THE OOLOGIST 



27 



Meadowlark outside of nest. 



This is one of the largest birds 

 whose nest is used to deposit its eggs 

 by the Cowbird. The Baywinged Cow- 

 bird occasionally builds a nest of its 

 own, incubates its own eggs and cares 

 for its young as any respectable Dird 

 ought. A good description of the nest- 

 ing habits of the Cowbird is given by 

 Coues in his "Birds of the Northwesi," 

 page 185, to which I would refer the 

 reader. 



Mating habits — The Cowbird is per- 

 haps the only species of the Avian 

 family which practices polyandry, 

 caused no doubt by the fact that the 

 males far outnumber the females. 



Nearly everyone who writes of the 

 Cowbird has little to say of its good 

 in the bird world; fault is found with 

 its gross and confirmed habit of using 

 other bird's nests as a home and al- 

 lowing some other bird to act as a wet 

 nurse for its children. Yet this "black 

 sheep" has some good points; it is not 

 all bad; it is all in the point of view. 



CALIFORNIA OBSERVATIONS. 



During the season of the spring and 

 summer of 1922 we, the family and 

 myself, made many trips through the 

 country surrounding Tulare, Cali- 

 fornia, for a radius of about thirty 

 miles. 



Starting out in April we covered 

 the country west of town first, then 

 later we took trips through other 

 parts and on one occasion went onto 

 the plains west of Kings River, in 

 Kings County. 



Early trips were more for observa- 

 tion than anything else, but we picked 

 up a set or two of California Shrike, 

 and an early Red Shafted Flicker, also 

 a set of California Jay, which had 

 been deposited before the willow tree 

 in which the nest was located was in 

 leaf. 



On this same trip we were digging 



after the nest of a Burrowing Owl, or 

 as we know him locally, "Billy Owl," 

 and as the children were returning 

 from a nearby stream where they had 

 been prospecting, Flossie found the 

 nest of a Kill Deer out in the open 

 field. 



Among the willow trees in Cross 

 Creek and about 75 yards from the 

 main traveled road we found a colony 

 of Black Crowned Night Herons which 

 contained many nests, and we took 

 perfectly fresh eggs from these same 

 nests on two different trips, proving 

 that this family raised at least two 

 broods in this locality this season. 

 Our visits were just two weeks apart, 

 and on the second there were no sign 

 of young, only egg shells where they 

 had hatched out. 



West of here, about 15 miles from 

 Tulare, there is a piece of overflow 

 land and several trips to this place 

 were productive of much enjoyment, as 

 there were several kinds of water 

 birds, and among them the noisy Black 

 Tern and Black Necked Stilt. As we 

 would near the pond they would set up 

 a cry that seemed to us could be heard 

 for a mile, and this was incessant 

 until we had departed, after rambling 

 around their abode for a while. Here 

 we saw Mallard Ducks, one pair of 

 Yellow-Headed Blackbirds, Black Tern, 

 Black Necked Stilts, Coots, Pied Billed 

 Grebe, and the ever present Kill Deer, 

 and on one visit a Spotted Sand Piper, 

 also many San Diegan Red-wing Black- 

 l)irds. The pond in one place was 

 spotted with the nests of the Black 

 Tern, quaint little bunches of grasses 

 and offal, floating on the water, and 

 surmounted by the unvarying quota 

 of three darkly spotted eggs. 



On a visit to the before mentioned 

 Cross Creek on April 22 we found the 

 nest of an Arkansas Goldfinch ready 

 for occupancy, but it contained noth- 

 ing, and we must have been viewed 



