56 



THE OSPREY. 



AN ODD NEST OF THE WESTERN FLYCATCHER. 

 By George F. Bkeninger, Phoenix, Ariz. 



r 



»TX"^^ 



one of the dark t,""!!!- 

 ,^^ ches that drain the 



S.^^_ yi^g Jm -, Santa Cruz tnoiin- 



^^^, ' .T?^prB. tains, back of the city 



^C?"'' .^ Jr ■ of Santa Cruz, Cal., 



nestled among' the 

 depths of a heavy 

 g-rowtli of redwood 

 trees, sta iids a lone- 

 \y woodchopper's 

 cabin. It has 

 "5 long been aban- 

 doned by man, 

 and turned over 

 to the denizens of the 

 forest. Squirrels ran 

 freely through the 

 open windows and door-ways, from which the 

 sash and doors had been removed by persons 

 who thought they could put theni to better use. 

 From the general contour of the ground, with 

 its g-igantic redwoods, the little stream of 

 cold, running water, not far from the cabin 

 door, winding over its bed of moss-covered 

 stones, among fallen tree trunks, and luxuriant 

 ferns, the oak-covered hillsides, and the grassy 

 glens, offered food and refuge to many species 

 of birds. This fact alone was sutKcient to call 

 nie away from my daily routine of work on 

 many occasions during the spring and summer 

 months. In June, 1896, shortly after my re- 

 turn to California, after a sojourn of four 

 months in Arizona, thoughts of the cool winding 

 stream, its ferns and its redwoods, took posses- 

 sion of my mind and I was not long in hieing 

 myself thither. 



As I approached the cabin a pair of Western 

 Flvcatchers (Evtpidonax lUfficilis) greeted my 



The cause of their uneasiness was fully explain- 

 ed as I entered the cabin. 



Above the window protruded a few tell-tale 

 straws. By standing on the sill of the W/ndow 

 frame I beheld a row of ten distinct and well- 

 formed nests, joined in one continuous row. with a 

 brood of four recently hatched young occupying 

 the nest nearest to the center. The nests nearest 

 and on both sides of the one occupied by the 

 young were complete; each succeeding nest 

 was less so, until those at tht ends were 

 merely outlines of the nest hollow. After 

 the young had flown, I carefully collected the 

 nest, which I accomplished by rolling it up. Its 

 length was almost a yard, with a width of 

 four inches. 



The different nesting sites chosen bj- the Fly- 

 catcher show a wide range of variation. I 

 have collected eggs from nests placed on beams 

 of abandoned buildings, from nests built in the 

 banks of road cuts, among the upturned roots 

 of fallen trees, and in trees variously situated, 

 some in open positions, others well concealed 

 among the foliage. 



I have also found nests built upon the rough 

 interior of i-ed\vood stumps. In Butte County, 

 Cal.. while following' down a mountain stream, 

 I started a female Flj'catcher of this species 

 from its nest, which was placed in the hollow 

 end of a log, which had lodged in such a way 

 as to leave one end about si.x feet above the 

 water. The nest was made largely of green 

 moss, quite different from most nests that I 

 had previously examined. 



The eggs of ihis species are handsomely 

 marned with bold flesh-colored markings on a 

 cream-colored shell. Three or four eggs con- 

 stitute a set, which are laid in May and June, 

 somewhat later in higher altitudes. In Santa 

 ■_ Cruz County, Cal., I found the birds only from 



arrival with many twitterings and misgivings. Ij^ about April 1st until the 1st week in October. 



SOME MINOR TRIALS IN PREPARING EGGS. 



By Eugene S. Rolfe, Minuewaukan, N. Dak. 



THE inner film of membrane that the drill 

 fails to cut away is one of the most annoying 

 obstacles to satisfactory work — and the 

 despair of every collector. The drill punctures 

 simply — almost never cuts away; and upou beiug 

 removed the edges of the membraue spring 

 back into place and the film closes over the 

 hole, preventing perfect drainage and preclud- 

 ing admission of air. The result in a few days 

 is an offensive smell and often what is worse — a 

 small mass of matter cakes and adheres to the 

 inside of the shell. 



This condition requires careful and patient 

 work to remedy; for if the mass is dislodged it 

 frequently leaves a dark stain on the membraue 

 that, in the case of eggs with translucent shell, 

 amounts to a positive blemish. If the embryo 

 hook or any steel instrument is used and the 

 adhering matter scraped loose, the result is 

 inevitably a scratching and marring of the 

 membrane which become apparent through the 

 shell, and the egg is thus rendered second-class. 



So, also, if fine shot is used in rinsing, the ad- 

 heriug mass may be, indeed, removed, yet a 

 dark stain remains; and even this result is at- 

 tained often at the expense of a broken shell, 

 for the shot is heavy and the shell frail, partic- 

 ularly at the spot where the membrane is weak- 

 ened by decomposition. 



Dr. A. C. Murchison (Nidologist, ii, p. 128) 

 recommends in drilling the use of a dentist's 

 cone burr; he lets it cut clear in and then 

 cut back again, and in this way gets rid of 

 the flap of skin across the hole. I have 

 not yet been able to adoiit his suggestion, 

 but it occurs to me th;it if this instrument will 

 accomplish what is claimed for it, the sooner 

 dealers in onlogicial implements improve their 

 drills to correspond, the better for us. 



I'^or want of such I have found it necessary 

 after drilling to carefully cut away the film with 

 some partially blunted instrument like the 

 edge of an embryo-hook. In the case of large 

 eggs with comparatively tough shell this can 



