THE OOLOGIST. 



155 



he gets his name, is repeated for near- 

 ly the whole night and is kept up 

 continuously for long stretches at a 

 time. The Whip-poor-will is the char- 

 acteristic night bird of all campers out 

 and one rarely reads an account of 

 camp life without some reference to 

 this well known bird. On May 28, 

 1904, while up camping on Helen 

 Gould lake, a farmer boy secured a 

 set of one egg of this desirable bird 

 for me, while going through an old 

 field after cows. The egg was laid up- 

 on a bare rock and was found by 

 flushing the bird. Theegg resembles 

 the Nighthawk's in size and shape, 

 but is creamy white, marked with 

 small zigzag marks over the entire 

 egg but thickest in the middle. 



C. P. Alexander, 

 Gloversville, N. Y. 



Slate Colored Junco in Eastern New York. 



On June 30, 1904, Lawrence P. Mills, 

 of this city discovered a nest of the Slate 

 colored Junco in the northern part of 

 this county. While fishing, he fiushed 

 the female bird from the nest, placed 

 in under an over hanging stump and 

 compactly made of dry grasses, lined 

 with finer. The bird, when flushed, 

 hopped off the nest and ran rapidly 

 across the ground like a mouse. The 

 nest co.ntained five eggs upon which 

 incubation had just commenced The 

 eggs are of a pale greenish blue, 

 specked with reddish brown and lilac 

 gray, chiefly at the large end. I have 

 one other instance of Junco hpemalis, 

 breeding in Fulton Co., the nest being 

 found by a Mr. Robinson, a well known 

 farmer living near here and being 

 placed in a piece of swampy wood- 

 land, under a tussock of swamp grass. 

 This bird Mr. Robinson called the 

 white tailed Sparrow, but he described 

 the bird so ably that there is no doubt 

 as to its identification. 



ChAvS. p. Alexander, 

 i.xloversville, N. Y. 



Nesting of the Dotted Canon Wren. 



While on a camping trip in the head- 

 waters of the San Gabrial Canon, Los 

 Angeles Co. California in the early part 

 of July, 1904, I had the pleasure of 

 finding a nest of this interesting 

 mountain bird. 



The nest was placed in a good sized 

 box, suspended by wire from the roof 

 of the old log cabin, in which we were 

 camped. The nest contained four 

 small young birds, which the parents 

 fed regularly many times & day. The 

 birds were very tame and did not seem 

 at all bothered, when I placed a can 

 filled with cotton in place of the nest, 

 which I wished to preserve, but un- 

 fortunately it was destroyed. The 

 birds had carried in sticks enough, as 

 a platform for the nest, to fill a good 

 sized pail, upon these was placed the 

 exquisitely constructed nest. 



Before we left the birds grew very 

 tame and early one morning I felt a 

 tugging at my hair, reaching up I 

 nearly caught one of the mischevious 

 birds. We were sorry to leave our in- 

 teresting bird friends and departing 

 we left them singing their sweet song, 

 a varied musical whistle. 



Wright M. Pierce, 

 Clarement, Cal. 



The Wren had Pipe Dreams. 



Last Monday, June 20th while in my 

 barn loft, I was agreeably surprised by 

 the sudden appearance of a House 

 Wren nervously flitting from one 

 perch to another, energetically scold- 

 ing me all the time. I became sus- 

 picious, and soon discovered madam 

 wren's residence in a stove pipe, which 

 had been laid up, for want of a better 

 place on the rafters. I thrust my hand 

 in the pipe, and very promptly a whole 

 wren generation came bouncing f)ut 

 like six little brown rubber balls. In- 

 side of five minutes nothing but a 



