THE OOLOGIST. 



73 



soft and beautifully blended plumage 

 and bold black eyes I released here. 

 She flew to the nearest twig but re- 

 turned immediately, brim full of in- 

 dignation, and fluttered about my 

 head, so close at times that I could 

 feel the wind of her wings. The nest 

 was composed of shreds of bark and 

 dead leaves lined with horse hair, in- 

 ner bark fibres, fine plant stems and 

 bits of dead leaves — the whole placed 

 upon a foundation of dead leaves. 



The amount of work attending the 

 search for the above decided me to 

 look for no more nests of the species 

 unless first see ing the birds. This 

 happened on June 3rd when in the 

 same piece of woods and in a por- 

 tion covered with about a foot of wa- 

 ter. I met with a pair whose actions 

 suggested a possible nest. It was 

 found in a crevice between the out- 

 reaching roots of a medium sized elm 

 — the first tree examiined — and differ- 

 ent from the other nest only in being 

 entirely surrounded by roots, the 

 former having rested upon the ground 

 The two young warblers and cowbird 

 fluttered out and dropped into the 

 water. This is the only case that has 

 come under my observation where 

 birds so small as warblers have been 

 able to survive in the same nest with 

 a cowbird. The two above nests are 

 the only records of this warbler breed- 

 ing in the country of Wayne. 



J. Claire Wood, 

 Detroit, Mich. 



Nesting of the Prairie Horned Lark. 



On May 27, 1890 I was crossing a 

 ploughed field when a Prairie Horned 

 Lark fiushed from her nest at the 

 base of a furrow almost beneath my 

 descending foot. This was my first 

 nest and the only one upon which I 

 have succeeded in surprising the 

 bird. The eggs were carefully wrap- 

 ped in a pocket handkerchief and 



concealed beneath a bush to be call- 

 ed for later in the day. I forgot to do 

 so, however, and returning two days 

 later was surprised to find them trans- 

 formed into four live and hungry 

 young. An equal vitality in the eggs 

 of our smaller birds has never since 

 come under my observation but those 

 of many of the water birds possess 

 it. Eggs of the Pied-billed Grebe have 

 hatched in my cabinet three days af- 

 ter they were colletced. In the care 

 of the Horned Lark it is probably a 

 necessary provision of nature as the 

 eggs are often deposited very early 

 in the season — ^long before the snow 

 is off the ground. We will now pass 

 to the season of 1903. 



The City of Wyandotte is located 

 twelve miles below Detroit and all 

 the streets running south terminate 

 in a large commons where droves of 

 cattle from the town find excellent 

 pasturage and keep the grass close 

 cropped. Four pairs of larks were 

 noted late in March but I had no time 

 to look for nests until April 6. On 

 that date a female was soon discov- 

 ered and her movements watched. 

 After walking about, in an aimless 

 sort of way and occasiionally pausing 

 to pick up a morsel of food, she sud- 

 denly vanished into the earth where 

 the grass was not half an inch high, 

 I started for the spot and was fully 

 fifty feet away when she sprang in- 

 to the air and flying a few feet con- 

 menced feeding with an exhibition 

 of total disregard to my presence. 

 The nest was on high ground and 

 level with the surface. It was com- 

 posed of dead grass blades, compact 

 on the sides but so flimsey on the 

 bottom that all the eggs more or less 

 rested on the ground. They were 

 four in number and fresh. 



I soon had another female under 

 surveillance and later another but af- 

 ter spending three hours with these 

 two birds felt certain they had not 



