134 



THE OOLOGIST 



composition of all nests examined dur- 

 ing tlie past four or five years — some 

 ttiree or four liundred having come un- 

 der notice. Very fe\y nests of the 

 bird are found in a day's search, even 

 in a locality where they are breeding 

 fairly common. It is a well known 

 fact that a number of the birds are 

 off the nests in the day time, espe- 

 cially when the eggs are fresh, and 

 if you intend to find nests by flushing 

 the bird you will examine but one or 

 two in a day. If you happen to come 

 upon some nice grassy spots or 

 mounds in suitable places and search 

 amongst them with your hands, you 

 will meet with more success than by 

 waiting for flushing birds. On July 

 15th of the present year six nests of 

 the W. T. Sparrow were located in 

 this way, all of which contained fresh 

 eggs. None of the birds were sitting. 

 This, however, is a record for one day's 

 work. 



Very few Ornithologists understand 

 thoroughly the nesting habitt> of this 

 sparrow. For instance, how manj 

 know that the bird removes the eggs 

 to another spot if once disturbed? This 

 is a fact. The W. T. Sparrow is very 

 shy. In about 25 cases I have return- 

 ed to nests which originally contained 

 one egg and have found nests turned 

 up side down and eggs gone. A bird 

 was flushed off a nest containing two 

 eggs and when the nest was visited 

 but two days later, it was empty. 

 Some of the nests were very well hid- 

 den under old brush heaps, sunk in 

 moss amongst sphagnum bushes, etc., 

 and only a careful observer would 

 ever locate them. In short, every nest 

 which has prompted a second visit has 

 been found destroyed and contents 

 missing. It would certainly be very 

 interesting to see the bird carrying off 

 the eggs. 



This sparrow lays from two to five 



eggs, and the markings and size vary 

 greatly. The usual reddish coloration 

 obtains in most cases, but a few sets 

 have been taken with a deep blue un- 

 derground color with purplish scrawls 

 and blotches over the entire egg. 



W. J. BROWN. 



Black Birds. 



A number of years ago the Black- 

 birds near Washington, Pa., in this 

 section gathered in large flocks, dur- 

 ing the latter part of August and Sep- 

 tember. There were a number of 

 .roosts near town and every evening 

 great numbers of them, sometimes 

 thousands in a flock, could be seen fly- 

 ing to these places. About six or 

 seven years ago this ceased and there 

 were only a few scattered individuals 

 where there were hundreds before. 

 What caused this, I was never to 

 learn, as they were not hunted to any 

 extent, and there seemed to be no nat- 

 ural reason for it. However they re- 

 turned this year and there were fully 

 as many as before, all going to the old 

 roosting places. Perhaps other read- 

 ers of THE OOLOGIST have noticed 

 the same thing and can give some ex- 

 planation. 



On August 15th, 1910 I saw an Al- 

 bino Blackbird. It was with a flock of 

 Red-winged Blackbirds, and being the 

 same size I supposed that it was the 

 same species. I was within about two 

 hundred feet of it and it was pure 

 white, as nearly as I could make out. 



The next day I saw an English 

 Sparrow in town that was about half 

 white. It was in the street with a num- 

 ber of others, and I got within about 

 twenty-five feet of it. 



EARLE R. FORREST. 



A Ground Nest of the Brown Thrasher. 



In the June OOLOGIST the editor 



and publisher recorded the unusual 



