first eggs were almost submerged in water just after a hard storm, and last season I took an incomplete set of two from beneath nearly two inches of water in a water-tight cavity filled to the brim. These birds had gone some fifty yards up the stream and built anew.
They are a very shy, suspicious bird and I could rarely get an opportunity to watch them at their nesting, except by going while they were away from home and quietly awaiting their return in an inconspicuous place. Presently the subdued, discordant screeching Of the two birds at once would announce that they were about the cavity, and this particular tone I never heard any where else, so it became a clue to me. I was unable to ascertain whether the male assisted in the work of nest building but think that he did. 'Tis a very common habit with them to alight on a high commanding position and take an extended survey before going to the nest. If they see you and leave, don't think to hide and await their return for the eggs may cool for hours, but Mrs. Sulphur-belly will not return until you are gone and not until she sees or hears you go. They are usually very quiet except during the morning hours.
Their normal call is about the most unmusical imaginable. I am at a loss to describe it, and certainly can give no idea of it by the use of sounds represented by the English alphabet, or by notes of the musical scale, and, for the sake of my native tongue and of the divine art of music, I'm not sorry that I can not. It resembles slightly the screek of a large wheel devoid of lubricant, uttered once, or, often when two or more are in company, several times in succession. Heard once, it will never be forgotten or confused with any other bird voice. As for a song, I learned that they do have one. Just after sunset, one evening last August one of them perched upon the top of a small oak on a steep hillside, and, for several minutes, at intervals, executed what he certainly meant for a song. It slightly resembles that with which the Kingbird awakens one at the first streak of dawn, when sleeping out of doors, as we so often do here in our hunting and traveling.
If, as I suspect is true among birds, a harsh, unmusical voice betokens a harsh, disagreeable nature, these birds must have very unlovely natures indeed; and I have often fancied that, either from fear or repugnance, other birds give them a wide berth. They seem fearless, but rarely, if ever,engage in chasing the raveri or hawk as do the other flycatchers. Have rarely seen them chase birds from their nesting tree even tho' I have repeatedly seen a Cooper's Hawk alight on its top and remain for some time. The eggs of different birds of this species vary considerably as to size and also as to relative dimensions. Their creamy white ground is spotted and somewhat blotched with two shades of brown and lavender, very heavy on large end, the ground color there peeping thro' only here and there on some. of the more heavily marked specimens, and assuming a streakiness on the more thinly marked portions of shell, but always marked plentifully over the. whole area. An incomplete set of two in my possession here measure 1.00x.78, .99x.77 inches and a single, an addled egg, taken from a nest containing two young birds, measures .95x.72. This last is the minimum, so far as I have seen, the first two fairly representing the average.
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Mr. John M. Willard who is located at Susanville, Cal., writes us under date of July 15 from Eagle Lake, Lassen Co. that two plume hunters have killed nearly 400 grebes on the lake thus far for the season. He states that they cannot be reasoned with in the matter and profess to be ramble to discern a difference between the taking of a few skins for scientific purposes and slaughtering the birds. This but records one more offense against decency, such as is carried on by vandals in almost every isolated district in which birds of valuable plumage congregate, and the seems no way of remedying the evil. Let us hear from some practical ornithologist on the subject.
The editor recently enjoyed a call at the home of Mr. Lyman Belding of Stockton, Cal., one of the three honorary members of the Cooper Club. Mr. Belding seems as well preserved and as active as he was years ago when he wrote his well known volume, Land Birds of the Pacific District, and still enjoys frequent outings in the Sierra Nevadas, where he engages in fishing and hunting and bird study as a pastime.
