THE OOLOGIST. 



119 



mate, helping to carry the materials 

 to the nest to be arranged by the fe- 

 male. The nest is placed on the hori- 

 zontal or drooping limb of some tree 

 in a grove or heavily wooded tract, or 

 occasionally on the limb of a tree by 

 the side of a road, and more rarely in 

 the shade trees in the yard. Their 

 favorite trees are oaks and sweet gums, 

 on the limbs of which they place their 

 nests at heights ranging from eleven 

 to sixty-five feet from the ground; but 

 frequently do we find them on the 

 limbs of beeches, elms and other trees 

 common to our forests, and rarely in 

 the trees in the orchard and garden. 

 The nest is often placed in the twigs 

 that shoot upward from the main limb, 

 but in such a manner that it is seated 

 on the main limb, and is so firmly 

 seated in and around the twigs that 

 often it is with difficulty that the nest 

 is removed as it is woven around the 

 twigs. The nest is an exceedingly 

 neat, but rather frail, structure, made 

 of the withered blossoms of plants — 

 those of the beech being used to pro- 

 fusion in some nests, fine grasses? 

 occasionally some wool and skeleton 

 leaves, securely felted with a kind of 

 vegetable down, and is ornamented on 

 the exterior with lichens which serve 

 to deceive the collector. The interior 

 of the nest is very neat and well shap- 

 ed, being about one and a half inches 

 in diameter by slightly less in depth. 

 Usually the walls are inclined to turn 

 over, or slightly roll inward at the 

 edge, thereby giving the nest a very 

 neat appearance. The usual number 

 of eggs are five, but sometimes four 

 and six complete the set. With the 

 exception of the piney tracts, Blue- 

 Grays are equally abundant in all 

 kinds of wood; but on some seasons, 

 however, they are more abundant than 

 on others. The readiness with which 

 it removes the material of which its 

 nest is being constructed to some 

 other site, is one of the most interest- 



ing of the peculiarities of this bird; 

 always using the same material in the 

 new nest that was used in the deserted 

 dormatory, often not carrying it more 

 than a few rods, but sometimes to the 

 most remote part of the woods. This, 

 I think, is never done unless they are 

 watched by some human foe, and then 

 only to defeat his efforts to dispoil 

 their treasure. One unusually inter- 

 esting instance of this kind came un- 

 der my notice in 1899. I chanced to 

 discover a nearly completed nest on 

 the limb of a sweet gum about 20 feet 

 from the ground, after seating myself 

 on a convenient log I passed several 

 minutes watching the birds; and then 

 departed, having approached to within 

 not nearer than twenty-five feet of the 

 nest. On returning the next day, 

 greatly to my surprise, I found the 

 birds as busily engaged removing the 

 material, as, on the previous day, 

 they had been in bringing it to the 

 first site. After a short search I locat- 

 ed the nest on the limb of another 

 gum about twenty-five rods away. I 

 found, on visiting the locality four 

 days later, that they had removed the 

 material to some distant part of the 

 grove. After all they succeeded in de- 

 feating my attempts at securing their 

 eggs, I found the nest of young sever- 

 al weeks later. From the 10th to the 

 25th of September they depart south- 

 ward . 



R. PEARCE SMITHWICK, 

 Norfolk, Virginia. 



Chat with a Naturalist. 



From J. Welsh, Victoria, Australia. "Mel- 

 bourne Argus." 



The time and the surroundings 

 were appropriate for a chat about birds, 

 for we were sitting in one of the soft 

 cushion bushes amongst the sand- 

 dunes and banksias of Phillip Island, 

 waiting for the incoming of the mut- 



