May, 1913 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN PINE GROSBEAK IN UTAH 109 Ju?, 3.--Today I took two boys with mc to the cabin of the Iowa Copper, quite sure that by this time a full complement of eggs awaited me, and upon reaching the tree the fema!e could be seen sitting upon the nest. After climbing the tree I was compelled to give the branch on which the nest rested several sharp raps at close range before she flushed; .then only did she fly to a neighboring limb, to immediately return to the end of the nest-branch. By leaning far out the nest was seen to contain three eggs. Several attempts to reach them proving futile, another course was decided upon. So returning to the ground I went in search of a dead aspen of sufficient length and stre?!gth to take me uu to the nest independent of the branch on which it was placed. While in search of such tim- her 1 located, in a bunch of young firs, nests of Cassin Purple Finch and Audubon Warbler in course of construction, and Western Robin with four fresh eggs. Snow was here six feet deep. The Y-topped aspen selected proved to be five feet short, but fortunately the crotched top just fitted a crotch in the liinb underneatl? that on which the nest was located. This formed the main support for the crad- led platform, made of saxved off branches laid crosswise, and resting on limbs on either side of the supported branch; and a young aspen leaning toward the platform, proved an additional sup- port, for with my weight it bent over sufficiently to allow me to lash the whole mass together, making it quite rigid. During all this time the bird had remained on the nest with ap- parent unconcern, nor did she move until my hand was within a few inches of her, and then only to a position within two feet of the nest, there to hover with drooping and quivering wings. Then away to a neighbor- ing fir with a call, to meet her mate. Both birds then returned to the tree, the male to immediately depart to another nearby tree, there to be heard but not seen. The female on a branch two feet above the nest, Fig. 35. NEST AND EGGS OF THE ROCKY I?IouN- TAIN PINE GROSBEAK; THE MARKINGS ON THE EGGS CONSIST OF ?INE BROWN DOTS GENERALLY DISTRIBUTED OVER THE ENTIRE SURFACE, AND ACCUMULATED MOST DENSE- LY ABOUT THE LARGER ENDS took a position from which she did not move, until I had collected both nest and eggs, then flying to the ground some seventy-five feet away she apparently com- menced feeding: but very shortly she took wing across the little creek and around the mountain, to be seen no more that day. General Remarks.--The total number of nests of this species actually seen and examined, is nine, and covers a period of six years. although several addi- tional pairs of birds have been noted and ?vatched during the breeding season, whose nests conld not be located. The nests in all cases have been plainly visible from the ground, as they are not especially small, placed at no great elevatmn, and with no apparent attempt on the part of the birds at their concealment. The lo- cating of a pair of these birds does not always, however, mean the easy finding of their nest; for they have a very wide range, the male radiating from a quarter to a half mile in all directions. Our trips in quest of these birds have not been of two or three days duration; but of from txvo to six weeks, and all the ground covered has been carefully worked, so we therefore know that the number of pairs are few and limited in range, being spread over a considerable territory.
