Sept. 1888.J 



AND OOLOUIST. 



133 



Nesting of Golden-crowned Thrush. 



BY I.VMIS .JONES, GIUNNEI.I., IOWA. 



When my fust report on bird iiiii;rati<)ii wa.s 

 forwarded to I'rof. W. \V. Cookc! I was not a 

 liltk' surprised that he shonlil liave li;id donlits 

 re<;ardiiij5 tlie hreedin"- of the Ciolden-erowni'd 

 Thrush (^Siurns aurkaiiillus) near Grinuell, 

 since it is one of our common l)reeders. I be- 

 lieve that he accounted for what seemed a 

 remarliable circumstauce, that Accentor should 

 breed liere, by saying tiiat tins must be a soutli- 

 eru continual ion of tlie .Spirit Lake IJe^ion, loii^ 

 noted for l]\v lari^e nnmlier of northern lireeders 

 iiesliiij; there. Wliether or not lids be true I 

 do not know; l>ut I do know th.it .SVhc«.s- is (juite 

 common in woods tlirougliout this region durinii; 

 tlie w liole summer season. 



.Vltbough it arrives hereabout May ]st in full 

 song, it does not nest until the 2()th. Perhaps 

 there is some difficulty getting mated ! The 

 earliest date of taking a nest with fresh eggs 

 (full set) was May 24th, and latest with slightly 

 addledeggs June 20; this is probably a late date 

 since its song is seldom heard of in .luly 4th. 



Although the birds are so eomnion the nests 

 are by no means easy to llnd. .Vt lirst I supposed 

 the nest was always placed close to the foot of 

 a tree, having found two or three iu that posi- 

 tion, but I liud that such is not tlie case usually ; 

 rather independent of tree or bush or a wooded 

 hillside, but always where the natural surroun- 

 dings are most favorable for concealment. The 

 comi)osition of tln^ nest varies with the surroun- 

 dings, as hinted above. If it be a grassy spot, 

 grass is useil almost exclusively, if leaves lie 

 thickly scattered about, thej- are freely used, 

 especially externally, while a brown colored 

 moss and .skeleton leaves, willia lew ro(]||ets 

 and horse hair, make up the lining. 



Every nest yet found has been sunken into the 

 earth an inch or more, and always arched over 

 leaving the small opening on the downhill side. 

 The mother bird sits very closely, braving the 

 nest only when one comes very close, and then 

 she glides oil' like a S(juirrel, and is not readily 

 recognized. 



An egg before me, coUectetl here, one of a set 

 of four, the other three being eggs of Cowbird 

 (Molothtis (iter) has a white ground color and is 

 pretty evenly marked all over with dots, si)ots 

 and blotches of a light brown, williM wreath 

 about the large end of a lilac and lavi.'nder shell 

 markings, making the egg ai>pear more heavily 

 marked in a wreath about the large end; it 

 measures .75 x .00. 



Another one is quite difterent: The ground 

 color is a grayish w bite, .md the markings are 

 almost wholly coidined to tlw large end where 

 they become coidlueut and hide the ground 

 color, not in a wreath but as a great blotch. 

 These markings are lilac and lavender with a 

 heavy overlaying of a yellowish-brown wash iu 

 which appear dark brown, and a few black 

 pencillings, a few dark brown dots are scattered 

 over the whole egg. This one measures .78 x. 57. 

 1 have selected these two as extremes. 



Never yet lias a nest been found here but two 

 or more Cowbird's eggs completed or completely 

 made up the set. In one nest I found only 

 three Cowbird's eggs nearly hatched ; in another 

 three of Cowbird with one of Accentor; another 

 contaii.ed four of Cowbird with two of the 

 parent bird ; and another J^une 2()th, ISSS, con- 

 tained just live Cow bird's eggs! It would be 

 interesting to know if Sii(rus is thus imposed 

 upon by Muhitlinix elsewhere. 



A Collecting Trip to Cresson Springs, 

 Penn. 



BY HAIIKV K. .lAJHSON, JIANAYUNK, I'KNN. 



While looking about for a good collecting 

 locality where I might spend a while next 

 season, someplace where I could expect to find 

 the nests of a class of birds different from those 

 I have studied up to the present, I noticed the 

 advertisement of an excursion to (Jresson 

 Springs, Cambria County, Penn. This place 

 lies at an elevation of 2200 feet, on the crest of 

 the Alleghenies; and as birds that breed that 

 much furtluM- north at a lower altitude would 

 probably be found nesting here, I determined 

 to take advantage of the excursion and have 

 a tramp over the mountains to get some idea of 

 what the bird life is there. 



Leaving Philadelphia about 10.:fO a. m. on 

 June 20tli we completed the run to Cresson in 

 about eight hours ; th<^ beautiful scenery along 

 the route fully repaid us for the tiresome ride. 



The next morning 1 was out early and was iu 

 the field five or six hours. The morning was 

 cloudy and early in the afternoon it began to 

 rain, so 1 did not get out again. Talcing .-i late 

 train that evening I arrived home the following 

 morning. 



The greater part of my time was spent in the 

 old fields and in the edge of the woods, and the 

 commoner species of birds were abiuidaiit on 

 every hand. 



.\ female Towhee {I'ipilo eriitlinqildlmlmHs') 

 was flushed from lier nest on the ground under 



