204 



THE OOLOGIST. 



looked like a Song Sparrow's, being 

 made of round grasses, placed in a bunch 

 of tall grass, well concealed. Eggs sira- 

 iliar to eastern Tovvhees. 



June 6. I got a set of six eggs of the 

 Oi'egon Chicadee {Parus arlicaj^illus 

 occidentalUs) of a neighbor. Incubation 

 begun. The nest was in an oak post, 

 four feet from the ground, at the side of 

 a I'oad and three I'ods from a house. A 

 splinter had been broken part way 

 down one side of the post, making a 

 hole, the bottom of which was visible 

 from the top. In this hole was the nest 

 made of noihing but hair. Eggs are 

 clear, white spotted with bi'owu, most 

 thickly at the large ends. 



June 18. Took a set of four eggs of 

 Russet-backed Thrush (Tardus ustalla- 

 tus.) Incubation fresh. 



Nest placed fifteen feet high in the 

 crotch of a small dead tir in the woods; 

 made of sticks and moss, lined with 

 leaves. Eggs blue spotted with brown. 

 I have found (juite a number of nests of 

 this species, and all but this one have 

 been from three to six feet from the 

 ground, in green bushes generally along 

 the banks of a stream. 



July 2. Took a set of six eggs of Ar- 

 kansas Goldfinch [Spinus psallria) com- 

 monly called Wild Canary. 



Nest made almost entirely of wool, 

 placed on a horizontal branch of an ap- 

 ple tree, six feet from the ground; meas- 

 uring as follows: outside diameter 4 in., 

 inside 1.75 in., height 3 in., and depth 

 1.25 in. 



July 12. Took a set of four eggs of 

 the Oregon Junco or Snowbird {Junco 

 hyemalis oregonus.) Nest made of grass 

 lined with horse hair, placed on the 

 ground, in a cup shaped hollow even 

 with the surface. The nest was three 

 ;, feet from an often traveled path at the 

 , edge of woods. 



Arthur L. PorE. 



The Pintail Duck. 



I spent the spring of '93 in the Devils 

 Lake and Turtle Mountain region, 

 North Dakota. There the Pintail is a 

 common summer resident. In early 

 nesting it precedes all other varities of 

 ducks. They are most generally paired 

 when they arrive from the South and 

 go to housekeeping without delay. 

 Their nest is a hollow spot on the 

 ground lined with grass and down sur- 

 rounded by "Buck Brush" or wheat 

 stubble, usually near water. Eggs from 

 eight to eleven, more commonly eight. 

 A favorite nesting site is in wheat stub- 

 ble where many sets of eggs are de- 

 stroyed each year by tire or the plow. 

 Farmers often put in wheat without 

 plowing only once in three years, hence 

 the drill often drags the eggs out and 

 breaks not a few. But the Pintail does 

 not allow a little thing like that to in- 

 terfere with incubation, but rolls the 

 eggs back such as- are not broken, pulls 

 the nest about her and resumes busi- 

 ness at the old stand. I found a nest 

 one day with five eggs in it. Going by 

 there a few days after I was astonished 

 to lind the field plowed, but observed 

 two ducks out in the vicinity of the 

 nest. Going out 1 found they had shovel- 

 ed the eggs out and were putting a 

 bulwark of stubble about them. 



E. S. BRi-ANT. 



Phoenix, N. Y. 

 Large set of Burrowing Owl. 



On April 4th, '91 I found a set of 

 Burrowing Owls eggs, that I think 

 will beat any previous record. The 

 eggs were laid in a squirrel burro v 

 about three feet from the entrance. 

 There were sixteen of them and all 

 were fresh. The set may not have been 

 complete? 



I am sure there was only one pair of 

 owls inhabiting the hole as the eggs 

 were all close together and both male 

 and female were in it. 



Fred A. Schneider, 

 College Park, Cal. 



