64 



OEmTHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 4 



forts were very clumsy. He would drag out 

 a stick, at the same time toppling several more 

 to the ground, and then fly to quite a distance 

 from the tree before returning and surrender- 

 ing his burden to hishard-worliing partner. In 

 no instance did I detect him aiding in the plac- 

 ing of the materials in tlie nest. He merely 

 brought them to a convenient perch, usually 

 above the structure, and waited for his mate to 

 do the actual building. 



Having at last a foundation of about a foot 

 thick, and four or live feet wide, as near as I 

 could estimate, they proceeded to remove the 

 material from the old partially repaired nest for 

 the completion of the new one. The male bird 

 worked fairly well at this task, and during the 

 ■last day made at least three trips to one of the 

 female. She apparently took great pains iu the 

 interior arrangements of her new home, fre- 

 quently pulling out a quantity of trash upon 

 the edge of the nest, and, after woiking around 

 a while inside, tumbling it back again, and 

 shaking it up with a great rustling of wings and 

 scratching of feet, which sent showers of little 

 twigs and dirt upon the watcher below. 



The work was apparently completed upon 

 January 20, 1888, and four days later the female 

 was setting, and the male keeping jealous guard 

 close above her. 



I carefully watched the depositing of the 

 eggs until the number had reached five, and on 

 other occasions I also found the complement 

 invariably five eggs, with the exception of one 

 nest which had but three young. The ground 

 color of the eggs I have seen is decidedly gray- 

 ish, and not greenish as is seen in Dcmh-ceca 

 tpsth-ii, marked with dottings of umber lilac 

 and an occasional spot of black, ami can at any 

 time be readily distinguished from the common 

 eastern species. I never met with any of the 

 birds in the mountains, and all the nests 

 found were in willow cottonwood and box-elder 

 trees, hardly ever more than ten feet from the 

 ground, more commonly five. 



[If Mr. Bieninger had compared eggs of D. 

 itintiva 'laoixomi with a large series of eggs of 

 D. wstiva, he would have found that he was 

 mistaken about the former being characteristic. 

 The exact counterparts of morcimi can be 

 readily found among eggs of (rsJ/iv/, as the 

 ground color of the latter is exceedingly va- 

 riable.— J. P. N.] 



Nesting of the Western Yellow 

 Warbler. 



BY (iKOKf^iK K. HKKNIX(;Kr{, KOKT COLLINS, rOL- 

 OKADO. 



In the October issue of the (). & O., Mr. ,1. 

 Parker Norris contributed a very interesting 

 paper on the Western Yellow Warbler (Den- 

 driBca oestiva morcoini), and described a series 

 of their eggs. This pale form of the Yel- 

 low Warbler has but lately been recognized 

 from the Eastern form. It is very abundant 

 here along the creeks among the willows. I 

 first became ac(£uainted with the bird early in 

 May while trying tci obtain a Poor-Will, and on 

 returning home I saw one of these warblers 

 seated on a swaying willow. I raised my gun 

 and fired, bringing down the bird desired. I 

 noticed the lighter coloring in its plumage, and, 

 when nesting began, the nest of this species 

 seemed more compact, and materials used 

 showed considerable whiteness, looking like a 

 bunch of down placed in the fork of a willow. 



Eggs of the Texan Kingfisher. 



BY .1. 1'. N. 



The Texan Kingfisher (Ceryle americaua ca- 

 banisi), is found in the United States only from 

 the southern part of Texas to Arizona, and its 

 eggs are still desiderata in most collections. 



A set, now before the writer, were collected 

 on May 25, 1878, in Comal County, Texas. The 

 four eggs of which the clutch consists, were 

 found in a hole in a bank of a river. They are 

 of a dull white, and almost as large at one end 

 as at the other. They measure .02 x .73 ; .96 x 

 .72 ; .92 X .71 ; and .9.5 .70. 



A LATE Wood Duck. — A gentleman living on 

 the outskirts of the city brought me a male 

 Wood Duck (Aix sponsa), which his hound pup 

 caught in a brook about January 1st, while out 

 for a run. It was kept in a cage a short time 

 and then died. Upon examination I found that 

 the primaries of one of the wings had been cut 

 oft", probably by a shot, and this was the reason 

 of its late delay at this place. With the excep- 

 tion of the loss of the primaries, and its tail, 

 which was worn ragged by confinement in the 

 cage, it was in perfect plumage. 



Taunton, Mass., 1888. J. C. Cahoon. 



