THE CONDOR I Vol. Ili against a dead hanging twig in the midst of the tangle. After making a background of newspapers I took a photograph, cleared away my debris and retired to watch her. She had cooled down considerably and it was but a short time before she flew above her nest, hovered over it for a second or two and then dropped into it like a stone. This I have found to be the invariable custom of the Hummers when going to the nest, and as nests are fre- quently found having one or both eggs broken, this habit appears to me to be a very possible cause. Leaving her with her treasures I continued up the brook, finding two more decoy nests of the wrens in the roots of fallen trees, a nest of Rusty Song. Sparrow (,?relospiza melodia gut- tata) with four well-grown young and another with four frcsh eggs. A female Lutescent Warbler (lfelminthophila c. lulescens) assured me that her nest was close by, but she would not go to it and I could not find it myself. Then I noticed a most interesting trick of Stel- ler's Jay (C),anocitla stelleri). These birds do not nest in the gulches, but fly down into them in search of what food they happen to come across and as much mischief as a most fertile ingenuity can bring about. I watched one of these for some time, my attention being attracted to him by his squabbling with a squirrel, probably over a nut from the latter's store. But right for once pre- vailed and the jay, with a burst of harsh, laughing notes, flew to the lower branches of a patriarchal cedar. After enjoying his last joke for a short while, he seemed to have had enough of the ravine and followed the jays' time- honored custom of getting out of it. Being much too lazy to fly, he hopped to the branch above him and continued leisurely upward in this nmnner until reaching the very top. This brought him above the level of the upper edge of the gulch, to w.hich he flew in search of further sport. This was some 2o0 yards from where the wren was heard singing and I knew my chances of success in that direction should be reaching a focus. Conse- quently a half-uprooted fir tree some few yards further on, gave me a thrill of more than usual interest. The open- ing under the roots extended in about ten feet and was only three feet high at the entrance, so there was nothing for it but to imitate the serpent. The wren had left me long since and nothing stirred when I shook the roots, therefore my hopes were high, as these wrens are never seen near their eggs. After crawling in as far as possible, I turned over on my back and waited for my eyes to become accustomed to the dark- ness. As things gradually took shape, almost the first thing I saw was the much hoped-for ball of twigs and green moss directly over my head. It was wedged in among the earth and roots, and a feather protruding from the entrance told me that my search had reached a satisfactory end--the decoy nests are never lined. The set consisted of six partially incubated eggs, and only one more decoy was found, this being a short distance further on in a long- neglected placer mine. Upon coming to a slope in the side of the gulch I decided to climb out, and had barely started upward when another Rufous Hummer flushed from her nest on a drooping fir bough. As I merely stopped long enough to note the two eggs and construction of the nest, the bird returned to it at once. This she did in the same manner as the first one, and with quite as nmeh apparent desire to utterly destroy the contents of the nest. My last find was made shortly before arriving at the top, at a very steep and bare place where I could barely climb even with the aid of an impromptu alpine-stock. Alxnost out of reach was a dead fir stump about three feet high, and from force of habit I hit it with my
stick. As if shot from'a gun, a Vigor's
W7ren ( 7'hryomanes bewicki spilur?s) went straight up into the air about
