating ditch that ran past the willow tree. My atten- tion was called to the nest by the boys themselves, who had not found it until the old birds were feeding their young, when the movements of the parents attracted their no- tice. The third nest was also shown me by the same boys when I returned to Mohawk (o gather up material left there to be picked up on my homeward journey. This was sit- uated in a quieter place farther up this same little ditch, and was about seven feet above the ground in some leafless branches of a small willow. On this date, June 17, it con- ?ained four apparently fresh eggs, but was not disturbed, as I was all packed up and waiting for.the stage when the boys showed it to me.
