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88 '!'HI,? CONDOR I V,,I. IV this way he states they change during each day, just about every two hours. There is no waiting around the nest,- the parents arriving and leaving quick- ly and directly. This set he collected April 8, taking the male by hand from the nest and five beautiful eggs rewarded him, incu- bation about one-fourth. The nest was on east side of tree, opposite the cold northern blasts, about twelve feet from ground and saddled on /zoo stout limbs several feet from the bottom of the tree. Five feetof snow was under the tree. The nest was in no ways different from previous ones observed being very warm and adapted to the severe climate of that altitude. The eggs measure ?.33x.92, t.26x.89, L36x.9t, x.34x.9t and L33x.94 . This large set must be con- sidered extremely unusual, the largest set previously found containing four and the usual nest complement being three. The second set alluded to was taken April x 7 at about 7ooo feet altitude in a black balsam tree fiftv feet high. The nest was about sixteen from the ground the tree being a very wide-spreading one four feet through at the trunk. The nest was fully ten feet from the body of the tree saddled on a great limb ten inches in diameter. The fe. male was collected by hand from the three eggs, and with the nest carefully wound in string was safely brought down,--but alas for our hopes, incuba- tion was nearly complete. Notes on the Verdin. M. FRENCH (;IL2vlAN, BANNING? CAL. HE California range of this bird, ?lur?ar?ts 27az,icefix, being some- what restricted, a few observations made on the Colorado desert may prove interesting. In October ?889 I first made acquaintance with the bird. While hunting at Whitewater ranch, at the east end of San Gorgonio Pass, I found a queer nest in a mesquite and as it was a new nest in the fall of the year I thought it might be the roosting place of some new bird. Returning after dark I captured the owner. The follow- ing spring I found a nest of young birds and one infertile egg and a year later secured a set of five eggs, all in the same neighborhood. This ranch, lying at the west end of an arm of the desert and at the same time merging into a fertile mountain pass, .seems to be the western limit of the range of the verdin. The bird is shy and retiring in dispo- sition and at first glauce might be mis- taken for the California bush-tit. But a closer scrutiny will reveal the yellow or greenish-golden tint of the head and the deep chestnut color of the lesser wing coverts. It frequents all mesquite and screw-bean thickets on this desert. Its range is easily determined by the great nmnber of nests seen. A peculiar feature is the building, by both sexes, of winter nests in which to roost at night. These nests are built in the fall and early winter and a male and female ?est are usually found near to- gether, probably mated birds. They seem to have no idea of the conserva- tion of heat or of energy by having a "nest built for two," but go about making two roosting places. The nests of male and female differ a little, the former being less 'elaborate, smaller, with not so much lining in it. The female winlet nest differs but little from the breedinae nest and I am in- clined to believe in some cases is used as such, possibly by experienced or lazy birds. The only material difference between female winterand the breeding nests lies in the shape of the interior and possibly some difference in thick- ness of lining. The nest is retort- shaped with entrance through a short neck extending from one side down- ward at angle of 45 . In the breeding nest there is a deep cup or depression