60 



THE OOLOGISl 



they struck. This nest was 35 feet 

 up, and lined with stubble and oak 

 leaves. 



Riding on some distance we came 

 to a large barn and outbuildings. Here 

 a large colony of Cliff Swallows were 

 forming their domiciles of mud, un- 

 der the eaves of the barn. None of 

 the nests were as yet finished. But 

 a large colony of Brewer's Black-birds 

 had nests containing sets of eggs. The 

 nests were built in willows and were 

 made of roots and sticks stuck to- 

 gether with mud and lined with horse 

 hair. We also collected a set of 

 Black Phcebe, here, under a 

 bridge. The nest was made of mud, 

 and lined with horse hair and fasten- 

 ed to a girder. On the way home we 

 collected a set of five fresh eggs of 

 the Red Shafted Flicker (Colapates 

 cafer) from a dead stub near t he 

 road. 



From the foregoing notes it will be 

 seen that this was rather late for the 

 Red-tail to be nesting here, 'but all 

 these were second sets, and most of 

 them, as you will see, being badly 

 incubated. 



JAME-S B. DIXON, 



Escondido, Calif. 



Late Swallows at Philadelphia. 



The observance of Swallows in Oc- 

 tober in the vicinity of Philadelphia is 

 such a rare occurrence as to be wor- 

 thy of more than passing notice, in- 

 asmuch as nowhere in my search for 

 late records regarding migrating 

 Swallows have I been able to discover 

 any October records, excepting of the 

 White-'bellied Swallow, which usual- 

 ly departs during this month, 'being 

 the latest Hirundinidae to leave as 

 well as the earliest to appear in the 

 spring. 



The Barn 'Swallow, prior to this 

 year, departed from this vicinity 

 (Frankford) between September 15-20, 

 as indicated by my migration records 

 covering ten consecutive years of ob- 

 servation. This year, however, prov- 

 ed to be a notaible exception, as this 

 species lingered here unusually late, 

 the last birds being seen October 10 

 by my brother, George. 



This record is ten days later than 

 my latest record of previous years — 

 September 20, 1906. The two birds 

 that my brother observed on October 

 20, were previously seen at the same 

 locality on October 2, 3, and 4; and 

 at the same place on the first, I saw 



one bird. The locality is the meadows 

 lying along the Delaware River at 

 Bride.sburg, Philadelphia. My brother 

 saw four Barn Swallows on the 2d, 

 one of which he shot, but mutilated 

 it too badly for a skin. It was a 

 young bird in moult, with tail slight- 

 ly forked. The cat got it before I 

 could ascertain its sex and examine 

 the contents of its stomach. These 

 records are undoubtedly of the same 

 birds, the odd thing of the Hirundini- 

 daes, which was seen on the 2d day 

 by my brother, not being afterwards 

 seen, was presumably shot by some 

 gunner, who avail themselves of ev- 

 ery opportunity of practicing their 

 markmanship on these harmless 

 birds. 



The presence of these birds here so 

 late in the fall, I attribute to the ex- 

 cessive warm weather of (September. 

 Consulting my note book under the 

 weather entries, I find that the weath- 

 er cl this month was comparatively 

 c'ear, with few cloudy and rainy days; 

 the minimum and maximum tempera- 

 ture was 65 degrees and 77 degrees. 

 The lowest temperature was registei'- 

 ed on the 4th, 54 degrees; and the 

 highest, 92 degrees, on the 10th. But, 

 during these birds' stay here, in the 

 early part of October, they encounter- 

 ed some cold and stormy weather, 

 which failed, however, to drive them 

 south for several days. 



Many gunners also observed these 

 birds, and those intelligent enough to 

 discern and know the difference be- 

 tween them and the White-bellied 

 Swallows, commented upon their un- 

 usual late presence, and attributed it 

 to the warm September weather as 

 I had done. Some predicted a mild 

 winter on account of their presence, 

 but weather predictions from such 

 causes, as well as many others, are 

 never infallible. 



On September 29th, 1906, four Bank 

 Swallows were saen by the writer at 

 this locality, also a late date, for this 

 species usually departs between Sep- 

 tember 10-20. On September 30, 1905, 

 I saw a lone Bank Swallow flying 

 high up, down the Delaware River, 

 behind Petty's Island, N. J. 



These records substitute the latest 

 dates for these two species of Hirun- 

 dinidae occurrence in the vicinity of 

 Philadelphia which I have been able 

 to find. 



RICHARD F. MILLER, 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



