175 THE CONDOR ot, IX

A great many of the nests contained eggs and it would be impossible for me to describe the wonderful variations in size, shape and color; but the most common type was a pale blue ground color of a decidedly different shade from the usual tint in eggs of the Bi~colored Blackbird, with a few heavy scrawls on the large end. These markings resembled rust spots more than anything I can think of. Four eggs were the usual complement, but sets of three and five were not uncommon. One fact that impressed me more, perhaps, than anything else was that in the center of the colony where the nettles were thickest, nearly all of the nests con- tained small young birds and doubtless it was the parents of these that I first saw. A .little farther out, however, there were full sets of badly incubated eggs while near the outside were incomplete sets of fresh eggs. The only way I could account for this was to suppose that only a portion of the colony had first settled in the nettles, choosing, of course, the rank growth in the center. A few days later, perhaps, another flock came upon the scene while traveling about in search of a nesting place, but were compelled to take a position nearer the outside. In this way, possibly, several flocks arrived at intervals of a few days until finally the last ones to appear chose to build upon the ground rather than leave so desirable a place. This is only a theory but it does not seem un- reasonable. As was suggested before, there were a number of reasons why that was a day long to be remembered and while I shall never regret the experiences yet there were some features that were not altogether pleasant. I was not long in discover- ing that the willows shut out every particle of breeze and that the sun was shining down fiercely, causing large drops of perspiration to pursue each other down my face; furthermore nearly every step disturbed half a doze. n big hungry mosquitoes that lost no time in getting to work on my face, and any attempt to brush them off generally brought my hand in contact with a nettle stalk which produced a sensation that was not altogether pleasant. Added to all this was the din made by hundreds of birds that perched about on every side and entertained me with a wonderful variety of vocal selections. One attempt was made to count the nests in this colony but after tramping around for a few moments I had no idea what portion of the colony had been ex- plored so I sat down to try and estimate the number of birds in sight. This seemed an even more difficult task as the birds were constantly changing their positions so I contented myself by saying "There must be hundreds of them." The food that I had first seen them gathering seemed to be a short, heavy worm but I failed to find any while crossing the field, tho there must have been a great many as it seemed to be no trick at all for a blackbird to pick one up any- where. It would be hard to imagine the number that must have been required a few weeks later when all the eggs were hatched. About two hundred yards from this colony was another nettle patch of nearly the same size and evidently tenanted by about the same number of birds; but it would have been necessary to wade a slough to investigate more closely and my time was somewhat limited. Perhaps it would be well for me to admit too, that I had encountered about all the nettles that I cared for in one day so I hurried away to the nest of a Swainson Hawk in a tall cottonwood where there was more breeze and fewer mosquitoes.

Fresno, California.