THE OOLOGIST. 



89 



The animal matter is supposed to be 

 only the weevils or worms contained 

 in the seeds. The dove generally 

 raises two or three broods a season 

 but only two birds are raised at a 

 time. The eggs are pure white and 

 average about 1.12x0.82. 



The nesting season begins early in 

 April and continues until September 

 or even later in the fall. Of the nine 

 nests' of the Mourning Dove that I 

 found during the season of 1905, the 

 highest was 20 feet fro^m the ground 

 and lowest was 3 feet. All but two 

 were in evergreen or arbor-vitae 

 trees and those two were in apple 

 trees. 



The first nest was found on April 

 15, and was situated in an apple tree 

 about 10 feet from the ground. The 

 nest consisted of just a few straws 

 laid across the rim of a deserted 

 robin's nest. It contained the in- 

 complete set of one egg. 



The second, was found on April 

 22, in an arbor-vit«, three feet from 

 the ground and contained 2 eggs. 



No. 3, on the following Saturday, 

 April 29, about three feet from the 

 ground, containing 1 egg. 



No. 4, was found on May 7, about 

 20 feet from the ground which is the 

 highest yet found by me. It also 

 contained 1 egg. 



No. 5. on May 7, also, eight feet 

 from the ground. This was the 

 smallest dove's nest that I ever saw 

 and was scarcely as large as the 

 palm of my hand. It contained two 

 j-oung but a few days old. 



Nov. 6, On May 27, 6 feet from the 

 ground, 1 egg. 



No. 7, May 27, 41/^ feet from the 

 ground, 2 eggs. 



No. 8, was found July 15, about 12 

 feet from the ground on the horizon- 

 tal limb of an apple tree and confin- 

 ed 1 young ready to fly. 



No. 9, and the last of the season 

 was found on September 7, six feet 



from the ground and contained 2 

 young. 



All of these nests were found near 

 Rossford just outside the city limits 

 of Toledo except No. 8, which was at 

 Round Lake, Mich. 



During 1906, very few field trips 

 were made in the nesting season and 

 hence only four Mourning Doves' 

 nest were found. 



No. 1, April 18, in arbor-vitae 10 

 feet from the ground, 2 young. 



No. 2, April 21, in thorn tree 8 ft. 

 from the ground, 2 eggs. 



No. 3, April 28, in arbor-vitae S feet 

 from the ground. It was' built on a 

 Robin's nest and contained no eggs. 



No. 4, May 12, in arbor-vitae 5 feet 

 from the ground, 2 eggs. 



A. C. Read, 

 Toledo. O. 



A Trip to Cholame, Calif. 



One bright sunny day in March a 

 friend and myself started out on a 

 collecting trip. We left Shandon us- 

 ing a horse and buggy for convey- 

 ance as we intended to go till we 

 found some good eggs. The first nest 

 we found was a Western Red Tail 

 having 1 egg which we left. We 

 kept going until we came to an 

 Eagle's nest. We found the bird on 

 the nest. My friend climbed to the 

 nest to find one egg. I knew of an- 

 other eagle's nest 2 miles above that 

 one. We could see the eagle on the 

 nest when we arrived there. My 

 friend shinned up to find two of the 

 prettiest eggs we have ever seen, 

 which Mr. Taylor has in his large 

 collection. We compared them with 

 his Eagle Series to find them about 

 the prettiest in 'his' Series. 



A month after I found another set 

 in the second nest, very much nicer 

 than the first set, a set that is very 

 hard to beat in beauty. I havet aken 

 several sets of Prairie Falcon here. 



