166 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 pabt i 



located with careful searching. Of the 14 nests 1 1 contained five eggs 

 and three contained four eggs each. All were collected from May 9 

 to 23, 1900. In Texas Harry P. Attwater (1887) found 20 nests in a 

 low area along the Medina River south of Antonia on May 15, 1884. 

 Nearly all were completed, some containing four fresh eggs. 



Though nests are not uncommon in Illinois in May, the dickcissel 

 does not reach the height of its nesting season there until late June 

 and July. Then practically every meadow in the central part of the 

 State has several pairs of these interesting birds. The latest nesting 

 record reported by Hess is of a nest with four eggs found Aug. 1, 

 1898, near Philo. My own latest record is a nest with four eggs found 

 in a clover field near Atwood on Aug. 12, 1918. R. M. Anderson 

 (1907) found a nest containing two eggs and two young in Winnebago 

 County, Iowa, on Aug. 19, 1893. These late dates probably repre- 

 sent a second nesting attempt for the season. 



The usual and most typical location for the nest of the dickcissel 

 in central Illinois is in a thick growth of grass or other low dense 

 vegetation. The nest, if not placed in a natural depression in the 

 earth, is supported but a few inches above the ground. It is usually 

 so well hidden by the rank growth of clover, alfalfa, grass, or weeds 

 that it is difiicult to locate. Meadows provide the larger number of 

 nesting sites, but the dickcissel is by no means confined to them. The 

 following nest situations that came under my direct observation 

 reveal the diversity in choice that different individuals may exhibit: 



Meadows or similar situations resembling meadows: 

 Meadows : 



Clover 28 



Timothy or other grasses 17 



"^ Alfalfa 5 



Weeds and grass along fences or between cultivated fields ... 8 



Wheat mixed with clover 2 



Weeds and grass along roadsides 2 



Wild roses or vines growing among grass and weeds 6 



Total 68 



Other situations: 



Hedge fences (osage orange) 5 



Scrub apple tree 2 



Thorn bush 2 



Small crabapple tree 1 



Total 10 



Grand total 78 



The largest number of nests (68) were found in meadows or in 

 places containing vegetation approaching that present in the clover 

 and grass fields. Only 10 of the 78 nests were in situations radically 

 different from that ordinarily found in meadows. Of these 10 nests, 

 all except 2 were found late m the season and probably represented 



