16 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 1 



Nest No. 3 was found May -24(11, 1885. It 

 was just ttnished, and 1 took four fresh eggs 

 from it on May 30tli. The situation was on 

 high ground, whioli had formerly been wood- 

 land. Most of the heavy timber had been re- 

 moved, and from the stumps a thii-k growth of 

 sprouts had si)niiig. The sjjaee between was 

 grown up with vines of various kinds. The 

 nest was placed on the ground in the thicket, 

 fifteen feet from the outer edge, between three 

 blackberry bushes, about one hundred and tiffy 

 feet from a running stream, and the same dis- 

 tance from a wood. 



Nest No. 4 was found June 5th, 1887, in the 

 same thicket as No. 'S. It was placed in the 

 centre of a cluster of small oak sprouts and 

 was raised about two inches from the ground. 

 It was comjiletely hidden, and could only be 

 seen by parting the sprouts. It contained two 

 young birds and three eggs just on the point of 

 hatching. 



Nest Xo. .5 was found May 28th, 1887, in the 

 same thicket as Nos. 3 and 4. The female was 

 flushed from a thick cluster of poison ivy vines 

 under which the nest was placed. It required 

 a careful search before it was found, but a set 

 of five fresh eggs was my reward. 



Nest No. G was found May 29th, 1887, about 

 two miles from the site of No. 5. It was placed 

 on tlie ground, in a field on the edge of a thick 

 wood, between thi-ee blackberry bushes. It 

 contained four eggs of the Warbler and one of 

 the Cowhh-d {Molothrus ater). Incubation was 

 too far advanced to prepare the eggs, so I 

 broke the Cowbird's egg to save the lives of 

 the young Warblers. 



The same materials were used in all these 

 nests; the only difference being that some were 

 more neatly and compactly built than others. 



Nests Nos. 1 and 2 were found in Lower 

 Merion Tp., Montgomery County. Nos. 3, 4, 

 5 and 6 in Upper Makefield Tp., Bucks 

 Countv. 



The Food of Some Raleigh Birds. 



BY C. S. BRIMLEY. KAI-EIGH, N. C. 



Mockingbird (3Iimtispohig!oCus). Feeds chief- 

 ly on insects in the summer, and berries in the 

 winter, sharing, however, the fondness of the 

 Catbird for small fruits, though not to so great 

 an extent. 



Catbird {(idlfaxcuptfs raroUiiensis). Chiefly 

 insects, but is a great nuisance to growers of 



small fruit, being especially fond of strawber- 

 ries. 



Black and White Warbler {Mniutihi raria). 

 Insects, about one-third of its food consists of 

 green Upidoptprmis larvm. 



Vellow-throated Warbler {Dendnnra domin- 

 ica). Insects, onlj' occasionally green worms. 



Hooded Warblei' (Si/lrania mitrata). Insects, 

 no green worms. 



Vellow-throated Vireo ( Vireo flarAfrons). In- 

 sects, sometimes green worms. 



Blue-headed Vireo ( Vireo soUtiirius). Insects, 

 about one-third being larvie; no specimen con- 

 tained a hairy caterpillar, which is worthy of 

 note, as so few birds eat them. In the latter 

 part of fall it often varies its diet with frost 

 grapes. 



Summer Tanager (Piravga rubra). Insects, 

 two-thirds at least of those examined contained 

 only difl'eront kinds of wasps. 



Chipping .s;parrow {Spizdln socialis). Feeds 

 almost entirely on insects in summer, and 

 grass seeds in cooler weather. 



Goldfinch (Spinns trestis). Its summer diet 

 consists of mulberries, birch buds, thistle seeds, 

 elm buds and sunflower seeds, as observed by 

 us. 



Indigo (Paaserina cyanea). Small seeds and 

 insects in equal proportions. 



Blue Gi'osbeak {Guirara cieriila). Chiefly 

 corn, oats and seeds ; about one-third of its diet 

 only is insects. 



Sparrowhawk {Falcu sparverius). Nineteen 

 specimens examined as follows: Birds, 4; 

 shrew, 1; lizards, 1; insects (mostly grasshop- 

 pers), 13. On Nov. 25, I detected this bird in 

 an act of rapacity, I didn't thiid< it capable of. 

 .\8 I was approaching some pine woods, I 

 heard the cries of what I supposed was an ex- 

 cited I'ili'ated Woodpecker. On going to inves- 

 tigate, I flushed a small hawk Just out ot shot, 

 bearing in his claws a good-sized bird, whidi 

 was evidently too much for him to carry, as it 

 pulled him to the ground again after he had 

 flown a short distance. I followed the bird and 

 flushed it twice more, both times out of range, 

 but was able to identify it as a female Sparrow- 

 hawk; the second time it rose, it left its quar- 

 ry, which proved to be a good specimen of Bob 

 White. I had once shot a sharp-shinned Hawk 

 just as he captured a Yellowlia miner, but a 

 Sparrowhawk capturing a Quail was beyond all 

 my expectations. 



King Rail {Itallus eleyans). Out of nine 

 specimens taken this summer, four had gone 

 without their dinner, while the remaining five 

 had feasted on crawfish. 



