46 



THE OvSPREY. 



ALBINISM IN THE FIELD SPARROW.— On 



February 19. 1S9S, I killed an luuisua) 

 specimen of Spizella pnsilla, having- only two 

 colors — rufous and wliite. The extent of white 

 coincides almost exactly with the darlc and 

 white areas of a normal individual; that is. 

 the normal extent of dark coloration is re- 

 placed by white in this specimen, over all the 

 quills of'wings and tail. The rufous is not as 

 dark as usual, becominfr more cinnamon rufous 

 on head and back, where it is the predo-mi- 

 nant color, and .-ilso tinges the forebreast and 

 sides. Its distribution is the same as in the 

 normal bird, but it is of a lighter shade, no- 

 where becoming bright bay. The combination 

 of rufous and white produces an elegant ap- 

 pearance. The bird was one of a loose flock 

 of other sparrows and was very conspicuous 

 in life. When flying it seemed pure white. I 

 had a warm chase after it and at last secured 

 it by a long flying shot.— J. Rowland Nowell, 

 Anderson, S. C. 



ALBINO BLUE .JAY.— The Crittenden (Ky.) 

 Press of July 7, 1807, states that Mr. J. F. 

 Dodge has on exhibtion a snow white .lay 

 bird. "He has the voice of the Jay, the move- 

 ments and temperament of the Jay, but the 

 plumage of the Swan." It was a young bird, 

 just about grown, and had been caught near 

 town. Mr. Dodge informs me that the bird 

 has since died, and that its .skin was not pre- 

 served. — R. H. Dean, Washington, D. C. 



ALBINO LARK .SPARROW.— Yesterday I no- 

 ticed an Albino Lark Sparrow, but having nc 

 gun I had to make the be.st examination I 

 could at about 1.5 feet distant. The wing 

 coverts were ashy, and a few feathers on thf 

 neck- cloudy; the rest of the plumage beinf 

 snow white. I am on the watch for this bird 

 and hope to collect it before long. — W. E. 

 SllEERTLL, Haskell, Tex., September 2^ 1898. 



DUPLICATE NESTS.--In the spring of 1896 I 

 found an empty Marsh Wren's nest, and on 

 passing by later in the day, saw three nearly 

 fledged young in it. There were also othei 

 nests near by, with one or more young in each. 

 It seems to me probable that these dnplioatf 

 nests are built, if the birds have a large fam 

 ily, for the young to roost in, at least at 

 night, when they are too large to be all con 

 tained in one nest, but not yet able to take 

 care of themselves. Mr. J. N. Baskett, in Tnr 

 OsPEEY for October, 189R, states that the Pur 

 15le Oallinnle builds several nests, and T have 

 found the Sora Rail to do the same. — Ciias. W. 

 Bowles, Tacoma, Wash., October 9, 1898. 



AN ECCENTRIC HUMMER.— That a Hum- 

 mingbird should so far depart from its usual 

 mode of nesting- as to build in a hole in a 

 stump, seems unlikely, yet. while T was 

 residing in California, at Pacific Grove, 

 in May, 1891, a boy pointed out to me 

 a "strange nest" lie had found in 

 an old stump. On one side midway 

 up the stump 3 feet in height and 6 inches in 

 diameter, was the finished but deserted nest 

 of Cairdner's Woodpecker. To look within 

 the boy had torn away a piece of bark and af- 



terward carefully replaced it. On removing 

 this 1 found the cavity half filled with soft ma- 

 terials, similar to those used by the Bush-tit, 

 and a quantity of cobwebs. This mass was 

 flat on to]) .and in a small cavity in its center 

 rested two white, equal-ended eggs, about the 

 size of those of the Bush-tit. The cavity of 

 the nest was not larger than that of a typical 

 nest of the Hummer and lined wholly with 

 soft white plant-down. — L. W. Brokaw, Car- 

 mel, Ind. 



FLAMMULATED O W L S.— During a pro- 

 tracted storm, beginning May 1 pf this 

 year, a male was found dead in a 

 granary. On .June 37 a female was flushed 

 from her nest in a deserted woodpecker's hole 

 in a pine stub, 13 feet from the ground. The 

 nest contained two eggs, apparently fresh. 

 Returning on the 30th. 1 stopped the entrance 

 to the nest and caught the bird on it. The 

 plumage was in very poor condition, as she 

 had been long incubating. I set her at lib- 

 erty, after making sure of her identity. The 

 eggs were laid on a few fragments of oak 

 leaves, and proved to be infertile; they were 

 unequal in size, and smaller than is given as 

 usual for this Owl, being 1.09x0.99 and 1.00 x 

 0.97, respectively. On Se]iteniber 13 a young 

 male, not quite developed, was found in pos- 

 session of our cat. All these birds had dark 

 brown irides, very pale yellowish-green soles, 

 and i-usty scapular bars. They were found at 

 an altitude of rather less than 7,000 feet. — P. L. 

 Jones, Beulah, Col.. October — , 1898. 



HAWK KILLED BY RATTLESNAKE.— A 

 days ago a friend was out hunting, and while 

 driving past a hay field saw a large Hawk in 

 the middle of the field. He thought he would 

 drive over and shoot it. He noticed that the 

 bird was acting queerly. Every few moments 

 it would lift U71 its wings to fly, but the wind 

 would blow it over. He drove near it, .and as 

 the bird did not seem to notice, he got out of 

 the buggy and walked up beside it. Then he 

 saw what had caused the trouble. A small 

 prairie rattlesnake was on the ground beside 

 the hawk. My friend had no desire to in- 

 terfere, as a hawk he had shot and wounded 

 a shoi-t time before clawed and bit his 

 hand badly. Karly next morning I drove to 

 the jilnce. and found the hawk dead, but the 

 snake was gone. The bird w.ns a large female 

 P.uteo borealis: length. 24 inches; wing, 16.25 

 tail, 11; expanse, .'>4. There were two bites 

 on the bird, one on the end of the wing at the 

 base of the primaries, the other on the leg 

 about half way up from the heel. I noticed 

 no swelling, but there was a greenish dispolor- 

 ntion of the leg bone, and my eyes pained -me 

 while skinning the bird. — .T. S. Httnter, Lin- 

 coln. Neb,. October 3, 1898. 



LATE NESTING OF THE I^TYRTLE WAR- 

 T?LFR.— On .Tnly 30, 1,89.8, I flushed a Myrtle 

 Warbler from its nest, which contained two 

 unfledired young but a few days old, and two 

 infertile egcs. The nest was in a small arbor 

 vitae growing on an open hillside near the 

 ri\er. about 4 rods from ,n thick growth 

 that covered a part of the hill. On the 25th 



