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THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



from a nest in a meadow near a swamp. 

 This was on June 20, 1907. The nest 

 was composed of dead grass, lined with 

 finer grass. It was a very shallow 



affair, hardly more than an inch thick, 

 with a depression in the center which 

 scarcely kept the four eggs from rolling 

 out. I have but two other records of 

 this bird's nesting in this locality. These 

 two nests were found by my brother, A. 

 G. Howes, one on June 20, 1897, and 

 the other on June 1, 1898. The eggs 

 are white spotted with reddish brown. 



Next on my list is the field sparrow 

 (S pixel I a pusilla). This little sparrow 

 is always associated in my mind with 

 useless fields covered with lowbushesand 

 weeds. Their shrill little song may be 

 heard all through the heat of the day, 

 and the hotter it is the better they seem 

 to like it and the more they seem to 

 sing. 



The last bird on my list is the hooded 

 warbler (Sylvania mitrata). It is not 

 exactly a common bird here, but may be 

 occasionally found nesting in a thicket 

 or on the ground under one. It was one 



day in June, 1907, while walking along 

 near a thicket that I happened to see a 

 small nest on the ground under a tangle 

 of vines and bushes, on which was sit- 

 ting a small warbler of some kind. The 

 bird flushed before I could identify it, 

 so I seated myself on the ground be- 

 hind a nearby bush and patiently awaited 

 the return of the bird. After a half an 

 hour back came the warbler very cau- 

 tiously, and I noticed with some sur- 

 prise that it was a hooded warbler. 



The nest was composed of leaves, 

 grapevine bark and coarse grass, lined 

 with much finer grass, and was placed 

 in a clump of grass and moss squarely 

 on the ground under the thicket. This 

 is an unusual location for the nest, it 

 being usually in a bush one or two feet 

 above the ground and placed in a fork 

 of the bush. The four white eggs are 

 specked with reddish brown. After 



photographing the nest and eggs I re- 

 turned home with a feeling of satisfac- 

 tion at this new record. Later in the 

 season I found one or two more nests 

 of this bird. — From field notes. 



BEAUTIFUL "MIRROR" PHOTOGRAPHY. 

 Made by F. H. L. Cot ten, with Protar Vila lens (The Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. 



